Dear Colleagues:
Thanks to all subscribers of the “Emergency WASH Update.” Please note that this is the last issue of the update, which was prepared by the USAID Water CKM Project, funded by USAID’s RFS Center for Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene.  A new USAID RFS mechanism will provide similar updates in the near future. Since 2018 the Network has expanded from about 30 to 290+ members and shared 230+ updates on Emergency WASH research, network member activities, etc.  

This update features 17 recently published studies and reports on a variety of Emergency WASH topics and some of the issues discussed in the studies include:

• Innovative strategies for providing menstruation-supportive WASH facilities in refugee camps
• mobile modular systems of water treatment and storage
• humanitarian and development support for WASH providers in the Middle East and North Africa

Events

COVID-19 Resilience: Adapting In A Time Of Crisis - This WSUP webinar discussed the challenges faced in the urban WASH sector. Panelists included: Gerald Mwambire, Managing Director, Malindi Water & Sewerage Company; Jeff Goldberg, Director, Center for Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene, USAID; Helena Dollimore, Senior Manager, Global Sustainability, Unilever; and Andrea Jones, Program Officer, International Programs, Hilton Foundation.

COVID-19

WASH & COVID-19 Resources – This Globalwaters.org web page was recently updated with new USAID and other COVID-19 reports and resources.

Summary report: Fostering a new generation of effective hygiene initiatives built on the pandemic experience . COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, February 2021.
This summary report reflects on how programs can be adapted given the protracted nature of the COVID-19 response. This includes building in mechanisms for sustainability and advocating for longer term programmatic, policy and systems changes.

The COVID-19 epidemic and evaluating the corresponding responses to crisis management in refugees: a system dynamic approach . Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, February 2021.
This paper contributes to humanitarian organizations, governments and refugees by discussing useful insights. Implementing the policy of social distance and hygiene behavior policies would help in a sharp reduction of death among refugee groups. and public financial support has improved distance education during this pandemic.

AMR and Covid-19 on the Frontline: A Call to Rethink War, WASH, and Public Health . Annals of Global Health, February 2021.
This Viewpoint calls for a greater understanding of the role that water plays in the transmission of antimicrobial resistance and Covid-19 in protracted urban armed conflict, in order to develop a ‘pathogen-safe’ practice.

Health/Hygiene Issues

Cholera Fact Sheet . WHO, February 2021.
Researchers have estimated that each year there are 1.3 to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths worldwide due to cholera. Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical to prevent and control the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

Innovative strategies for providing menstruation-supportive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities: learning from refugee camps in Cox’s bazar, Bangladesh . Conflict and Health, February 2021.
Although the identified innovative participatory methodologies and design approaches are promising, the long term viability of the facilities, including plans to expand them, may be dependent on the continued engagement of girls and women, and the availability of resources.

Short Communication: Previously unrecognized potential threat to children from manganese in groundwater in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh . Chemosphere, March 2021.
Based on the results of this small-scale study, we recommend undertaking an in-depth study on the occurrence of manganese (Mn) in groundwater in the camps to come up with appropriate strategies to minimize exposure.

Refugee Settlements and Cholera Risks in Uganda, 2016–2019 . American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, February 2021.
Cholera control prevention measures are currently being implemented; however, additional measures are needed to reduce the risk of cholera among refugees including oral cholera vaccination and a water, sanitation and hygiene package during the refugee registration process. 

Draft Genome Sequences of Multidrug-Resistant and mcr-1.1-Harboring Escherichia coli Isolated from Drinking and Well Waters Used in Syrian Refugee Camps . Microbiol Resour Announc, January 2021.
Resistance to colistin, a last-resort antibiotic, threatens the treatment of complicated infections, especially in susceptible populations such as Syrian refugees who live in makeshift camps. Two multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli strains were isolated from the waters used by refugees.

Review: Environmental health conditions in the transitional stage of forcible displacement: A systematic scoping review . Science of The Total Environment, March 2021.
First review of 88 studies on environmental health conditions in displacement. Water supply was the most commonly discussed environmental health topic. Knowledge gaps included menstrual hygiene and oral hygiene.

Sanitation Issues

Faecal sludge management in Africa: Socioeconomic aspects and human and environmental health implications . UNEP, December 2020. This research paper discusses how current trends in fecal sludge management are impacting human and environmental health in Africa.

Water-related Issues

Mobile Modular Systems of Water Treatment and Storage in Crisis Situations – Review of Existing Solutions . Preprints, February 2021. This report reviews standard water treatment methods as well as innovative solutions. Some of the solutions are so effective that they should also be combined with the possibility of safe storage of purified water. Flexible tanks are used for this, which significantly improve logistics and provide a supply of water in all places where it is needed.

Influx of Syrian Refugees in Jordan: Effects on the Water Sector . Sources: Government of Germany; Government of Jordan. February 2021.
Traditional decision pathways of conservative planning must be left behind and regionally adapted concepts for the future need to be implemented. For example, an integrated wastewater and water management approach and the implementation of semi- and decentralized wastewater treatment systems will assist in mitigating extreme water scarcity and protect groundwater resources in Jordan.

Guidelines for Bulk Water Treatment in Emergencies . Oxfam 2020.
This report has been produced to help engineers to quickly set up a reliable water treatment system where mass displacement of people has occurred.

Joining Forces to Combat Protracted Crises: Humanitarian and Development Support for Water and Sanitation Providers in the Middle East and North Africa . World Bank, November 2020.
This report examines five problems identified by WSS service providers operating in protracted crises in the Middle East and North Africa region. Some of the problems discussed include: inadequately governed water resources management; aggressive competition from alternative providers (e.g., tanker trucks), and escalating off-grid energy generation costs. of 

Others

Modeling pastoralist movement in response to environmental variables and conflict in Somaliland: Combining agent-based modeling and geospatial data . PLoS one, December 2020. This study explores how pastoralists respond to changing environments by designing an agent-based model to simulate the movement of nomadic pastoralists.

The Impact of Living Arrangements (In-Camp versus Out-of-Camp) on the Quality of Life: Case Study of Syrian Refugees in Jordan . World Bank, February 2021. This paper explores how Syrian refugees’ quality of life in camps in Jordan differs from that of Syrian refugees residing outside camps.

Dear Colleagues:

This update has links to recent COVID-19 reports added to  globalwaters.org , an upcoming panel discussion, a bibliography on the use of tippy taps in humanitarian situations and recently published studies on the Supertowel and other topics.

