The Sanitation Learning Hub

Have you heard about our online course on using ethical photos in the WASH sector? 📸 It’s well-suited to anyone working in WASH and interested in using photos in their communications, research or advocacy work. That could include researchers, communications officers, programme managers, funders, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) specialists and others. We're running the course three times over the summer, register before 20th May to join us in June ✅ 📅 10th, 12th, 17th, 19th June 📅 8th, 10th, 15th, 17th July 📅 5th, 7th, 12th, 14th August Find out more and register here ➡ https://bit.ly/3TgL6Hn For more information on how and why we developed the course, check out our blog ✏ https://lnkd.in/en_Y5T_G #WASH #EthicalImages #Photovoice #Inclusion FYI, please share if you can - Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) Sanitation and Water for All - a UNICEF-hosted global partnership Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) The Sanitation and Hygiene Fund Water Sanitation and Hygiene Institute (WASH Institute) WASH Innovation Hub (WIH)

In recent years, hygiene, and especially handwashing, have been high on the global agenda due to Covid-19. Now that discussion has faded - are people washing their hands with soap properly, and at the right times? After defecation ✅ Cleaning a child’s bottom and/or handling child faeces ✅ Before feeding children (including breastfeeding) ✅ Before food preparation and eating ✅ Children’s faeces are often incorrectly believed to be less dangerous than those of adults and frequently continue to be unsafely disposed of, including in areas with high levels of toilet use. Changing hygiene behaviours is notoriously difficult and new innovative approaches need documenting and spreading. Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, will force the sector to incorporate water access with handwashing and hygiene interventions in better ways. Check out our resources on handwashing and hygiene, including our "Handwashing Compendium for Low-Resource Settings" ➡ https://lnkd.in/e84gx5Je #Handwashing #Hygiene #WASH

We have recently partnered with Self Help Africa (project lead) and Toilet Pride to begin a new project "FragileSAN" focusing on rural sanitation in fragile and insecure contexts in Nigeria, working with Shaaperaga Shadrack Guusu and Will Tillett among others. FragileSAN is an action research project and will investigate whether conventional approaches such as CLTS and market-based sanitation are effective in areas of insecurity and conflict. The team will research and document where adaptations to these approaches have been used in Benue state. We'll also be seeking to identify and document experiences of other WASH sector actors in Nigeria in programming rural sanitation in fragile contexts in other parts of the country, so that the learnings and outputs of this project reflect a wider range of contexts, and fragility issues. The project aims to develop and widely share an adapted approach and toolbox of scalable solutions. The project is funded by USAID (WASHPaLS #2) and builds upon SLH's portfolio of work on sanitation programming in challenging contexts (https://lnkd.in/eYpwjw7k) and area-wide sanitation and hygiene (https://lnkd.in/eiXb6NAs).

#WorldWaterDay Water is often discussed in conversations on climate change. Climate hazards can mean there is too much, or too little water available. This has a significant knock-on impact on access to sanitation and hygiene for many people. Diarrhoeal disease incidences increase with a rise in temperature and after heavy rainfall and flooding events. Heavy rainfall and flooding can cause pits and superstructures to collapse. Where water-based toilets are used, water shortages can mean people revert back to open defecation. During flooding, waterborne diseases and skin conditions are commonly reported. So what can we do about it, and what experiences can we use to learn more ❓ As part of our work on climate change with UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures, we have carried out and reflected on three different case studies in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Lao PDR. Our learning brief brings together the reflections and suggestions for ways forward, including: - Learning across different contexts is worthwhile, we found similar challenges across Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Lao PDR. - Barriers to safely-managed sanitation are also barriers to climate resistance. - We need to prioritise and integrate climate change into sanitation efforts. - Give communities a menu of options, not just more robust, resilient latrines. - Community-led adaptation is key. - Specific GESI-related planning is needed so no one is left behind. - Consider the needs of displaced people and impacts of climate-induced migration. Read the learning brief here ➡ https://lnkd.in/gPGs8xRc Video description: An illustration shows two people wading through knee-high water carrying bags. Three children watch, one of them sitting on a structure. In the background there is dark liquid leaking from a structure. Text reads “World Water Day. Too much or too little water can have a significant impact on sanitation and hygiene access. How can we understand diverse realities and perspectives on this? Read our learning brief. Rural Sanitation in a Changing Climate: Case Studies and Reflections

An example photo and caption from our course last year on using images to tell stories about WASH ⬇ Find out more about our thinking behind the course in our latest blog ✏ https://lnkd.in/en_Y5T_G Register for our course this summer and find out more ➡ https://bit.ly/3TgL6Hn

