Women in WASH

This month, WaterSHED marked International Women's Day by launching WEwork - a new program to get Cambodian women more engaged in the water, sanitation and hygiene industry. We want to share some of the early stories and feedback form the field.

WaterSHED builds sustainable markets for clean water, toilets and hygiene products by working with consumers, small businesses and local government. The opportunity is huge. Just with toilets, we've seen local businesses generate over USD $6.5 million in sales to rural Cambodians. With our support, they are changing the landscape where toilets used to be few and far between.

But these businesses continue to be run predominantly by men. Relatively few women are able to take full advantage of the economic opportunities.

WEwork is a unique program to increase women's participation and leadership in the WASH industry through training and peer-mentorship. Importantly, it will also allow us to refine marketing strategies and develop new ways to measure success through the lens of gender equity and women's empowerment. Stay connected as things get rolling and keep up to date via social media (below) and our website.

Breaking Barriers Together

Our Women's Empowerment program would not be possible without the support of our dedicated partners. Seeded with funding from Diageo's Plan W initiative, the program was further boosted by a Grand Challenge award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The winning organizations recently came together in Nairobi to explore new ideas about Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development. Program Manager, Sarah van Boekhout, attended the 3-day conference. Read her thoughts on empowerment, which she says is a "slippery term to conceptualize."

Measuring Empowerment

How do we know when, and to what degree, a women is empowered? Measuring changes over time is a big challenge, but it is critical to understanding the impact of our work. Janita Bartell, WaterSHED's Behaviour Change and Research Specialist, argues that commonly used measures, such as income and education, fail to capture the full picture.

Read how she's creating a new framework for evaluating empowerment and how she's tackling the challenge to effectively communicate what we learn over the next two years.

The Role of Men in Women's Empowerment

When we began recruiting for the women's mentorship network in WASH, it was no surprise that some husbands and brothers wanted to get involved. Though our focus is on women, we believe that the engagement of men in the community is critical for women to succeed in business. Char Son is a great example, supporting his wife to be a leader in the toilet industry. Read more about how they climbed out of poverty and grew a successful business by empowering each other.

In Other News

Sharing Skills Across the Sector

In January, we were thrilled to host WaterAid's "dream team" of sanitation program managers hailing from across Africa and the Pacific. They came to shadow our team in the field to learn how WaterSHED has built a dynamic market for toilets in Cambodia. In turn, we were inspired to hear their diverse ideas and perspectives. Watch the video to hear what they learned and how they plan to bring a market approach back home.

HappyTap: Finalist in World Design Impact Prize

It was an honour to compete in the prestigious World Design Impact Prize earlier this month. We are thrilled our HappyTap portable sink landed in the top three. Take a look at the latest video from the World Design Organization highlighting some of the best industrial designs for development in recent years, including the HappyTap.

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