Updates to  Globalwaters.org

• Combatting COVID-19 in Africa: Lessons Learned Series Volume 1: Tanzania . WALIS, January 2021.
• Nepal COVID-19 Impact Assessment Report . WASH-FIN, January 2021.
• Assessing the Effects of COVID-19 on Access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in USAID High Priority and Strategy-Aligned Countries: Synthesis Report . USAID, December 2020. 
• Water Currents: WASH & Neglected Tropical Diseases

Events 
WSUP Panel Discussion - Adapting in a Time of Crisis, February 23, 2021 : Has the Covid-19 crisis propelled the WASH agenda forward, or set it back? How are cities responding to the need to provide basic services, and what innovation have we seen in the sector? Speakers include: Jeff Goldberg, Director, Center for Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene, USAID | Neil Jeffery, Chief Executive, WSUP | Andrea Jones, Program Officer, International Programs, Hilton Foundation | Frank Kettey, Country Programme Manager, Ghana, WSUP | Gerald Mwambire, Managing Director, Malindi Water & Sewerage Company, Kenya | Andy Wales, Chief Digital Impact and Sustainability Officer, BT (moderator) 

Recent Studies/Articles on Tippy Taps

• Oxfam rolls out its answer to the tippy tap . Devex, January 2021.
• Practical options for handwashing stations: A guide for promoters and producers . SNV, December 2020.
• Evaluating two novel handwashing hardware and software solutions in Kyaka II refugee settlement, Uganda . Oxfam, November 2020.
• Handwashing Compendium for Low Resource Settings: A Living Document . Sanitation Learning Hub, October 2020.
• New evidence for improving handwashing access and behavior during COVID-19 and beyond . Research for Evidence, August 2020.
• Use, adoption, and effectiveness of tippy-tap handwashing station in promoting hand hygiene practices in resource-limited settings: a systematic review . BMC Public Health, June 2020.
• Barriers and motivators to participation in hand washing promotion programs at household level among refugees in Rhino Settlement, Arua District, Uganda . Cogent Medicine, May 2020.
• Handwashing Stations: Technical Briefing Note . Oxfam, May 2020.
• Video on Hand washing with the tippy tap . WHO, March 2020.

WASH-related Studies/Reports

• Evaluating the Efficacy of the Supertowel™ as a Handwashing Product: A Simulation of Real-World Use Conditions . Am Jnl Trop Med Hyg, January 2021. The aim of this study was to test whether the Supertowel remains as efficacious when used under conditions which mimic real-world hand cleaning in challenging settings.
• Summary report: Fostering a new generation of effective hygiene initiatives built on the pandemic experience . COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, January 2021. This summary report presents key principles that can be drawn upon to influence contextualized approaches to sustainability, advocacy and policy change.
• Efficacy of locally-available cleaning methods and household chlorination at inhibiting biofilm development in jerricans used to store household drinking water . Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 2021, advance article. Results highlight the need for research on locally-appropriate cleaning methods and/or alternatives (e.g. replacement, biofilm-resistant surfaces) to ensure jerricans provide safe storage of drinking water.

Others

• Cash transfers and COVID-19: Experiences from Kiryandongo, Uganda . IDinsight, December 2020. This report reflects an October 2020 snapshot of our work in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement in Uganda, exploring the effect of cash transfers on health and household welfare outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Dear Colleagues:

Below are links to recent studies, upcoming conferences and other resources. Please send links to recent studies or upcoming events that you would like to have featured in the next update.

EVENTS
World Water Week, August 23-17, 2021  - This year, the Week will be held as a full-scale digital event on 23-27 August. World Water Week 2021 will be held under the theme Building Resilience Faster, with a focus on finding concrete solutions to the world’s greatest water-related challenges, starting with the climate crisis and including water scarcity, food security, health, biodiversity, and impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

42nd WEDC International Conference, September 13-15, 2021  - Equitable and Sustainable WASH Services: Future challenges in a rapidly changing world, Call for Contributions.

RECENT USAID PUBLICATIONS/RESOURCES

USAID Globalwaters.org - WASH & COVID-19 RESOURCES  - USAID is helping to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on water and sanitation systems, protect progress, and support rapid recovery. During this global pandemic, the Globalwaters.org team will share the latest resources from USAID and select partners that cover COVID-19 and WASH. Other  recent additions  to the website.

USAID – Providing Humanitarian Assistance  - USAID provides timely and effective humanitarian response, bringing disaster relief and lifesaving assistance amidst complex crises.

USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance: Development & Disaster Risk Reduction: Middle East, North Africa, & Europe - Fiscal Year (FY) 2020  - USAID/BHA provided approximately $7.2 million in FY 2020 to support disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities in the MENAE region.

USAID supported  Wash’Em  - Free software and resources for designing custom hygiene programs in emergencies

USAID 2020 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy . USAID, January 2021. USAID is committed to empowering women and girls across the globe to advance communities in their partner countries on the Journey to Self-Reliance because they know no country can succeed if it excludes the talents and voices of its female population.

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COVID-19
Prevention of COVID-19 in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in War-Torn North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Mixed-Methods Study . Global Health: Science and Practice, December 2020. Findings provide empiric evidence supporting the vulnerability of IDPs to COVID-19 and call for action to protect neglected displaced populations.

Exploring challenges in safe water availability and accessibility in preventing COVID-19 in refugee settlements . Water International, August 2020. Overcoming the challenges of accessibility and availability of safe water is thus, paramount in the response against COVID-19 in refugee settlements.

DSASTER RISK REDUCTION
Humanitarian engineering at the sustainability-development nexus: mapping vulnerability and capability factors for communities at risk of water-based disasters . Sustainability Science, January 2021. This study details an exploratory investigation of community vulnerability and capability mapping that identifies communities with high water-based disasters risk and limited response capability which may benefit from risk reduction engagement and program co-development.

Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards . Sustainability, January 2021. Taking the case of flooding and water shortage, this study is built upon the premise that disasters are a social phenomenon; therefore, it is essential to comprehend the social context in which they occur.

Too much, too little water: Addressing climate risks, no-analog threats and migration in Peru . IOM, January 2021. This brief, based on a systematic review and expert interviews (Bergmann et al., 2020), assesses the scientific evidence on the nexus between climate risks and migration in Peru.

HYGIENE/HEALTH ISSUES
Menstrual hygiene management in schools: midway progress update on the “MHM in Ten” 2014–2024 global agenda . Health Research Policy and Systems, January 2021. We provide recommendations for advancing the MHM in Ten agenda. This includes continued building of the evidence, and expanding the number of countries with national level policies and the requisite funding and capacity to truly transform schools for all students and teachers who menstruate.

Oxfam rolls out its answer to the tippy tap . Devex, January 2021. Oxfam has launched a new hand-washing station it hopes will provide an alternative to the ubiquitous tippy tap in humanitarian settings. The stations, designed with funding from Elrha, a charity focused on humanitarian innovation, feature a mirror and flat space for posters, designed to make them more attractive to use.

Summary Report on the economics of hygiene programmes . COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, January 2021. The content of this resource is designed to aid decision makers as they develop costed national hygiene roadmaps or as they advocate for greater investment in hygiene.

WATER/WASTEWATER ISSUES
A socio-eco-efficiency analysis of water and wastewater treatment processes for refugee communities in Jordan . Resources, Conservation and Recycling, January 2021. Considering the need for more sustainable WASH systems in refugee camps, a socio-eco-efficiency analysis (SEEA) framework is proposed for the analysis and comparison of different wastewater treatment methods.

Resilient Water Infrastructure Design Brief . World Bank, 2020. With a focus on the three natural hazards most likely to affect water and sanitation infrastructure (droughts, floods, and high winds from storms), the document provides a six-step process to help users address weather and climate related challenges that are most likely to affect an infrastructure component.

