Improving WASH governance through advocacy: lessons learned from Afghanistan

Advocacy is an important tool, as it lays a foundation for sustainable change, with its impact at the highest level being the influencing and change of unfavorable or out-dated government policies, legal and regulatory frameworks. This paper illustrates how advocacy can be used in Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programming in post-conflict recovery to enhance good governance in the WASH sector. In this practice, the engagement of government at national and local level directly and through networks as well as the engagement of the community and strengthening of advocacy work at the grass root level is strong. In this case study, the inclusion of advocacy in Tearfund’s WASH programming, led to inclusion of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and Household Water Treatment (Biosand filters) as possible interventions during the revision of the Afghan National WASH Policy

Innovative rainwater harvesting techniques for emergencies: lessons from the field

In the context of global climate change, a growing concern over lowering ground water tables and increased flooding, rain water harvesting (RWH) presents itself as a water source with significant environmental, social and economic benefits worth serious consideration. This paper presents a practical case study of new innovative ideas for simple household level RWH techniques appropriate for transient populations in emergency and post emergency situations, together with analysis of performance, based on a practical field test in Southern Sudan. RWH in its many forms should always be considered as a potential water source to supplement other supplies. This is especially true in emergency and post emergency situations, where RWH in its simplest form, can become a selfhelp water source available to all, while in more complex forms, it can contribute as a significant water source to large communities and camps