WaterAid Australia Limited

Established in 1981, WaterAid is an international non-governmental organisation focused on improving poor people?s access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. Internationally, we work in 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Central America and the Pacific region and inform decision makers globally to realise our vision of a world where everyone has access to these basic human rights. WaterAid Australia has over ten years’ experience delivering WASH programmes within the Asia- Pacific region and currently manages programs in four countries (PNG, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands, Cambodia) with a fifth program due for launch in late 2015 (Myanmar). As an accredited development partner of the Australian government, WaterAid is a respected sector actor with a strong track record in delivering programs that enhance people?s access to sustainable and equitable WASH. WaterAid works through local partners to deliver services and also focuses on strengthening the relevant sectors in country (infrastructure, health, environment, education) that are responsible for delivery of WASH services in both urban and rural settings. We partner with both government and non-government actors at the sub-national and national level and provide technical, organisational and research capacity building alongside our program delivery. WaterAid?s theory of change relies on demonstrating how to deliver cost effective, equitable, sustainable and scalable WASH programmes and then advocating for the widespread adoption of our approaches by other stakeholders. WaterAid has also driven the adoption and implementation of WASH policies and strategies at national, regional and international level, most recently in PNG (2015) and Timor (2012).

Organisational Capability

1. Technical design of urban and rural domestic water supply systems
2. Sustainable design and monitoring for domestic water supply systems
3. Sector strengthening activities e.g. sector coordination, lesson sharing etc.
4. WASH sector advocacy, policy development, sub-national, national and global engagement
5. Organisational capacity building – local NGOs, community groups, government bodies
6. Facilitation of community development processes – behaviour change, participatory design etc.
7. Disability and Gender inclusive WASH programming, e.g. Menstrual Hygiene Management
8. Engaging Sport Sports for Development programs that target WASH and Gender
9. Water Safety Plans (WSPs)
10. Integration of WASH with health programs e.g. nutrition, health centres etc.

Projects

Changing the conversation: Simple Smartphone technology for use in WASH program lifecycle monitoring (rural Timor-Leste and PNG)
The aim of this project is to develop, test and disseminate, an efficient data collection and analysis system that will support WASH change agents to assess the impact WASH services have delivered for communities and vulnerable groups. The project has developed detailed household baseline and end-line surveys and is currently trialling data collection and visualisation. Enumerators collect and analyse data with a smartphone-based application and there is significant interest from government to use as part of their national planning. This project is funded under the Innovations fund which is part of DFAT’s Civil Society Water Sanitation and Hygiene Fund.
Sanitation in challenging environments (Cambodia)
WaterAid is supporting its partner, Wetlands Work, to pilot sustainable and scalable sanitation solutions for vulnerable populations living in challenging environments in Cambodia. The project will enable access to sanitation in 10 floating villages on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. In this target area, 10 small businesses will be identified, trained and supported to carry out business activity related to the sale of the sanitation solutions (HandyPods). This project expects to improve the health of more than 12,500 people as well as have environmental benefits for the water quality and lake ecosystem.
National baseline and capacity building (Solomon Islands)
The Solomon Islands Government has recently established a rural WASH policy, which clearly outlines the roles and challenges in reaching universal access to water and sanitation by 2024. To attain this goal, WaterAid has identified a need for structured sector coordination and strengthening. This project addresses two key areas of support a) leading on WASH sector coordination and b) supporting a national WASH service baseline. With regards to the baseline, WaterAid is supporting government to design, collect and analyse data about the existing situation as a precursor to collecting a full list of WASH assets across the country.
Decentralised, innovative, urban WASH in Mozambique
This four-year AU$4 million project is focused on improving WASH access in two small towns in Mozambique. The project will test and document models for household sanitation and sludge management to enable an addition 50,000 people to access improved sanitation. WaterAid is working with Municipalities to develop 10 year WASH plans. WaterAid is also working with water service providers to increase access to water in the target communities, schools and health centres – reaching approximately 100,000 people. This project is funded by the Australian Government’s Civil Society WASH Fund, and managed by WaterAid Australia.
Timor-Leste sector strengthening
WaterAid’s program in Timor-Leste is central to the country’s five year strategy. In 2015-16 this program undertook a number of activities aimed at institutional strengthening and increasing the district government’s planning and monitoring capacity on WASH to ensure sustainable service delivery. Some activities include: • Joint sustainability monitoring – monitoring both WaterAid and government supported activities with the district Government’s water and sanitation committee. This is an effective learning mechanism for WaterAid and the District on sustainable approaches and sustained service delivery. • Training local organisations to use community feedback tools to improve government understanding of how contractors are delivering water supply projects.
Cambodia Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement Programme (CR-SHIP): Learning and Documentation SubGrant
WaterAid manages the learning aspects of the Global Sanitation Fund’s CR-SHIP program in Cambodia. The CR-SHIP is an 8-year, USD$12 million program being implemented by 14 local sub-grantee organisations. The program aims to increase sustained access to WASH and will directly benefit more than 400,000 rural households. WaterAid’s role is to improve the effectiveness of the CR-SHIP program through learning and documentation – sharing lessons from the work of the subgrantees and supporting them to improve their skills at documenting and self-reflection. WaterAid will also increase the program’s impact through wider dissemination of lessons and innovations in Cambodia and internationally.