OTHERS
Using Social Media in Community-Based Protection: A Guide . UNHCR, January 2021. In this guide, we define Social Media as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or participate in social networking (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube). We also mean software that enables messages to be sent and received instantly, also referred to as “Messaging Apps” (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and FB Messenger).

Bridging Gaps in Minimum Humanitarian Standards and Shelter Planning by Critical Infrastructures . Sustainability, January 2021. This article provides an analysis of minimum humanitarian standards contained in the well-known Sphere handbook. Gaps are identified for several critical infrastructure services.

Synthesis Report on the state of food and nutrition security and vulnerability in Southern Africa . SADC, January 2021. This report provides an updated overview of vulnerability across the region as it relates to food and nutrition security. Presently, over 100 million (40%) Southern Africans do not have access to safe drinking water 

USAID Publications/Resources

USAID Water and Development Technical Series: WASH for Women and Girls, December 2020 . USAID elevates the status of women and girls to empower them as decision-makers and professionals in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector so they can lead the transformation of water and sanitation services in their own communities and countries.

USAID Water and Development Technical Series: WASH Governance, December 2020 . The purpose of this brief is to provide a common definition of governance for USAID’s engagement in the WASH and WRM sectors and to describe the process of analysis, strengthening, measuring, and reporting on improvements in WASH and WRM governance.

Additional USAID technical briefs

Webinar: How Effective Are Cash, Vouchers and Market Support Activities in Achieving WASH Outcomes?  PRO-WASH, The Global WASH Cluster, and CaLP, December 2020. This webinar presented findings from a recent systematic review conducted by the Global WASH Cluster GWC which examined how WASH actors in humanitarian settings have used market and cash modalities to deliver essential WASH services and goods,

The latest issue of the  USAID ResilienceLinks  newsletter features the report,  The State of the World’s Cash . CaLP, November 2020. This new report examines progress, changes, and challenges in the use of CVA within the rapidly shifting humanitarian landscape over the last two and a half years.

Early Warning for Early Action: Toward More Behaviorally Informed Early Warning Systems . The REAL Associate Award, November 2020. This paper builds on decades of psychology and social and behavioral change theory and practice to propose a social and behaviorally informed approach to EWS design, development, and implementation.

Pivoting Hygiene and Water Activities to Respond to COVID-19 in the DRC . PRO-WASH, November 2020. This learning note shares some of the adaptations, early results, lessons learned, and challenges experienced by the Budikadidi project as they adapted programming to meet WASH needs that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publications/Blog Posts/Webinars

Period Posse Presents: Addressing Menstruation in Ebola Response: An Overview, December 2020 . The Period Posse Presents forum brought together global health experts to discuss addressing menstruation during the ebola outbreak.

Evidence-based chlorination targets for household water safety in humanitarian settings: Recommendations from a multi-site study in refugee camps in South Sudan, Jordan, and Rwanda . Water Research 2020. Site-specific and evidence-based chlorination targets generated from post-distribution chlorine decay modelling could help improve household water safety and public health outcomes in refugee camp settings where the current Sphere chlorination guideline does not provide adequate residual protection. Water quality monitoring in refugee/IDP camps should shift focus from distribution points to household points of consumption

Guidance Note: Integrating Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) into Ebola Response . Columbia University, 2020. This guidance note was informed by a global desk review and key informant interviews with global experts involved in a range of EVD response efforts in Africa over the last decade.

Tackling the vicious cycle of fragility and water insecurity . World Bank Blog, December 2020. Where water insecurity repeatedly affects populations, it can act as a risk multiplier, intensifying existing grievances, creating new risks, and deepening inequities.

Everything You Need to Know about Water and Migration . IWMI, December 2020. There is certainly a link between climate change, migration and water. But it is not necessarily direct. While extreme heat, or other weather events, are becoming dominating factors in parts of Africa and the Middle East, and households may try to move elsewhere as a result of persistent insecurity, there are also many longer term trends.

Events

Elrha - Innovation Challenge: Adoption Challenge – Facilitating the Innovation of Humanitarian WASH Innovations, Deadline, January 25, 2021  – The Adoption Challenge aims to tackle the complex barriers within the WASH ecosystem that prevent the sustainable adoption of humanitarian WASH innovations.

25th Global WASH Cluster Annual Meeting and Emergency Environmental Health Forum  - The 25th Global WASH Cluster Annual Meeting which will be an interactive event, held online from 19th to 30th of April 2021.

Dear Colleagues

This update contains links to recently published articles and reports and upcoming events and courses. The next update will focus on WASH & neglected tropical diseases in humanitarian situations so let us know of recent research, studies, resources, etc. 

EVENTS
ELRHA – Innovation Challenge: Facilitating the Adoption of Humanitarian WASH Innovations  - The ambition of this first-of-its-kind Adoption Challenge is to enable humanitarian organizations to adopt promising new solutions, adapt them to new settings and evaluate their effectiveness. Application deadline, January 25, 2021.

Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge 2020 Request for Proposals in Numbers, December 2, 2020  - This year, the majority of the solutions (32%) put forward were in the area of Health Supplies and Services; followed by Life-Saving Information (26%); Safe Water and Sanitation (22%); and Energy (20%). Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian Grand Challenge is a partnership of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development office (FCDO), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, with support from Grand Challenges Canada.

COURSES/TRAINING
IHE Delft - Online Course on Governance in Humanitarian Contexts, May – September 2021 : The course aims to critically analyse the humanitarian architecture, the different humanitarian contexts, and decision-making for WASH through a multi-level governance approach.

REPORTS/VIDEOS
USAID Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda . USAID, November 2020. After undertaking a comprehensive and consultative process to identify and prioritize evidence gaps associated with its WASH programming approaches, USAID is launching the first-ever Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda to coordinate, integrate, and inspire research and learning in the WASH sector.

Water under fire volume 2: Strengthening sector capacity for a predictable, quality humanitarian response . UNICEF, November 2020. This second volume of the Water Under Fire report series is dedicated to the WASH sector’s capacity to deliver a predictable, quality humanitarian WASH response, and provides a change agenda and road map towards strengthening this capacity.

Kenya - Using drones to share COVID-19 information with vulnerable populations . COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, November 2020. Project staff decided to pilot the use of drones in humanitarian responses and felt that this was an interesting case study to generate new learnings.

Evaluating two novel handwashing hardware and software solutions in Kyaka II refugee settlement, Uganda . Oxfam, November 2020. The Promotion and Practice Handwashing Kit (PPHWK), a robust, user-friendly handwashing station, and Mum’s Magic Hands (MMH), a creative hygiene promotion strategy, were evaluated.

State of the World’s Sanitation . UNICEF, November 2020. This report includes a chapter on Sanitation for forcibly displaced persons.

COVID-19: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools . UNHCR, November 2020. This document presents the results of a survey assessing the WASH readiness of schools in UNHCR- supported refugee camps and refugee settlements.

WaterTalk: Good Geoscience in Dire Places: Searching for Water in Humanitarian Crises . The Water Institute, November 2020.  In this video, Distinguished Lecturer, Paul Bauman presented "Good Geoscience in Dire Places: Searching for Water in Humanitarian Crises."

