Online Handwashing with Soap Toolkit

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) has launched a new

Handwashing with Soap Toolkit, intended for water, sanitation and hygiene, public health and other development practitioners who use behavior change strategies to promote the critical need for handwashing with soap. The toolkit is organized into four modules.

Although handwashing with soap can help save children's lives by reducing preventable diseases like diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, it remains an uncommon practice in many countries.

Rotary International's PEP Pilot

In late March all grant officers and DGs in PEP districts received this informational piece prepared by The Rotary Foundation. Read about the PEP pilot, the PPP teams that have been in the field, and the resulting projects that are available for Rotary Clubs to participate in. The information is available in english, spanish, french, italian, japanese, korean, and portuguese.

Still Time to Register for the Best Water Summit Yet!

Interested in WASH? The one day Summit is a great opportunity to learn from the best. Imagine the opportunity to join world WASH leaders and fellow Rotarians! Friday June 21, immediately before the Rotary International conference is the Wasrag World Water Summit V. Have a look at the Draft Program. The focus is on sanitation, but sessions on water issues and hygiene education are included as well. If you are interested in water & sanitation, REGISTER NOW! 

Going Past WASH to the Next Step: "WASHERS" 

Recently, Rotarian and Wasrag member Colin Alford, of the Rotary Club of Eastern Hutt, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, shared his club's seven year relationship with an NGO called RUCHI (Rural Centre for Human Interests) www.ruchin.org located in the Himalayan foothills.  

The projects have provided the villages with gutters, water tanks, irrigation tanks, checkdams, washrooms, household toilets, effluent pits, the training by a "Community Health Motivator", immunisation, women's and children's health education, kitchen gardens, composting, training in farm management, self help groups, "microbanking", environmental education, resources and SUSTAINABLE OUTCOMES - holistic support! What is "WASHERS" ? Read More... 

WaterAid Vision of Post-2015 WASH

Recently WaterAid released their Everyone, Everywhere - A Vision for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene post-2015. The report reviews the progress made to date and lays out a vision for how universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is possible by 2030 if world leaders take action now. This would save 2.5 million lives and create an additional $220 billion of wealth every year! The impact of safe water, improved sanitation, and hygiene education is that great.  Read full document (6.8 MB)

RC Narayani Mid-Town Completes First WASH project

Life in Jaluke, Nepal recently changed for the better. With help from the Rotary Club of Fairfield, Iowa, the 9,000 people living in Jaluke now have a hundred thousand litre water storage tank, and 100 metre deep well to provide safe drinking water. Four trainings were provided to the community: Project analysis and pre construction training, Quality control and local & non local materials procurement training, Water safety plan training, Maintance and operational. The inauguration and hand-over will take place May 21, 2013.  Read More...

Can Technology End Poverty?

Susan Davis posed this question  recently in the Harvard Business Review blog. In the article Susan shares the experiences of BRAC the largest NGO in the world, and summarizes the lessons learned. So is it better to use a locally developed solution or the latest and greatest gadget? The article concludes: "The prospect of billions rising up from poverty with nothing more than gadgets is indeed a fanciful notion - and not a helpful one, either. But the evidence says that when we tether enthusiasm to reality, the reality starts to budge."  Read More...

UN Call to Action on Sanitation

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson is initiating, on behalf of the Secretary-General, a renewed effort to drive progress on sanitation and water Millennium Development Goals as we head towards 2015. "Tackling sanitation challenges is key to advancing human development... The aim is to mobilize resources to rapidly increase access to basic sanitation, with a focus on improving hygiene, changing social norms and better managing human waste and waste-water and ending open defecation. By 2025, the practice of open defecation must be totally eliminated."  Rotarians can play a significant role in addressing these issues! Read More...

Wasrag's AGM - Sunday June 23rd

A heads-up for all Wasrag members who will be in Lisbon for the RI Convention. Wasrag's Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday June 23rd from 08.00 to 09.30 a.m. (approx.). Meeting will be held in Pavilion 3. More details later - but please mark your calendars now!

The Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group is a group of Rotarians whose purpose is to support Rotary clubs to effectively plan, finance, implement, monitor and evaluate water, sanitation, and hygiene programs, where they are most needed in a collaborative, cost-effective, timely, and sustainable manner, true to the principles of Rotary International. Wasrag operates in accordance with Rotary International policy but is not an agency of, or controlled by, Rotary International.