Welcome to the eighth edition of the Global WASH Cluster Newsletter in 2023! In this update, we bring you a rich and diverse array of news on our upcoming participation at AIDEX 2023, key updates from National Coordination Platforms (NCPs), GWC members, and partners such as OCHA, the German WASH Network, CAWST, The EEHF, Columbia University, UNICEF and IASC.
On 10 September, Storm Daniel affected northeastern Libya with torrential rains and flash floods affecting multiple cities and towns. The human toll is significant and is expected to continue rising. OCHA estimates that approximately 884,000 people in five provinces (Mantikas) live in areas that have been directly affected by the storm and flash floods in Libya and have been impacted to varying degrees. The massive destruction of infrastructure, flooded roads, and collapse of dam in Derna has resulted in urgent WASH needs to ensure access to safe drinking water, re-establishment of basic sanitation facilities to avoid the spread of communicable diseases. Read more in the Libya Flash Appeal, released on 14th September 2023.
NCPs are at the heart to respond collectively to current crises. Key NCP features this month include the comprehensive Sudan WASH Sector operational presence, but also the latest advocacy note from the WASH Cluster in DRC, and the recent achievements done by the Afghanistan WASH Cluster.
We remind all that we value showcasing the incredible work NCPs and partners are doing around the world, so please send us your photos, stories, and other content to highlight the work of your team or draw attention to issues that matter to you. Read our submission guidelines here. All items can be sent directly for inclusion in the next newsletter by Friday 29 September 2023 to globalwashcluster@unicef.org.
Best regards,
CAST (Cluster Advocacy and Support Team)
Photo credits: © UNICEF/UNI425173/Benekire
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GWC Collaborations and News
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Join us at AIDEX 2023
The Global WASH Cluster will be hosting a special side event at AIDEX 2023 on 26 October 2023 in Geneva around collective outcomes and humanitarian WASH coordination.
Leaving no one behind, ending needs by reducing risks and vulnerabilities, achieving sustainable development and peace are a shared commitment of the United Nations and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. This requires ‘joined-up’ action for collective outcomes by the humanitarian, development, and peace actors for which effective and accountable coordination play a central role. The Global WASH Cluster (GWC), leading the largest humanitarian WASH multi-stakeholder platform, commits to deliver collective outcomes for the Water Decade Action Plan, and SDGs within and beyond the WASH sector. Key national coordination platforms will present progress, challenges and innovative approaches towards more coherent humanitarian-development coordination and response.
The event will provide the opportunity to explore key initiatives within and beyond the sector, such as inter-cluster collaboration, accountability and quality assurance and private sector engagement. This will demonstrate how clusters are joining forces to coordinate emergencies more efficiently and respond to the increasing needs of people affected by and vulnerable to crises.
Join us for this engaging side event hosted at AidEx and scheduled for 26 October in Workshop Room 3 at Palexpo in Geneva. Secure your spot by acquiring your AidEx ticket today!
The conference will be available for online participants, more information will be made available soon here.
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Launch of the Joint Operational Framework: WASH Resilience, Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding
In collaboration with the GWC, the German WASH Network recently launched the Joint Operational Framework (JOF): WASH Resilience, Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding. The publication is a contribution to the Triple Nexus in WASH Initiative of the WASH Road Map. The JOF sets out the thinking, a theory of change and key steps for putting the Triple Nexus into practice within the WASH sector. It provides practical support to new and existing WASH programmes and coordination platfroms to build capacities relating to resilience, conflict sensitivity and peace within WASH systems.
The development of the JOF has been a great example of collective action involving a wide range of influential actors across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace pillars. Over 40 institutions have signed the JOF with their logo and celebrated the launch. Read more here.
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GWC Working Group Updates
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Upcoming Webinar - Hygiene in a Changing Climate
Climate change is having a dramatic effect on humanitarian action, increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events in some places, but driving drought and water scarcity in others. What do these changes mean for supporting the most affected communities in terms of their health and hygiene?
26 September 2023 - 12pm CEST
French/English Translation Available. Register here
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GWC 2023 HNO and HRP Operational Support
The Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) season is here and with that, it is time to start prioritising interventions and updating sector strategies. In this update you can find links to a series of online clinics that are taking place between July and September to support National Coordination Platforms (NCPs) in this process. The clinics are an opportunity to discuss the theory and practicalities across NCPs. As you know, the Global WASH Cluster Field Support Team, through remote support as well as through its help desk, is fully available to answer your questions, help you in designing your indicators, review your severity scale, and more for your upcoming HNO/HRP-related activities.
Did you miss a GWC operational support clinic in 2023 ?
No worries, please find all materials and recordings below:
NEW JIAF 2.0 Resources
We are delighted to present the latest developments in the about JIAF 2.0 Resources and Learning materials:
The JIAF team is working towards making the Formatted JIAF manual in French and the JIAF 2.0 materials in Spanish available to you soon.