JOURNAL ARTICLES
Evidence-based chlorination targets for household water safety in humanitarian settings: Recommendations from a multi-site study in refugee camps in South Sudan, Jordan, and Rwanda . Water Research, February 2021. Water quality monitoring in refugee/IDP camps should shift focus from distribution points to household points of consumption in order to monitor if the intended public health goal of safe water at the point of consumption is being achieved.

Disaster vulnerability and mitigation of humanitarian issues in coastal Bangladesh: Local evidence and knowledge gaps . Progress in Disaster Science, December 2020. Advantageous mitigation measures such as water purification methods and rainwater harvesting techniques, floating agriculture, seed preservation techniques, increasing the plinth of the house, awareness campaign on health issues, etc. were identified.

Previously unrecognized potential threat to children from manganese in groundwater in rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh . Chemosphere, March 2021. Shallow tubewells have higher Mn concentrations than deep tubewells. Detected concentrations exceed those in drinking water regulations/guidelines.

Dear Colleagues:

Below is a listing of recent humanitarian WASH news articles and studies/reports. Let us know if you have news or studies to contribute to the next biweekly update or if you have suggestions for topics that we can feature.

News

Elhra- Exploring the WASH Needs of Women Incontinence Due to Obstetric Fistula, 2020 - The project will examine the lived experiences of the women to unearth, for instance, their daily struggles and more importantly how they meet their water, sanitation and hygiene needs.

Syrian Refugees Use Water and Old Mattresses To Farm (video) . WEF, August 2020. These Syrian refugees are using old mattresses to grow herbs and vegetables. Foam from the mattresses are put in recycled cups along with seeds and water...

How scientists and refugees brought green to the Desert Garden . Nature Reviews, July 2020. From interviewing over 500 project participants, it is clear that the hydroponics systems are able to produce fresh fruit and vegetables.

Opinion: From Cox's Bazar: how to address refugee needs amid COVID-19 . Devex, August 2020. Innovating to adapt preventive measures - Second, aid groups should prioritize adapting preventive measures for challenging contexts, such as facilitating hand-washing without running water in environments where water is scarce.

Publications

Summary report on COVID-19 programming in camps and camp-like settings . COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, August 2020. This report discusses how WASH programs can be adapted to reduce person-to-person transmission in camps or camp-like settings.

Sustainability in Humanitarian Supply Chains: A Preliminary Scoping of Improvements in Packaging Waste Management . USAID, 2020. The topic of packaging waste in the humanitarian assistance sector is full of dynamic discussion, ideas, and initiatives. There is openness to collaboration and to finding common solutions which will provide efficiencies in cost and sustainability. This preliminary scoping aims to help provide a way forward to collective, impactful solutions in the humanitarian packaging waste management landscape.

COVID-19 and Sanitation . Water Currents, August 2020. This issue contains recent studies, reports, and blog posts that discuss COVID-19 and wastewater, wastewater surveillance, medical waste, and solid and household waste.

Compendium on Menstrual Disposal, Waste Management & Laundering in Emergencies, 2020 .The compendium includes practical guidance in addition to a series of case studies of innovations currently being piloted in emergencies globally. It was developed through field visits in Northern Nigeria, Bangladesh and Jordan, a series of global key informant interviews and a robust desk review.

Gap Analysis: The Inclusion of People with Disability and Older People in Humanitarian Response . ELHRA, 2020. The literature reviews drew on systematic review methods and were conducted separately for people with disability and older people to ensure a wide body of evidence was identified. A thematic analysis was completed to organize and map the articles. Both disability and older age articles were mapped across two sets of categories. 

Practice Note: Menstrual Health Management in Humanitarian Settings . The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, July 2020. The authors discuss how interventions can be made sustainable beyond the short-term ‘kit culture’ response; they highlight experiences with more developmental approaches involving policy support, community participation, capacity building,

Distribution of hygiene kits during a cholera outbreak in Kasaï-Oriental, Democratic Republic of Congo: a process evaluation . Conflict and Health, July 2020. This process evaluation documented the implementation, participant response and context of hygiene kit distribution by MSF during a 2018 cholera outbreak in Kasaï-Oriental, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools: Special focus on COVID-19 .UNICEF; WHO, August 2020. In the 60 countries at the highest risk of health and humanitarian crisis due to COVID-19, half of all children lacked basic water service at their school at the start of the outbreak.

Dear Colleagues:
Below is the latest Emergency WASH Network biweekly update. Please let us know if you have research, reports or upcoming events that can be featured in the next biweekly update. 

Member Updates
[From Michelle Tran -  michelle.tran@ouce.ox.ac.uk
A Survey on Faecal Sludge Management in Emergencies: University of Oxford  - Purpose of Survey: This survey inquires about the importance of FSM in WASH responses during first-phase emergencies (approximately the first 6 months of the response) and whether later stages of the FSM chain are prioritized in emergencies. The results of this study will estimate demand for FSM products and guidance among WASH practitioners. Survey results will be shared within the wider emergency WASH sector after publication of this research (September-November 2020).

Upcoming Webinars
July 14 (in English and French) Make Me a Change Agent: An SBC Resource for WASH, Agriculture, and Livelihoods Activities  - USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded SCALE and PRO-WASH awards invite you to this interactive webinar to dive into the Make Me a Change Agent: An SBC Resource for WASH, Agriculture, and Livelihoods Activities training manual, and discuss how these fundamental skills can improve your WASH, agriculture and livelihoods programming.

Culture, Context and Hygiene Promotion for COVID-19 . This is a free interactive online module, delivered live by RedR UK’s hygiene promotion experts. You will learn the key public health risks related to COVID-19 and how these can be addressed by appropriate hygiene promotion.

News
USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Fact Sheet, June 2020  - BHA leads and coordinates the U.S. Government’s humanitarian assistance efforts overseas. The Bureau responds to an average of 75 disasters in more than 70 countries every year.

Twelve finalists in the running for the EIC Horizon Prize for Affordable High-Tech for Humanitarian Aid . European Commission, June 2020 - LORAWAN monitoring by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), real-time solutions for water tanker and water reservoir remote monitoring to improve the effectiveness of water trucking programming globally. WATER4HUMANITY by Tel Aviv University, a new circular economy solution allowing ultra-filtration of water using discarded “artificial kidney” filters.

Faecal Sludge Management Toolbox: Learn  - Find relevant case studies, ToRs, manuals, policy documents, reports and videos on FSM from around the world in this online repository.

WASH in Humanitarian Situations
Lebanon: Menstrual Hygiene Management Among Syrian Refugee Women in the Bekaa . Oxfam, June 2020. The research provides potential solutions and recommendations for integrating menstrual hygiene management in humanitarian responses, particularly targeted at the WASH, protection, education and health sectors.

Mozambique’s response to cyclone Idai: how collaboration and surveillance with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions were used to control a cholera epidemic . Infectious Diseases of Poverty, June 2020. We describe emergency measures taken by the Government of Mozambique, in collaboration with multilateral partners, to establish a real-time disease surveillance system, implement interventions recommended by a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) taskforce and rapidly scale up a massive community vaccination program to control a cholera epidemic.

Factors associated with adherence to safe water chain practices among refugees in Pagirinya refugee settlement, Northern Uganda . J Water Health, June 2020. In refugee settings, adherence to safe water chain is critical in minimizing water-related diseases.

