Hello Elisabeth,
Thank you for your response to the Thematic discussion on low-cost technology, and interesting ideas.

The discussion on LinkedIn has been very active at www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187 .

Welcome to the Week 3 thematic discussion on research in use. This week we will look at reducing sanitation-related psychosocial stress, and improving the safety and quality of life for women and girls.

The session this week is being led by Dr. Ambumulire Phiri at Mzuzu University, Malawi.

Recent studies have examined how diverse needs of women at different life stages face sanitation-related psychosocial stress that impact their quality of life. These women include adolescent girls of school going age, pregnant women, disabled women, the elderly and women with health conditions such as bladder fistula among others. Menstrual management, bathing, changing clothes, defecation, urination, and accessing water have been identified as some sanitation activities related to psychosocial stress (Hulland et al., 2015 - dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141883 and White et al., 2016 - dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155043).

1. What are some local strategies in place to reduce sanitation-related psychosocial stress and improve the safety and quality of life for women and girls?
2. Are there any innovative ways of addressing these issues?
3. How are women with health related challenges like bladder fistula supported?

We look forward to some constructive and in-depth discussions!

To participate in the discussion, please join here:
WSSCC CoP: www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187

Hi Rochelle,

I hope your thematic discussion on LinkedIn is going really well. Are you inviting people who don't use LinkedIn to participate as well? This could be done by copying posts from one platform to the other (i.e. from LinkedIn to here and vice versa).

Will you make a summary of the discussion of Week 1 available here? I think that would be useful and might encourage more people to participate in Week 2 and 3.

Regarding the two questions of Week 2, my small inputs would be:
1. I don't really understand the question. I would say the answer is "yes", but just because we can develop such technology there are still many questions around uptake and scaling up. E.g. urine-diverting dry toilets have been around for a long time now and they work, but uptake and scaling up seems to be not really happening in most countries.

2. For the second question, this is a bit of an odd one! Most users don't want to see their feces, I would say (not anyone else's but also not their own). With a UDDT that is using a bucket to collect the feces it is easily possible to examine one's faeces if that's needed from a health perspective. But I would say people suffering from diarrhoea can probably describe the consistency of their feces to their doctor without having to examine them. With regards to the larvae of intestinal parasites that's an interesting one. I have no experience with that. Does anyone have experiences of discovering such larvae in your own feces? Or perhaps in the feces of your children?

But overall, I am not so clear on how the second question relates to the first one, or to the overall theme of the discussion.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Welcome to the Week 2 thematic discussion on research in use. This week we will look at low-cost WASH technologies.

The session this week is being led by Dr. Abebe Beyene Hailu, Associate Prof. Dr. and Laureate for Tropical Limnology Research at Jimma University, Ethiopia.

"When I am surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose of inventing low-cost sanitation technologies, anything is possible". Using the Howard Schultz quote
Let us think outside the box and debate on the following questions
Questions
1. Is it not possible to invent a low-cost sanitation technology in a closed-loop approach? For instance, use of urine diversion toilets connected to a solar drying bed and simple pyrolysis chamber where it can lead us to solve the sanitation problem through energy-nutrient-water nexus.
2. Is not also possible to invent a toilet where the user can see and smell his/her own feces only?
This is not just from the point of view of enjoying the smell but to aid the diagnosis of diseases related to sanitation for early treatment. It is common that the doctor usually asks the nature of your stool (bloody, mucous, loose, watery, etc) during patient diagnosis. Users can also treat themselves early when they see larvae of intestinal parasites on their feces.

We look forward to some constructive and in-depth discussions!

To participate in the discussion, please join here:
WSSCC CoP: www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187

Hello and welcome. I am excited to kickoff the first thematic discussion to be held over the next three weeks (3th October – 22nd October 2016) on Applied Research/Research into use. This weeks theme is How to pull practitioners into research?

My name is Rochelle Holm and I work at the Mzuzu University (Malawi, Africa) Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation.  The primary objective of the Centre is to improve the effectiveness of sanitation, hygiene practices, and water supply interventions serving Malawi and the surrounding countries.  The Centre participates in research, water quality (and coming soon fecal sludge) analysis, training, consultancies, outreach programs, and the practical application of research findings. To learn more about our awesome team and innovative current work please visithttp://www.mzuniwatsan.com/ .

I would like to kickoff the discussion this week and listen to how we can pull practitioners into research:

*What are some examples of successful research including WASH practitioners?
*How did these models address the issues of research to support grass roots implementation improvements?
*How were research findings shared?
*What ethical procedures were followed for research study participants?
*In the cases of successful research partnership, were programs initiated and undertaken by academic, governmental or non-governmental actors?

We look forward to some constructive and in-depth discussions!

To participate in the discussion, please join here:
WSSCC CoP: www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187

Hope you can join us next week for the online discussion.

Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) Community of Practice on Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries and the Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation at Mzuzu University (Malawi) are holding a joint 3-week thematic discussion on research in use in water, sanitation and hygiene. The LinkedIn hosted CoP has over 5,900 members each working in WASH and other related sectors; this thematic discussion will be an opportunity to bring together sector practitioners and researchers to share knowledge, learn from each other, identify best practice and explore links between research and practice in the sector.

The thematic discussion will take place on the CoP; with a coordinator moderating the discussions. The discussion will be split into three inter-linked sub-themes and conversation leaders will frame and prompt debates each week on:
 3 - 9 October – Theme 1: How to pull practitioners into research
 10 - 16 October – Theme 2: Low-cost WASH technologies
 17 - 22 October – Theme 3: Reducing sanitation-related psychosocial stress, and improving the safety and quality of life for women and girls

Weekly summaries of discussions will be posted on the CoP as well as a synthesis report of overarching findings at the end.

We look forward to some constructive and in-depth discussions!

To participate in the discussion, please join here:
WSSCC CoP: www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) Community of Practice on Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries and the Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation at Mzuzu University (Malawi) are holding a joint 3-week thematic discussion on research in use in water, sanitation and hygiene. The LinkedIn hosted CoP has over 5,900 members each working in WASH and other related sectors; this thematic discussion will be an opportunity to bring together sector practitioners and researchers to share knowledge, learn from each other, identify best practice and explore links between research and practice in the sector.

The thematic discussion will take place on the CoP; with a coordinator moderating the discussions. The discussion will be split into three inter-linked sub-themes and conversation leaders will frame and prompt debates each week on:
 3 - 9 October – Theme 1: How to pull practitioners into research
 10 - 16 October – Theme 2: Low-cost WASH technologies
 17 - 22 October – Theme 3: Reducing sanitation-related psychosocial stress, and improving the safety and quality of life for women and girls

Weekly summaries of discussions will be posted on the CoP as well as a synthesis report of overarching findings at the end.

We look forward to some constructive and in-depth discussions!

To participate in the discussion, please join here:
WSSCC CoP: www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187