Baseline Data to Guide Handwashing Intervention in Peru

A new technical paper from the World-Bank administered Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) found that only half of care-givers in 3,526 households in rural Peru wash hands with soap at times of fecal contact, and that 10 percent of children under five presented diarrhea symptoms in the previous 48 hours – although on average 55 percent of caregivers did not seek medical advice. An average of 20 percent of households surveyed had no sanitation facilities of any type.

WSP is testing approaches to learn what works to create and sustain handwashing with soap behavior change. To establish the causal effect of project interventions on specific health and welfare measures, the project is conducting an impact evaluation (IE) using a randomized-controlled experimental design. The study, Scaling Up Handwashing Behavior: Findings from the Impact Evaluation Baseline Survey in Peru by Sebastian Galiani and Alexandra Orsola-Vidal,includes pre-intervention (baseline), concurrent (longitudinal), and post-intervention (endline) surveys administered by WSP-contracted firms in each project country (Peru, Senegal, Tanzania, and Vietnam).

“This study offers new, relevant data that will help us determine the health impacts of these hygiene interventions and shed some light on the role of behavior change,” said Bertha Briceno, senior impact evaluation specialist for the project.

For more information, visit this feature story or contact Bertha Briceno,

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Improve water and sanitation for the people of Honduras

A recent water and sanitation sector analysis reported that in 2001, Honduras had reached water coverage of 80% of its total population and 70% of those living in rural areas. But the same study revealed that water quantity and
quality are not adequate, and suggested that the existing infrastructure poses a serious health risk to citizens. An alarming 90% of the water supply is intermittent and unreliable.
This study found that only 44% of the water provided is effectively disinfected and that there is a lack of adequate water quality control and monitoring, especially in rural areas.
Many rural communities have no water infrastructure whatsoever.

Sanitation coverage in Honduras is improving, reaching 68% of the total population but only 50% of the rural populace. There is virtually no sewerage service in rural areas, where latrines are the only practical option for the safe
disposal of human waste. Half of the rural population has no sanitation facilities at all.

Water For People helps people in developing countries improve their quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities and health and hygiene education programs.

Water For People–Honduras supports 15 to 20 communities each year, helping approximately 15,000 people and plans for growth over the next five years, with a goal of achieving 95% water and sanitation coverage in the three
districts in which it works. It will also work on increasing hand-washing practices by 50%.
Typical projects include protected springs, gravity-fed water systems, pumped water systems, storage tanks, and pour-flush latrines.

Working closely with its in-country staff, Water For People has developed an ambitious strategic plan to make a more meaningful impact in meeting the water and sanitation needs in Honduras between 2007-2011.

Source: http://www.waterday.org/?uid=paa07D0BCA855AC0D6CB
Related news:  Output-Based Aid: challenges for OBA Facility for the water and sanitation sector in Honduras, Source Weekly, 22 January 2010.

Project Contacts
Water for People
6666 W. Quincy Avenue
Denver , CO 80235
United States
Phone: 303.734.3490 • Fax: 303.734.3499
www.waterforpeople.org/site/PageServer?pagename=About_Departments
info@waterforpeople.org

Costa Rica: IDB-backed water resource center to open in March 2010

The new Central American and Caribbean water resource centre Hidrocec (Centro de Recursos Hídricos para Centroamérica y el Caribe) will open in Costa Rica in March 2010. The centre, which will operate under the state-owned college Universidad Nacional (UNA), will provide technical assistance to help countries in the region preserve their water resources. IDB provided US$ 500,000 to build the centre.

Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 19 Jan 2010

Colombia, Bucaramanga: water utility opens educational water park

Colombian city Bucaramanga’s water utility Acueducto Metropolitano de Bucaramanga (AMB) inaugurated an educational water park to teach people about the proper use of water resources on 9 November 2009. Visitors to the park can see the treatment processes carried out by the utility and learn about the importance of contributing to the sustainability of hydrological resources.

Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], Nov 2009

Urinating in the shower -Save water

Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says the campaign, running on several television stations, uses humour to persuade people to reduce flushes.

The group says if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 litres of water annually, reports Metro.

SOS spokeswoman Adriana Kfouri said the campaign was “a way to be playful about a serious subject”.

The ads feature cartoon drawings of people from all walks of life – a trapeze artist, a basketball player, even an alien – urinating in the shower.

Narrated by children’s voices, the ad ends with: “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”

See video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ_DNc1zbxI

Course: “Políticas para el uso sostenible del agua y prestación eficiente de servicios públicos relacionados”, 20-30 Apr 2009, Sanitago de Chile

El curso es organizado por la Dirección del ILPES en conjunto con la División de Recursos Naturales e Infraestructura, y en colaboración con la Unidad Agrícola de la División de Desarrollo Productivo y la División de Desarrollo Sostenible y Asentamientos Humanos.

Se prestará atención a los siguientes temas: uso y aprovechamiento del agua (agricultura, riego, transporte fluvial, generación hidroeléctrica, minería), gestión y manejo del agua (asignación y control de contaminación), gestión de cuencas (organismos de cuenca, pago por servicios ambientales), prestación y regulación de servicios de utilidad pública (agua potable, saneamiento, y electricidad) y temas transversales (género, gestión del riesgo).

Application deadline: 06 March 2009

• Folleto del Curso
• Programa del curso

Contact:  Lucy Winchester, lucy.winchester[at] cepal.org Teléfono: (56-2) 2102509 Fax: (56-2) 2066104.

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Creation of the Latin American and Caribbean Water Center announced

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Fundación FEMSA and the Tecnológico de Monterrey signed an agreement on 14 November 2008 to create the Latin American and Caribbean Water Center, with an initial investment of $11 million.

Fundación FEMSA, founded by the beverage company FEMSA, is beginning its [global] operations with this project.

The Water Center will be operated by the Tecnológico de Monterrey and will [...] offer training, research and information management for the conservation and sustainable use of water, promote strategic alliances, and offer technical expertise and innovative approaches to the sector’s problems. [It] will target professionals in national and regional government agencies, and in companies involved in managing and using regional water resources.

[...] The water and sanitation sector is a priority for the IDB. In May 2007, the Bank approved the Water and Sanitation Initiative, whose [...] goal is to complete water and sanitation projects in 100 cities and 3,000 rural communities during the next four years. The Bank is already working in 44 cities and more than 700 rural communities, and it intends to lend at least a billion dollars a year for this sector.

The Water Center is the first IDB project financed with the recently created AquaFund.

The IDB has [also] been invited by Spain to collaborate in identifying, coordinating and supervising projects to be financed by the Water and Sanitation Cooperation Fund announced by the Spanish government during the 18th Latin American Summit held in El Salvador in late October. This fund will provide up to $1.5 million in grants for the region over the next four years.

Source: IDB, 14 Nov 2008

SWITCH Training workshop: ‘Advancing Learning Alliances to increase research impact’, 26-28 Nov 2008, Brazil

Organised by: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre for the SWITCH project on “Managing Water for the City of the Future”.

The aim of the workshop is to advance and consolidate the establishment of learning alliances in SWITCH and other similar projects and programmes through the sharing of experiences and lessons learned. Specific issues will be addressed that are known to be important (and perhaps problematic), such as social inclusion in learning alliance processes and high quality documentation of the impacts of learning alliance activities. Given the location of the workshop in Latin America, there will be particular emphasis on experiences from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking SWITCH cities (Belo Horizonte, Lima, Zaragoza and Cali) and some of the workgroups will therefore be conducted in Spanish.

The workshop is aimed at both SWITCH and external participants involved in research and development projects and programmes that follow learning alliance or similar multi-stakeholder approaches from Latin America and elsewhere.

More information