Mapping of Climate Smart Programming in Refugee Hosting Districts in Uganda . IDS, 2020. When excluding capital investment, most alternatives were economically viable at the existing water fee currently paid by Ugandan citizens in the area (0.83 USD/m3), and solar driven pumps were down to 0.09 USD/m3. Water trucking is the worst option in terms of both the economic and environmental analysis at 7–8 USD/m3 and >1 kg CO2-eq/m3.

WASH & COVID-19
WASH and COVID-19 in Humanitarian Settings: How Can We Improve Hygiene Behaviors . REACH Initiative, 2020. This webinar focused on community-level preventative behaviors for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in crisis-affected settings. In particular, speakers discussed handwashing promotion and physical distancing measures in these challenging settings.

Commentary: The potential impact of water quality on the spread and control of COVID-19 in Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon . Journal of Water International, June 2020. Investments should be directed to provide the camps with clean and regularly monitored water by providing filters on the main water sources for the camps when possible.

“This is our next problem”: Cleaning up from the COVID-19 response . Waste Management, May 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic will produce an immense amount of waste to be managed. The waste impact of our socio-cultural responses to disasters is poorly understood.The waste impact of disasters, will increase due to climate change. We propose several research pathways on waste impacts of our response to COVID-19.

The potential impact of COVID-19 in refugee camps in Bangladesh and beyond: A modeling study . PLoS One, June 2020. Findings suggest that a COVID-19 epidemic in a refugee settlement may have profound consequences, requiring large increases in healthcare capacity and infrastructure that may exceed what is currently feasible in these settings.

World’s Refugee Camps at Risk for Major COVID-19 Outbreak . Circle of Blue, June 2020. While new cases in countries around the world begin to drop, the crisis in refugee camps may be just beginning. “If the virus is allowed to spread,” Bergman said, “it could mean a generational setback to the lives and ambitions of refugees, internally displaced people and local communities.”

How Long Should Hands Be Washed?  COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, June 2019. Given that COVID-19 can transmit via surfaces, as well as respiratory droplets, it is important that hands are washed at additional and different times to what would normally be recommended for the control of diarrheal diseases.[/font]

Dear Colleagues:

Links to each of the items listed below are on Sanitation Updates .

Dear Colleagues:

Please contact Travis Yates, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., if you have any questions or suggestions about the Resource Center. Also listed below are other recently published publications and resources.

RESOURCE CENTER UPDATES

The Global WASH Cluster is maintaining a resource center focused on humanitarian WASH with links to relevant journal articles, toolkits, and NGO learnings ( wrc.washcluster.net/ ). There are over 200 key documents cataloged that cover a variety of WASH themes. A sample of recent documents includes:

- Guidance on Chlorine Tablet Selection for Household Use in Emergencies (2019)
- A Scoping Review of International Guidelines of Prevention and Control of Cholera with WASH Interventions (2020)
- A Summary of WASH Coordination in Emergency Response (2019)

WEBSITES/ORGANIZATIONS

Resiliencelinks - The Center for Resilience is part of USAID’s Bureau for Food Security, soon to be the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security.

University of Colorado, Boulder Drought Resilience Impact Program (DRIP) - The Drought Resilience Impact Platform’s comprehensive systems design integrates early detection and planning with proactive groundwater management to ensure water availability, thus enabling drought-prone communities to become effective managers in the prevention of these humanitarian crises.

BLOG POSTS

5 myths about refugees and WASH. SWA, February 2020. This factsheet identifies and debunks 5 common myths surrounding displaced people, and highlights the implications that WASH practitioners must consider.

Kerlink Gateways powers water-monitoring pilot program for UN refugee agency. Waterworld, Feb 2020. Remote wireless sensing and communication abilities are a possible game-changer for monitoring in refugee situations.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Hygiene programming during outbreaks: a qualitative case study of the humanitarian response during the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. BMC Public Health, January 2020.
The experiences of humanitarians allowed us to identify areas that could be strengthened when designing hygiene programmes in future outbreaks. Specifically, we identified a need for rapid research methods to explore behavioural determinants; increased skills training for frontline staff, and increased operational research to explore behaviour change strategies that are suited to outbreak situations.

Child handwashing in an internally displaced persons camp in Northern Iraq: A qualitative multi-method exploration of motivational drivers and other handwashing determinants. PLoS One, February 2020.
Access to soap and water was perceived to be high across all participant groups. Children, caregivers and hygiene promoters all perceive the determinants of child handwashing to be associated with familial role, environmental factors pertaining to location and quality of handwashing materials and facilities, and level of exposure to hygiene promotion, and children also attribute their handwashing to social norms. We find that children in this context are motived most by play and nurture.

Syrian Refugees, Water Scarcity, and Dynamic Policies: How Do the New Refugee Discourses Impact Water Governance Debates in Lebanon and Jordan? Water, January 2020.
This study is novel because of the focus on the new discourse of refugees in relation to water governance debates in both Lebanon and Jordan.

REPORTS

Chlorine Tablet Use for Household Water Treatment in Emergencies: Guidance for Tablet Selection. Chlorine Tablet Working Group, April 2019.
The goal of this document is to provide guidance on the assessment and interpretation of the parameters that influence tablet choice and the selection of specific size(s) of chlorine tablets which should (non-bindingly) be recommended for distribution in a particular emergency context.

PulseSatellite: A tool using human-AI feedback loops for satellite image analysis in humanitarian contexts, January 2020. We present PulseSatellite, a collaborative satellite image analysis tool which leverages neural network models that can be retrained on-the fly and adapted to specific humanitarian contexts and geographies. We present two case studies, in mapping shelters and floods respectively, that illustrate the capabilities of PulseSatellite.

The role of social connectedness among South Sudanese refugees in West Nile, Uganda. Mercy Corps, January 2020. The objective of this report is to help humanitarian aid actors understand important and often overlooked sources of household resilience during displacement. This understanding may help humanitarian aid actors design more effective interventions that strengthen existing social connections on which displaced populations rely for support

Dear Colleagues:

Links to each of the items listed below are on Sanitation Updates .

Please contact Travis Yates, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., if you have any questions about the GWC Resource Center. Also below are news from Elrha, USAID, studies from Lebanon and Bangladesh and some interesting blog posts from UNHCR, CGIAR and others.emergencies

The Global WASH Cluster is maintaining a resource center focused on humanitarian WASH with links to relevant journal articles, toolkits, and NGO learnings ( wrc.washcluster.net/ ). There are nearly 200 cataloged documents covering a variety of WASH themes. A sample of documents includes:

- Guidance on Market Based Programming for Humanitarian WASH Practitioners (2019)
- Assessing Emotional Motivators for Handwashing with Soap in Emergencies: Results from Three Asian Countries (2019)
- Evaluation of an Emergency Bulk Chlorination Project Targeting Drinking Water Vendors in Cholera-Affected Wards of Tanzania (2019)
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Innovation Catalogue: A Collection of Innovations for the Humanitarian Sector (2019)
- Menstrual Hygiene Management During Emergencies: A Study in Flood-prone Districts in Assam (2019)

NEWS

WASH EVIDENCE INNOVATION CHALLENGE: DEVELOP ROBUST EVIDENCE ON HUMANITARIAN WASH INNOVATIONS. Elrha, November 2019.
We are looking for robust research studies that generate practical, comparative evidence around HIF-funded WASH innovations. The evidence will be useful for both the innovations themselves and the humanitarian sector as a whole. These studies need to be collaborations between WASH innovators, researchers and humanitarian agencies.

