[buzzsprout episode=’2559190′ player=’true’] This podcast focuses on the alternative models we used to boost the profitability and sustainability of rural water supply schemes in Nepal. We speak to Anjil Adhikari who is an Innovation Advisor working for Oxfam on water sanitation and hygiene, and Jessica Graf who is Managing Director of LeFil Consulting. They talk about how they worked together …
Three things we’ve learned about measuring quality in humanitarian WASH responses
Six months ago, we started a process for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practitioners and coordination platforms to measure the quality of our responses across different contexts. James Brown reflects on what we have learned so far. Back in January, we introduced the Quality Assurance and Accountability Project (QAAP) – a Global WASH Cluster initiative led by Oxfam, in partnership with Solidarités International, Tufts University, and UNICEF. The project supports humanitarian WASH coordinators to go beyond simple headline indicators to …
Are Communal Tiger Worm Toilets a sustainable option for camps?
We tested Communal Tiger Worm Toilets in challenging conditions in Myanmar, and evaluated their sustainability. The ‘Tiger Team’ talk us through their findings. As increasing numbers of people are living in camp settings for longer, we need more sustainable alternatives to commonly used pit latrines. Tiger Worm Toilets (TWTs) are a novel sanitary solution that contain composting worms to digest …
A different approach to water management in Nepal
How a financially viable management model could work to ensure sustained safe water access for communities long after project’s end.
How small and regular design tweaks can make a big difference to latrine use
Communications Advisor, Tanya Glanville-Wallis, talks us through the process of developing Sani Tweaks—a series of communications tools for technical staff, promoting best practices in sanitation. Visiting the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, I reflected on just how few women use emergency latrines. Having worked in the humanitarian sector for years, using camp latrines is nothing new to me. Yet …
We must do more to make emergency sanitation safer
Why do so few women and girls use emergency latrines? Rachel Hastie shares key findings that could help make sanitation safer in camps. We looked at the latrine with dismay, as Sarah told us how her relatives had been killed in South Sudan. She had walked to the Ugandan border with her three children and nine nephews and nieces. Their …
A user-centred handwashing kit for emergencies
Foyeke Tolani, Public Health Promotion Adviser and Project Coordinator, describes how a collaboration with a UK school sparked the process of developing Oxfam’s innovative new handwashing kit. For over a decade, we had been exploring handwashing kit options to replace the Tippy Tap. The Tippy Tap requires lots of promotion for sustained use, and as a device it is not …
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it: Quality in WASH responses
As we launch our WASH Impact Series, Oxfam’s Quality Assurance Project Manager, James Brown introduces a new global initiative to help organisations focus on achieving quality in humanitarian WASH responses. What would a quality assurance system for humanitarian WASH programming look like? That’s the question being explored by the Quality Assurance and Accountability Project, a Global WASH Cluster initiative led …