In Niger, where more than half of the population cannot access safe drinking water and where only 5% have access to sanitation facilities, UK business Ahmad Tea has partnered with Oxfam for over 10 years in a project to bring clean water and sanitation to thousands of rural people in northern Niger, with benefits including more time for girls’ schooling, …
Extra-ordinary faecal sludge management in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
For the first time in the history of refugee camps there has been a concerted effort across multiple agencies to ensure proper treatment and disposal of faecal waste. Prior to 2017, there has been single unit, single technology attempts to deal with the human waste in refugee camps. This was seen in the Philippines during the cyclone Haiyan Response, and in Myanmar, Iraq and for the Syrian refugees …
How humanitarian effectiveness reviews impact our WASH programming
How Oxfam is using monitoring and evaluation to improve programming on water, sanitation and hygiene in Zimbabwe and beyond. By Katie Whitehouse (Global Urban WASH & Markets Advisor, Oxfam) and Parvin Ngala (WASH & Markets Project Manager, Oxfam Zimbabwe). A key challenge for the sector is translating monitoring and evaluation activities into programme change in the future. The recent publication of WASH …
Reviewing humanitarian evidence
The Humanitarian Evidence Programme is delighted to announce the launch of its series of eight systematic reviews. Over the last few years we’ve been working with teams of researchers, practitioners and consultants from academic institutions and NGOs to map out the existing evidence critically appraise it and synthesise the results in response to key questions in eight practice areas. Each …
Help! My toilet is sinking!
Louise Medland, Carol Brady and Jessica Fullwood-Thomas examine the long term effects of annual flooding and waterlogging on people’s lives in Bangladesh. Heavy rainfall during July and August in 2011 caused severe flooding in southern districts of Bangladesh, particularly Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar. Close to 90% of the population were temporarily displaced from their homes and were forced …
Unlocking the potential of social accountability to improve water and sanitation services
Achieving the targets within Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG) will require huge infrastructure investment to improve services and to extend them to those they currently do not serve. Social accountability Sustained universal coverage and water security will also need financial and institutional strengthening. This is particularly challenging for the water sector as it is highly dependent (75%) on donor funding …
Solar pumps, the simple solution we’ve been looking for?
Brian McSorely introduces to solar pumps, the developments he’s seen over his career and his hopes for the technology for the future. Whilst World Water Day is a time to remind ourselves of the injustice that up to one billion people still lack access to safe water, this year I am going to focus on the positive achievements that I’ve …
Wikipedia: A tool for advocacy?
Esther Shaylor explains why she’s cleaning up Wikipedia and how it relates to her work as a water and sanitation engineer. When I was at college I was sternly warned to stay away from Wikipedia. The reason; because it can’t be verified as a resource, anyone can edit it and put anything up there. But increasingly over the years I …
The ladies’ room
Kerry Akers talks about the careful considerations and interdisciplinary collaboration needed to ensure that protection work is not based on harmful assumptions. umanitarian camps are dark at night. The curfew is sunset and the camp is heaving. Spilling out of their crowded tents onto the streets, people sit around dim cooking stoves talking and waving the mosquitoes away. The streets …
The forgotten nexus of sanitation, hygiene & water: Is this the inhibitor to progress?
In the lead-up to World Toilet Day, Oxfam’s Katie Whitehouse looks at how water, sanitation, hygiene and development are connected. n the 1800s, towns and cities across the world, including London, were battling cholera epidemics. Before John Snow published his theory in 1849 that cholera was a waterborne disease, efforts to manage poor sanitation and hygiene were minimal. The realisation …
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