Climbing the water ladder: multiple-use water services for poverty reduction

Multiple use / Models / Water productivity / Research projects / Water supply / Domestic water / Irrigation water / Water governance / Poverty / Gender / Rural areas / Wells / Water harvesting / Runoff / Water storage / Water purification / Appropriate technology / Costs / Local government / Non governmental organizations / Case studies / Ehiopia / Nepal / Zimbabwe / Bolivia / India / Colombia / Thailand / South Africa

Leren in een levensloop : kwalitatief onderzoek naar jeugdervaringen die bijdragen aan betrokkenheid bij natuur en milieu

Dit rapport beschrijft een onderzoek naar de invloed van jeugdervaringen - met name in de basisschoolperiode - op de manier waarop mensen later omgaan met natuur en milieu. Het onderzoek bouwt voort op het onderzoek "Hoe duurzaam is NME?" van Smit et al. (2006). Uit de steekproef van Smit werden 23 respondenten van vier scholen geselecteerd. Daarbij is gezorgd voor een gebalanceerde vertegenwoordiging van leerlingen met meer en minder milieubetrokkenheid en scholen met relatief veel en weinig NME-activiteiten. Uit de resultaten blijkt dat ouders de meeste invloed hebben op de manier waarop mensen met natuur en milieu omgaan. Voor een meerderheid van de respondenten hebben de ouders duidelijk invloed gehad op de huidige omgang met natuur en milieu

The multiple-use water services (MUS) project

The CPWF-supported project ‘Models for implementing multiple-use water supply systems for enhanced land and water productivity, rural livelihoods and gender equity’ (‘CPWF-MUS’) innovated, tested, and documented homestead-scale and communityscale models for Multiple Use water Services in 30 rural and peri-urban sites in 8 countries: the Andes (Bolivia and Colombia), Indus-Ganges (India, Nepal), Limpopo (South Africa and Zimbabwe), Mekong (Thailand) and Nile (Ethiopia). Learning alliances for scaling up and out of results were forged in each country, encompassing a total of 150 water user groups, CBOs, (I)NGOs, domestic sub-sector and productive sub-sector agencies, local government, private service providers, rural development agencies and financers, and knowledge centers. The resulting institutional change at intermediate and national level, together with awareness raising about the MUS models at global level, contributed significantly to a more supportive environment for reaching all water users with the multiple-use water services they need and, thus, using water most effectively to achieve all MDG

Ascendiendo la escala del agua: servicios de abastecimiento de agua de usos multiples para la reduccion de la pobreza. [In Spanish]

Multiple use / Models / Water productivity / Research projects / Water supply / Domestic water / Irrigation water / Water governance / Poverty / Gender / Rural areas / Wells / Water harvesting / Runoff / Water storage / Water purification / Appropriate technology / Costs / Local government / Non governmental organizations / Case studies / Ethiopia / Nepal / Zimbabwe / Bolivia / India / Colombia / Thailand / South Africa

A Case Concerning Children's False Memories of Abuse: Recommendations Regarding Expert Witness Work

Expert witnesses can play a major role in legal cases concerning the reliability of statements. Abuse cases frequently contain only the memories of eyewitnesses/victims without the presence of physical evidence. Here, it is of the utmost importance that expert witnesses use scientific evidence for their expert opinion. In this case report, a case is described in which 20 children reported being sexually abused by the same teachers at their elementary school. The investigative steps that were taken by the police and school authorities are reviewed, including how they probably affected memory. In order to provide a sound expert opinion regarding the reliability of these statements, three recommendations are proposed. To reduce the effect of confirmation bias and increase objectivity, it is argued that expert witnesses’ reports should contain alternative scenarios, be checked by another expert, and focus on the origin and context of the first statement

A Framework for Targeting Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions in Pastoralist Populations in the Afar Region of Ethiopia

Globally, many populations face structural and environmental barriers to access safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Among these populations are many of the 200 million pastoralists whose livelihood patterns and extreme environmental settings challenge conventional WASH programming approaches. In this paper, we studied the Afar pastoralists in Ethiopia to identify WASH interventions that can mostly alleviate public health risks, within the population's structural and environmental living constraints. Surveys were carried out with 148 individuals and observational assessments made in 12 households as part of a Pastoralist Community WASH Risk Assessment. The results show that low levels of access to infrastructure are further compounded by risky behaviours related to water containment, storage and transportation. Additional behavioural risk factors were identified related to sanitation, hygiene and animal husbandry. The Pastoralist Community WASH Risk Assessment visually interprets the seriousness of the risks against the difficulty of addressing the problem. The assessment recommends interventions on household behaviours, environmental cleanliness, water storage, treatment and hand hygiene via small-scale educational interventions. The framework provides an approach for assessing risks in other marginal populations that are poorly understood and served through conventional approaches