Dear Colleagues, It Gives Me Great Pleasure to Present to You the CARE Emergency WASH

May 2014

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to present to you the CARE Emergency WASH Network’s May newsletter. In this month’s newsletter ...

What has the Emergency WASH Team been Interview with Souleymane Sow- Regional Emergency Cluster up to? Advisor (RECA) for South East Asia and Pacific Region Nick Brooks Advisor, has been busy supporting a range of Emergency WASH programs (including South Sudan, Turkey, the Balkans, Indonesia and Lebanon) with technical support, advice on proposals and identifying WASH roster personnel for field deployments. been engaged with the Global WASH Cluster in planning for a new Cluster rapid response team for 2015/16. current leadership of 2*WASH Cluster projects – the Rapid Assessment Team (through CARE USA) and the Regional Emergency Cluster Advisor project (through CARE DL).

West and Central Africa Regional Advisor Patrick Reymond Cameroon to support the Country Office with a UNHCR-funded response for refugees from the Central Africa Republic. region Patrick is supporting DRC with an Souleymane visiting one of WASH Cluster Programs in one of the Sittwe urban WASH project in Kinshasa, and Benin camps, Myanmar 2014 with the field trial of a new water treatment product. What WASH emergency activities have you been involved in recently? There continues to be a high demand for My support has predominantly been going to Myanmar WASH Cluster Emergency WASH roster deployments, with 6 which is currently responding to two Emergencies: one in Kachin and new or on-going deployments during April and Northern Shan States and the second one in Rakhine State. During this May (in South Sudan, Lebanon and Uganda). time I have spent two weeks in Kachin and Rakhine states, conducting These include the secondments of training on WASH Emergency Preparedness & Response, and Elhadj Bah Coordination for 30 WASH Cluster Organisations. Shanmuganathan Umachandran Yemen) to South Sudan. How did you become interested in emergency WASH issues? to fill vacancies in Cameroon and Sudan I am originally from Guinea, whilst living there the conflict from recurring (Darfur). civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone overflowed to Guinea. In 2001 I briefly joined the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society Over the coming 2 months Nick is planning (ICRC) to build WASH infrastructures in prisons, for war prisoners in visits to Turkey and Lebanon for support to Faranah, Kissidougou and N’zerekore. Although I left a few months after WASH activities in the Syria Regional to pursue tertiary education in France, the early exposure planted seeds Response, and South Sudan for the After in what can be summarised as a vicious cycle of passion, study and Action Review of the current emergency acumen in the management of humanitarian crises. response. planned to Haiti and DRC. What are some of the challenges your region faces in respect to emergency WASH? Both Myanmar and East Timor lack poor emergency preparedness, weak technical capacities, limited humanitarian space and weak Case Study, South Sudan: Interplay programme planning, monitoring and evaluation capacities. between Gender and WASH

Tell us about a particular successful emergency WASH project you Following the mid-December 2013 outbreak have worked on in the past fighting in South Sudan 18,033 women, men, I was involved in the international humanitarian response to the crisis in boys and girls have sought shelter in Malakal Darfur (Sudan). I was based in Nyala as a WASH Programme Manager United National Protection of Civilians area. and Team Leader for Action Contre la Faim. I found this particular projectThe WASH infrastructure in Malakal has been the most rewarding in my career because my team was able to meet the identified as a hotspot for gender-based extreme needs we found the residents to be in. For example, prior to the violence. After a rapid gender analysis CARE’s WASH infrastructure it would take a family 8 hours to walk to a safe team is addressing Water, Sanitation and water point. I encountered numerous challenges which included security, Health developments with a focus on different loss of drilling equipment and the frustration of not finding water sources gender needs. upon drilling on sites, despite having done geophysical surveys of the drilling sites. Obviously there is no secret in overcoming such challenges Some of the structural problems with the other than having passion, professionalism and the right set of technical WASH infrastructure, namely the block of skills. latrines, include adjoined female and male latrine blocks and poor lighting. Separating the Please share with us one WASH resource or WASH technology latrine blocks would improve women and girl’s which you may think other CO’s WASH staff might find useful. protection from gender-based violence. A I recommend these two especially since they are available in different further guarantee to protection can be made foreign languages. by building new latrines close to well-lit roads in order to deter any harassment temptations. 1. The document Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for populations at risk, Additionally solid doors made of metal or wood Action Contre la Faim, December 2005 – It’s a very practical document, with locks have been in included in the available in French and Spanish. CARE’S Gender and WASH 2. Global WASH Cluster Hygiene Promotion Tools-Project led by Oxfam. recommendations. The tools are also available in French and Spanish. Albeit the ongoing challenges, the WASH infrastructure symbolises progress to sanitation and hygiene practices, as the latrine use has mobilized the community to abandon Trainings and Workshops unsafe practices such as open defecation. As a result, there has been a decrease in the RedR Australia is hosting a on-site Water, Sanitation and Hygiene prevalence of diarrhea among children under training workshop in Dookie, Australia. The course is an ideal five, from 43% in 2006 to 32% in 2010. Learn introduction to public health engineering in emergencies for: - more about the crisis in South Sudan through humanitarian workers of all disciplines, levels and experience and this video link engineers whose technical skills are more oriented toward large-scale urban systems. As a participant you will gain insight into concepts of public health engineering and environmental health in emergencies, as well as familiarising them with standard equipment used in the field. Registration is done online, and for more information contact RedR Job Vacancy Australia on +61 3 9329 1357 or [email protected]. (WASH) Specialists– Roster for Emergency

RedR India is offering training courses in Environmental Health in CARE is seeking applications from candidates Emergencies in Prune India from 14 – 20 July. The course is designed to with 5+ years international humanitarian cover three components of Water-Sanitation and Hygiene; Sanitation WASH experience in the project design, and Vector Control in Emergencies, Water Supply, Distribution and implementation, coordination, needs Treatment in Emergencies and Water Source Development/Assessment. assessment and an understanding of the Register before 7 July here. needs of women and children in emergency settings. View the Terms of Reference and online RedR India is also offering a course in Hygiene Promotion in Application Cover Sheet Emergencies. The training merges theory, practice and hands-on To apply, please e-mail a brief statement experience over four days, 22-25 July. It covers different methods of addressing the Selection Criteria along with hygiene promotion and intervention with a focus on WASH projects. your CV and application form to: Register before the 15th of July here. [email protected]

Applications close: Midnight, 5 June 2014

Bioforce Institute, is launching a French-language vocational training program on WASH and Nutrition in Bamako starting from September this Acquire year. This programme is supported by The Mérieux Foundation, ACF, Management UNICEF and the West African Health Organization. For more information Charles Darwin University please contact Henri Meyer from Bioforce on [email protected] knowledge about how to manage responses to various types of emergencies and disasters, and a holistic, in-depth understanding of disaster cycle management. Apply here

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Get in touch if you’d like to discuss any of the above in more detail, or let us know if you would like to contribute an item for the next edition.

The CARE International Emergency WASH Team