USAID Announces Nearly $56 Million in Additional Humanitarian Assistance to Contain Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. USAID, November 2019.
With this funding, the United States is continuing to provide life-saving assistance through on-the-ground partners, including activities to prevent and control infections in health facilities, enhanced surveillance for the disease, training for health-care workers, community-engagement efforts, the promotion of safe and dignified burials, and food to support people and communities affected by Ebola.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Refugees, water balance, and water stress: Lessons learned from Lebanon. Ambio, November 2019.
Results of our spatial analysis show that while the impact of refugees and indirectly conflicts’ on water stress is of paramount importance and it cannot be neglected, opportunities exist for the international community to intervene and provide for water supply and network efficiency improvements, which can relieve the induced stress.

Occurrence of Escherichia coli and faecal coliforms in drinking water at source and household point-of-use in Rohingya camps, Bangladesh. Gut Pathogens, November 2019. Despite the limitations and challenges faced, this is the first study of water quality assessment in the Rohingya camps involving almost half of the total drinking water sources.

A Synthesis Report Analyzing Menstrual Hygiene Management Within a Humanitarian Crisis. OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, November 2019.
The lack of universal policy surrounding the implementation of MHM in a crisis has implications not only for women’s health and dignity, but also for a country’s progress towards the related SDG targets.

Beyond mapping: a case for geospatial analytics in humanitarian health. Conflict and Health, November 2019.
This paper explores a variety of historical and contemporary geospatial applications in the public health and humanitarian fields and argues for greater integration of geospatial analysis into humanitarian health research and programming.

BLOGS

Groundwater can prevent drought emergencies in the Horn of Africa. Here’s how. The Conversation, November 2019.
The idea is that drought-driven humanitarian emergencies can be prevented if groundwater is reliably made available at strategic locations.

The Growing Threat of Water Wars. Project Syndicate, November 2019.
Today, hundreds of international water agreements are coming under pressure.

Bringing toilets into the home boosts refugees’ health and security. UNHCR, November 2019.
Burundian refugees in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo receive cash to construct houses and toilets, improving access to better sanitation.

11,000 Steps to Water: How data visualization can impact American perceptions of refugees. UNHCR, November 2019.
One of the prototypes developed was an activity tracking app. This app helps Americans see how their daily activity compares to the daily activity of refugees.

New project offers circular economy solutions for refugee and host communities in East Africa. CGIAR, October 2019.
‘We have developed solutions like pellets from fecal sludge for agriculture and safe wastewater reuse for urban agriculture,’ said the Ethiopian economist. ‘These RRR solutions and other innovations from low-space farming can be adapted to work in refugee settlements.’

REPORTS

Safer water, better health: 2019 update. WHO, 2019.
The report also presents selected WASH interventions that have been shown to improve health and complements them with available cost–effectiveness analyses.

Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), 2019.
The guidelines set out essential actions that humanitarian actors must take in order to effectively identify and respond to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities who are most at risk of being left behind in humanitarian settings. Chapter 18 is on WASH issues.

Dear Colleagues:

Links to the items listed below are on Sanitation Updates :

Dear Colleagues:

This biweekly update includes an upcoming webinar and recent reports on water trucking and other topics. Also included is a brief bibliography on mobile technologies in humanitarian WASH settings. Please let us know if you have other studies and resources to add to the bibliography.

WEBINARS

November 13, 2019 Period Posse Presents | Changing the Norm: Mainstreaming Female Friendly Toilets | Speakers: David Clatworthy, IRC: Developing a female-friendly toilet toolkit for emergencies; Lea Jimera Acallar, Danish Red Cross: Innovative toilet designs in Bangladesh; Annie Msosa, WaterAid: Female-friendly public and community toilets: A Guide

REPORTS/BRIEFS

Briefing note on water trucking in refugee settings. UNHCR, 2018. This UNHCR technical guideline has been prepared for anyone involved in planning and implementing water trucking in refugee contexts including UNHCR staff, WASH organizations, water trucking contractors, governments and individuals.

Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) Scale. HWISE, 2019. The HWISE Scale has many uses: identify populations vulnerable to water insecurity; understand causes and consequences of water insecurity; track trends in household water insecurity over time; monitor and evaluate the impact of water policies and programs.

USAID OFDA DRC Ebola Fact Sheets – September 2019.

Humanitarian Investing – Mobilizing Capital to Overcome Fragility. World Economic Forum, 2019. This paper offers an articulation of the humanitarian investing landscape and its main actors and guiding principles, building upon ongoing work that promotes new models and multistakeholder dialog to complement, not replace, existing humanitarian response mechanisms.

Global humanitarian assistance report 2019. Development Initiatives, 2019. In 2018, an estimated 206.4 million people living in 81 countries were deemed in need of humanitarian assistance. A large portion of these people continued to be concentrated in a small number of countries: six countries accounted for 80.6 million people in need.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Deep Groundwater as an Alternative Source of Water in the Ogaden Jesoma Sandstone Aquifers of Somali Region, Ethiopia. Water, August 2019. The study provided insights into deep groundwater identification and development as well as adaptive deep borehole drilling as a source for climate-resilient water supplies.

BLOGS/NEWS

Climate Change Is Hurting Africa’s Water Sector, but Investing in Water Can Pay Off. WRI, October 2019. Improving water management in African countries can boost their climate resilience.

The United States supports the world's first fish farm in a refugee camp. World Food Program, October 2019.

Japanese startups develop innovative ways to supply water in disasters. Kyodo News, October 2019.

Biplab and His Bhungroo Pipe—An Earthquake Results in Innovation. Securing Water for Food, September 2019.

UNHCR Refugee Briefs – October 2019. UNHCR.

EMERGENCY WASH AND MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES

Mapping and analysis of the disaster risk of water supply schemes by using mobile application. 41st WEDC International Conference in Kenya, 2018. After the earthquake of Nepal in 2015, a study was conducted the risk mapping and carried out analysis of the selected water supply scheme (WSS) at all links in the water supply chain from source to consumers and also determined the functionality status of WSS in the post-earth quake scenario by developing a standardized user guidebook and methodologies. A mobile based tool KOBO was used to collect the data and information and findings were linked with Google Earth.

The digital lives of refugees: How displaced populations use mobile phones and what gets in the way. GSMA, July 2019. Humanitarian services are increasingly digitising and mobile phone penetration and use among refugees is growing. The transition to mobile-based services can offer significant protection dividends and other wide-ranging benefits for refugees who are digitally literate, have the means to be digitally included (such as appropriate ID) and can access and engage with mobile services effectively.

Disruptive technologies and their use in disaster risk reduction and management. ITU, 2019. Technological advancement and innovation have created new opportunities for enhancing disaster resiliency and risk reduction. Developments in disruptive technologies – such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data – and innovations in such areas as robotics and drone technology are transforming many fields, including disaster risk reduction and management.