🚀💡 Opportunity Alert: Requests for Expressions of Interest SuSanA partners, if you are active in the field of rural WASH, listen up! 📢 WASHPaLS #2 is offering a golden opportunity: the programme is granting up to 8 awards, ranging from $100,000 to $225,000 for a 12-15 month period. Through a Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI), WASHPaLS #2 seeks to improve knowledge, understanding, and delivery of safely managed sanitation services (SMSS), particularly in rural areas. 🌟 Check out the PDF attached for all the details. This EoI focuses on the delivery of Safely Managed Sanitation Services (SMSS) in rural areas, with three core themes 🚽🌍✨: 1️⃣ Latrine pit design and modifications 2️⃣ Strengthening local capacity and engagement for rural SMSS 3️⃣ Management and treatments models for rural FSM   Mark your calendars 🗓️ : ✅ March 8, 2024: REOI 02 released ✅ March 22, 2024: Questions due ✅ April 19, 2024: EOI submission due Interested in applying? Go to this website: https://lnkd.in/e2-9mP2x Got queries or ready to dive in? 📧 Reach out to: ARD.WASHPALS2.Grants@tetratech.com #WASHPaLS #RuralWASH #SustainableSanitation Carolien van der Voorden Erica Goldberg Morris Israel USAID Doreen Mbalo Anna Kristina Kanathigoda Grace Mwanza Chaiwe Mushauko RWSN - Rural Water Supply Network Sean Furey Skat Foundation Maren Heuvels Lourdes Valenzuela Elka Villarroel Aguatuya Nitya Jacob Paresh Chhajed-Picha Rohini Pradeep Dorothee Spuhler Carla Liera The Sanitation Learning Hub

#InternationalWomensDay There is a still a social expectation that unpaid WASH work is a woman's responsibility❗ Unpaid WASH work could include: - Support to younger or older household members, or people with disabilities, with washing, menstrual health management - Supplying water for household use and cooking - Cleaning, maintaining and building latrines or bathrooms - Washing clothes - Volunteering in roles such as Community Health Workers, WASH Committee members The sector has invested in reducing the unpaid work burden associated with access to WASH: - building physical infrastructure - increasing access to WASH services - changing hygiene-related practices and behaviours. This has helped improve health and hygiene, saving money, time, and drudgery. But WASH actors need to do more to shift the social expectations that unpaid care and domestic work is a woman’s responsibility❗ Our Learning Paper by Sue Cavill and Chelsea Huggett calls on the WASH sector to take urgent action on unpaid WASH work ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eVSY2yw9 WaterAid #IWD2024 #UnpaidWork #WASH

Online short course: Using ethical images in the WASH sector 📸 Last summer, we ran a trial version of a course on visual communications with fantastic participants from organisations such as Population Development Initiative (Tanzania), Tetra Tech, GIZ and Welthungerhilfe. We have built on this experience and developed a course for the Institute of Development Studies short course programme, happening this summer 📣 https://bit.ly/3TgL6Hn To give you an idea of what you could experience, Alpha Ntayomba from Population Development Initiative, has shared his reflections, along with the photos and captions he produced during the course: “It was an amazing opportunity to learn how we may advance our water and sanitation advocacy services in Kigoma region, Tanzania through visual communications. I had a chance to learn with colleagues from other countries effective and professional visual communication which may receive larger audiences and influence actions from duty bearers. I was impressed the interactions and sharing our photos followed by constructive comments from trainers and colleagues which played a vital role in the way we take and use our photos for learning, sharing our work or advocacy. I shared the lessons with my colleagues at PDI especially the Advocacy and Communications Unit which now utilise the skills and knowledge gained in our pilot programs of promoting responsible mining among mining communities in Geita District, Tanzania and Social Accountability Monitoring for improved water and sanitation services in Kigoma-Ujiji municipality in Tanzania. We are grateful to Sanitation Learning Hub for this learning opportunity which added value in the way we use visual communications for our advocacy work.” Take a look at more of Alpha's photos and find out about our thinking behind the course: https://lnkd.in/en_Y5T_G Register for the course: https://bit.ly/3TgL6Hn

New online course: Using ethical images in the WASH sector 📣 We are delighted to announce a course this summer for participants looking to use photos in communications, research and advocacy. Increasingly, we know funders are asking practitioners and researchers working for photos to amplify important messages and advocate for change. But how can we include the human and emotional aspect of these issues❓ And if we include people in photos, how can we avoid photos that create negative stereotypes❓ So, how can we go beyond photos of taps and toilets to tell the necessarily powerful stories to affect change❓ We will address these questions on this inclusion-focused course, which takes inspiration from participatory visual methods to encourage creativity. There is a 10% early-bird discounts for registrations and payments before 11th March. Find out more and register to attend: https://bit.ly/3TgL6Hn This is part of the Institute of Development Studies short course programme. #WASH #Sanitation #EthicalImages #Hygiene #Water

This week, Ruhil Iyer, Jamie Myers and Naomi Vernon from SLH have been in Meghalaya, India, working with Raman VR and Juster Lyngdoh to facilitate a workshop on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). Funded by WASHPaLS #2 (USAID), this workshop is the first in a series of discussions with the Government of Meghalaya on meaningful participation, deliberation, and action planning to strengthen GESI within the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan area-wide sanitation programme. Thank you to all who took part in the interesting and fruitful discussions this week! 🗫