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Latest Resources and Tools from National Coordination Platforms
We encourage all National Coordination Platforms to send their examples, guidance, tools on coordination, information management, assessment and technical guidelines/documents directly to: globalwashcluster@unicef.org. The below is the result of a collection of resources that you can find on WASH cluster/sector websites.
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Highlight of the Month
Sudan WASH Sector Operational Presence / IDP Sites September 2023
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Eastern and Southern Asia
West and Central Africa
Eastern and Southern Africa
Middle East and North Africa
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The Global WASH Cluster provides Operational Support for national coordination platforms in humanitarian emergencies through deployments and remote support. The support is provided by the Field Support Team (FST), a consortium of WASH agencies providing 8 members (4 x coordinators, 3 x information managers, and 1 x assessment specialist) with the support and oversight of the GWC-Cluster Advocacy and Support Team (CAST). To access these services national coordinators or information managers can send an email or inquiry to gwchelp@unicef.org (GWC Help Desk). |
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NEW OCHA Guidance Note: Data Responsibility and Accountability to affected people in Humanitarian Action
Accountability to Affected People (AAP) is a collective approach that ensures the needs and interests of people are at the center of humanitarian action. It is based on a commitment to take account of, give account to and be held to account by the people humanitarians seek to assist.1 In their activities related to AAP, humanitarians collect and use increasing amounts of data. Responsible data management is critical to ensuring that these activities do not harm affected people, and is part of fulfilling the commitments related to AAP.
This Guidance Note explores data responsibility and AAP in humanitarian action. It identifies common data-related benefits and risks related to AAP, explains how humanitarians can implement actions from the IASC Operational Guidance on Data Responsibility in Humanitarian Action and offers examples of joint approaches to this work. Read more here.
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NEW EEHF Resource Library
The Environmental Health Forum website has now searchable functions of all past presentations from 2004-2023 and abstracts! We remind all that the EEHF brings together WASH implementers, researchers, donors and policymakers together to discuss the latest research, evaluations and learning on humanitarian WASH programmes.
Their objectives are to:
- Share new research and learning from humanitarian WASH programmes
- Discuss new approaches and innovations that would benefit populations affected by or at-risk of humanitarian crises
- Identify research gaps and generate research questions at a practice, policy and research level for humanitarian WASH
- Build new partnerships with donors, practitioners and researchers
Check out the new resource section here: https://www.eehf.org/resources
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WEBINAR - Water and Peace: Access Issues and Navigating Conflicts
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 6-7:30pm EST
Via Zoom: https://bit.ly/3EqlLCK
What are warning signs, global and national, related to water access? How do water issues relate to conflicts between regions and countries as well as climate change across the planet? In this program, experts will speak to examples of current challenges related to water stress and access and ideas for enabling equitable access to water. For more info, CLICK HERE
Panelists:
- Michael Collins, Executive Director, The Americas, Institute for Economics and Peace – Responsible
- Omar El Hattab, PhD, Senior Advisor | Water, Sanitation and Hygiene | Emergency Programme Division, UNICEF
- Christine Serwan, Special Projects Senior Associate, Charity Water
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WASH Sessions 2023
The German WASH Network offers regular virtual learning events on relevant WASH sector issues and trends - the so called "WASH Sessions". In a 1-2 hour online format invited international experts will present latest learnings and shed some more light on various WASH related topics and trends with plenty of room for Q&A and joint discussions with participants. A selection of current topics to be covered together with a link to the registration form can be found below.
https://www.washnet.de/en/training/wash-sessions/
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2023 CAWST Canada: Webinar on-demand recording – Local adaptations for global solutions: Exploring the evolving design of the intermittent slow sand filter
Households, schools and communities— mainly across Asia, Africa and Latin America— have used intermittent slow sand filters (iSSF) for decades. While the operating principle has remained the same since 1994, researchers and implementers across these regions have adapted and redesigned the iSSF to suit varying material availability, demand, contaminant types, and construction practices. In this webinar recorded on August 30, Ron Orcajada from Samaritan’s Purse International Relief (Canada) discussed design adaptations and performance of various filter types, and how these adaptations have helped address global water issues. Recorded webinar ENG - Recorded Webinar Spanish
This webinar was hosted by the Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) Network, of which CAWST is a member of the Secretariat.
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On 11 September 2023, Abderahmane, 11, carries bottles he filled with water to take them down to the fields where families have taken refuge following a major earthquake that completely destroyed their village, Imgdal, in Morocco on 08 September. The United Nations estimates that more than 300,000 people have been affected in Marrakesh and in the High Atlas Mountains.
© UNICEF/Brahim Benkirane
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