Global Report on Water and Disasters. High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP), July 2019. Water-related disasters in 2018 resulted in death toll of 6,500, over 57 million people affected, and economic loss of 140 billion US Dollars worldwide

Continuous safe water monitoring using 3G telemetry in IDP camp water supply systems: Iraq trial. 41st WEDC International Conference Kenya, 2018. The Chloroclam, a small high-resolution chlorine analyser that transmits continuous real-time data through a 2G/3G mobile network, was trialled over a 7-month period in an IDP camp in Northern Iraq to determine its functionality and ease of use in a crisis context. The results validated the data produced by the Chloroclam, with datasets highlighting significant seasonal and diurnal variances in chlorine concentrations.

Dear Colleagues:

Links to each of the resources listed below are on Sanitation Updates :

Publications/Research

Water under fire volume 1: Emergencies, development and peace in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. UNICEF, August 2019. The report presents practical and evidence-based water and sanitation solutions that can be replicated and scaled up. It highlights the need for leadership to bring about immediate action to accelerate water and sanitation service delivery in fragile and conflict-affected contexts; prevent water-related tensions between groups and political entities; and ensure the right to water and sanitation for every child. emergencies

WELLSPRING: Source Water Resilience and Climate Adaptation. Nature Conservancy, August 2019. As the pace of climate change quickens, Source Water Protection is now also becoming a critical component to ensuring resilience. Climate change presents a new range of threats, drivers, and uncertainties in how we interact with freshwater ecosystems, but recently developed approaches to cope with climate impacts will ensure that source waters can survive — and thrive — into the future.

WHAT IF THE WATER WE USE AT NUTRITION CLINICS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO HARM? Elrha blog, 2019. What the experience in Ethiopia showed us is that the silence around what constitutes “good enough” water for reconstituting therapeutic products can have potentially fatal consequences for the most vulnerable.

Young social entrepreneurs making waves with water-saving manual washing machine in IDP camps in Iraq. The Washing Machine Project, August 2019. In March 2019, Navjot Sawhney and Alex Hughes, both engineers and co-founders of the fledgling social enterprise The Washing Machine Project conducted research into clothes-washing habits across four IDP camps in Northern Iraq.

The Current Ebola Outbreak and the U.S. Role: An Explainer. KFF, August 2019. The major question for the U.S. government going forward is whether or not it will change its approach and engagement in the DRC in light of the PHEIC declaration and the lack of progress in interrupting transmission of the virus so far.

Urban humanitarian response. ODI, 2019. Chapter 4.4 discusses WASH issues. Included is an interesting section on Cash and WASH. As with other sectors, the use of cash in relation to WASH is increasingly resonating in urban emergencies.

HUMANITARIAN WASH PRESENTATIONS AT WORLD WATER WEEK 2019

A call to action for handwashing behavior change in emergencies – Resources: Resources include links to Mum’s Magic Hands Website and Mum’s Magic Hands: A field guide for rapid implementation of handwashing promotion in emergencies.

Sustainable Sanitation Solutions for Refugees and displaced persons – Includes presentations by: Sustainable sanitation solutions in protracted and conflict situations, Graham Alabaster, UN-Habitat | Faecal Sludge and Wastewater Management in Emergency Settings, Christoph Lüthi, Eawag | New approaches to financing sanitation in the humanitarian, Murray Burt UNHCR | Sanitation solutions for conflict affected and fragile states, UNICEF.

AWARDS

Elrha – Eight Innovation Grants Awarded to Support Wider Adoption of Projects – We have recently funded a collection of grantees, who had previously received funding from our HIF programme at the piloting and implementation stage, to support wider adoption outside of the innovation’s original setting. The WASH-related projects include:

SANITWEAKS: SANITATION RESEARCH DIFFUSION FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT AT SCALE, OXFAM GB
SUPERTOWEL LARGE SCALE MANUFACTURING SETUP, REAL RELIEF
FAIRCAP WATER FILTERS FIELD DIFFUSION, FAIRCAP
LOVE CLEAN HANDS: USING PUPPETRY TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN HANDWASHING COMMUNITY INITIATIVES, NO STRINGS INTERNATIONAL
USER-CENTRED EMERGENCY SANITATION DESIGN, SAVE THE CHILDREN UK
OCTOPUS: GUIDANCE ON FAECAL SLUDGE DISPOSAL IN EMERGENCIES, SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL

WEBINARS

Why Do Social Connections Matter for Resilience and Recovery? September 5, 2019 – Join Marketlinks on September 5th for a webinar with Alex Humphrey, Jeeyon Kim and Vaidehi Krishnan from Mercy Corps to find out more about the ongoing USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)-funded research in South Sudan. They will discuss their effort to understand and measure how household social connectedness links to resilience, and highlight the implications of research findings for returns and recovery in South Sudan.

Period Posse Presents: New Research Trials – Join us to discuss updates from three key menstrual research trials in Kenya, Uganda, and the Gambia, September 11, 2019 – Penny Philips-Howard, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine: Menstrual research studies conducted among schoolgirls in rural western Kenya | Helen Weiss, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Menstrual health interventions and school attendance among Ugandan students (MENISCUS) | Belen Torondel, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Puberty health interventions to improve menstrual health and School attendance among Gambian adolescents (MEGAMBO)

TRAINING

Training on Faecal Sludge Management in Emergencies, October 1-2, 2019, DSS water and IHE Delft – The course will present an overview of containment, transport, treatment and disposal practices. As reference material the Compendium of Sanitation Technologies in Emergencies is used.

SIWI has prepared a useful 205 page report that contains a compilation of presentations that have been chosen for this year’s seminars and the link is:

https://admin.worldwaterweek.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/abstract-volume-all-seminars.pdf

Below are highlights and conclusions from 9 presentations that discuss humanitarian WASH-related issues. Just go to the page number to see the complete abstract and additional information about the author:

Page 65 - Business innovations in sanitation for refugee settlements in East Africa
Authors: Dr. Miriam Otoo, International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka

The paper shows that different waste-reuse business models have great potential to support the provision of sustainable sanitation service delivery and improve livelihoods of refugee communities, by using generated revenues from recovered resources to bridge financial gaps and complement other supporting mechanisms for waste management, and catalyzing small business creation.

Conclusions and recommendations: Market-driven mechanisms are increasingly being adopted in the sanitation sector to catalyze higher degrees of cost recovery or profit generating to better deliver waste management services, and this applies to refugee settlements and rural host communities. Resource recovery and reuse of waste has an important role to play in the provision of sustainable sanitation service delivery, however limited to no cultural acceptance of production practices and end-use of recovered resources from human waste can hinder business creation in the sector. Capacity development that directly engages both refugee and host communities will be critical to mitigate the effects of these barriers

Page 107 - Water and sanitation, migration and the 2030 Agenda
Authors: Dr. Guy Jobbins, Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom

This briefing explores the relationships between water, sanitation and migration, and how they may affect the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, we discuss the fact that while water and sanitation do not appear to drive migration, the process of migration can radically shape access to water and sanitation services – particularly for undocumented migrants and people in transit. We question whether attaining universal access to safely managed water and sanitation services is possible without specific measures to address the needs of refugees and other migrants.

Conclusions and recommendations: 1) Migration isn’t driven by a lack of water and sanitation services, but governments which provide services can support successful migration. 108 2) Achieving universal WASH access will not be possible unless all people have access to water and sanitation services, regardless of their migratory status. 3) Challenges stem from failures in governance, not the amount of water available, numbers of migrants or rates of migration; strengthened water governance can help better cope with the impacts of migration. 4) The poor visibility of migrants in data limits understanding of their needs and reduces the accountability of governments and service providers.

Page 109 - Water, Migration and Conflict: A Subnational Analysis
Authors: Mr. Stefan Döring, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala , Sweden

Highlights: Our research scrutinizes linkages between migration, water security, and violent conflict. Employing a subnational approach allows for a more fine-grained perspective. With data on precipitation, flooding, groundwater depth, water pollution, and other water-related variables, the work offers a comprehensive analysis of several factors that are crucial when understanding the links.

Conclusions and recommendations: Governments are positioned to alleviate both issues with migration and water shortages by implementing environmental policies that involve disaster risk reduction, resource conservation, or redistribution. Yet, this also underlines the importance of non-governmental actors which can significantly support policy efforts. This research identifies not only broader regions that are of higher security concerns; moreover, the work 110 highlights where actions are required within a country. Problems with water allocation are not ubiquitous and demand actions depending on the context. This research enables us to differentiate between different sources of conflict and migration, thereby unpacking some of these complexities.

Page 111 - International Laws of Water Access: Experiences of Displacement and Statelessness
Authors: Ms. Carly Krakow, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United States

Highlights: I offer unprecedented analysis of international criminal law’s role for grappling with water access restrictions. - The stateless/displaced/armed conflict zone residents are disproportionately impacted by lack of water, yet uniquely vulnerable under international law. - I propose remedies for international law’s struggle to guarantee the human right to water for refugees/IDPs.

Conclusions and recommendations: Increased dialogue between water and humanitarian law is analyzed (e.g. UN Watercourses Convention, Geneva Conventions). The ICC and ICJ’s roles are evaluated to assess possibilities for making post-conflict reparations to victims of water access denial. The ICC’s 2016 declaration that it would prioritize environmental crimes suggests that the Court is amenable to grappling with water access denial as an international crime—a potentially unprecedented development. I recommend support for the ICC to expand the Trust Fund for Victims to make reparations to water crimes victims, particularly those who are stateless/from states unable or unwilling to make reparations (e.g. Yemen, Syria).

Carly has conducted research in the West Bank, Greece, The Hague, and Geneva, supported by awards including the Gallatin Global Fellowship in Human Rights. For more information about her work please visit: www.lse.ac.uk/law/people/phd/carlykrakow

Page 113 - Addressing the water-migration nexus from a governance perspective
Authors: Fatine Ezbakhe, Mediterranean Youth for Water (MedYWat) network, Morocco

Highlights: - The aim is to contribute to the ongoing debate about water and migration interlinkages. - A ‘drivers for migration’ conceptual framework is used to analyze the triggering factors for Syrian migration. - The analysis highlights the complexity of the water-migration nexus and the need to pay attention to existing water governance frameworks.

Conclusions and recommendations: Although not exhaustive, the analysis of the Syrian migration confirms two key points. First, the complexity of the water-migration nexus requires focusing on all underlying drivers in order to develop effective policies for environmental migration. Second, special attention must be paid to the water governance frameworks in place, as they can constitute both barriers and facilitators to migration. The time is now ripe for more indepth research to better understand the linkages between water governance and migration policy. Furthermore, more dissemination of this research on water and migration is needed to help practitioners and policy-makers address the migration challenge.

Page 115 - Sanctuary: Footing the Bill for the Costs of Migration
Authors: Prof. Luke Wilson, The Center for Water Security and Cooperation, United States

Highlights: This paper/presentation will discuss how the costs of migration are allocated between nations, including who is legally responsible to cover those costs. For many water poor countries, providing basic services to refugees, migrants, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) can be overwhelming. Are they alone in footing the bill?

Conclusions and recommendations: This paper will suggest novel approaches to the idea of internationally wrongful acts that allows receiving states to seek compensation from states that create or foment refugee and migrant crises. These states are exporting economic and political crises, including scarce resources, to receiving states, and the legal regime has evolved to create the possibility of legal redress for this burden. For other states, obligations to assist the receiving state with resources and money is an evolving rule of law, which will be fully addressed in the presentation when the research is completed.

Page 131 - Less to lose?: Drought vulnerability assessment in the disadvantaged regions
Authors: Dr. Caroline King, The Borders Institute (TBI), Africa and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), United Kingdom

Highlights: Fundamental practical and methodological challenges confound assessments of the costs of drought in disadvantaged dryland communities. To overcome these challenges a proactive global vulnerability assessment approach should apply the available methods inclusively and iteratively. The UNCCD offers international coordination for such an approach to assess reductions in vulnerability to drought.

Conclusions and recommendations: Better informed assessments at all levels should help decision-makers to prevent further exacerbation of multi-dimensional global threats and hazards by droughts occurring in the marginal dry areas of developing countries. There is no shortage of methods for assessment of vulnerability to drought. A coordinated international process is needed to ensure that the available methods for drought vulnerability assessment are applied systematically, coordinated and improved so that adaptation can reduce drought impacts on the most vulnerable.

Page 133 - Ensuring flood insurance is socially inclusive: some challenges and solutions
Authors: Mr. Mohamed Aheeyar, International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka

Highlights: - Affecting on average over 82 million people annually, floods can undermine numerous Sustainable Development Goals especially in the developing world. - Many affected are rural farmers, with limited ability to withstand crop loss. - This research explores how insurance schemes for flood-based crop loss can be accessible to the most vulnerable groups.

Conclusions and recommendations: Floods affect millions of poor farmer households annually. Flood insurance can build their resilience to losses, but poor finance, social networks, illiteracy, and gendered norms can undermine access to and understand the insurance amongst vulnerable groups. The complex structure of flood insurance requires thoughtful product rollout to build farmer trust and minimize unrealistic expectations. Partners with extensive knowledge of rural social structures, institutional capacity and credibility at village level can help overcome these challenges through a systematic and locally appropriate rollout process. These need to be incorporated from the outset in product design through dialog between the insurer, local partner(s).

Page 204 - Providing Sanitation to Off-grid Areas: a Successful Story from Cambodia
Authors: Mr. Michael White, Asian Development Bank, Philippines

Highlights: Solar septic tank installation in remote, off-grid areas, which are not reached by traditional infrastructure; Innovative technology application in remote communities to address sanitation issues in areas with vulnerable women and children. Use of complete sanitation value chain approach amidst geographical and spatial limitations.

Conclusions and recommendations: This study showed that it is possible to provide complete sanitation services to all areas reaching the 'last mile'. Difficult site conditions can be hurdled by appropriate technologies and methodologies, combined with proper coordination with local communities and government support. Innovative technologies can be encouraged for mainstreamed use after they have demonstrated their effectiveness. Piloting innovative technologies is an effective way to test the suitability of new systems. In addition, training local operators and the larger community on technology operation and maintenance is paramount.