WASH
DIG is committed to expanding the frontiers of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) through innovative programs that help poor families and entrepreneurs around the world increase their income and build their asset base. Illustrative of this point, we have utilized our expert program management and advisory services on a variety of successful endeavors. These key programs include:
Detailed descriptions of these programs are located below:
Sustainable Water and Sanitation in Africa (SUWASA) (2009-2013): Under USAID’s Water II IQC, SUWASA aims to promote innovative reforms and sustainable financing for water and sanitation. As a subcontractor to Tetra Tech ARD, DIG serves as the primary partner on innovative financing for water and sanitation services. To date, DIG has conducted missions to design projects in Kenya, Senegal and Mali to facilitate innovative partnerships among banks, utility companies, small service providers and CBOs. Under SUWASA, DIG has achieved the following:
- In Kenya, DIG implemented the first long-term project to be funded under SUWASA: the SUWASA Kenya Initiative. SUWASA Kenya was a two and a half-year project promoting innovative financing for water and sanitation in two primary cities in Kenya. Under this initiative, DIG helped utilities access USD 255,720 in capital, which enabled them to expand their water and sanitation services to informal settlements. Based on this success, USAID is providing funding to scale up the innovative model to up to six additional cities in Kenya. (For additional information on the SUWASA Kenya Initiative, please refer to the Financial Services section.)
- In Senegal, DIG helped to identify sustainable solutions to fecal sludge management by examining stakeholder roles and capacity, current sanitation practices, and existing disposal facilities. DIG analyzed existing challenges and potential opportunities to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the fecal sludge management system. To achieve this objective, DIG built stakeholder consensus at the national government, municipal, and service provider levels to establish public-private partnerships between the local government and fecal sludge haulers (
vidangeurs) to promote affordable as well as safe fecal sludge extraction, transportation, disposal, and treatment.
- In Mali, DIG recommended the design of a sustainable sanitation framework that builds on and reinforces decentralization reforms and that maximizes available resources to increase access to adequate sanitation.
Strategic Support for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Investments in Ethiopia (2012): The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded DIG a contract to develop a concept note on testing service delivery models for fecal sludge management in Ethiopian cities. DIG conducted a rapid landscape analysis, facilitated a workshop, and identified key gaps and opportunities in the fecal sludge management value chain. Based on the findings of this assessment, DIG recommended areas where the Gates Foundation could support new business models and technologies across the fecal sludge value chain designed to enhance service for the poor.
Liberia Municipal Water Project (LMWP) (2011-2012): As a subcontractor to Tetra Tech ARD, DIG conducted a market survey for a USAID-funded water project in three secondary cities of Liberia. The overall objectives of LMWP were to assist local and national authorities in developing plans for water supply and sanitation improvements, implementing infrastructure enhancements, and re-establishing local capability to sustainably operate and maintain water supply in the three target cities. DIG contributed to LMWP by conducting a comprehensive socioeconomic market assessment in the project cities, which included designing and overseeing the survey and analyzing the results to inform the design of the water system. The market assessment included quantitative and qualitative components, which were used to determine household and commercial willingness and ability to pay for water services. DIG’s assessment was instrumental in shaping the water system strategy and the program’s overall success.
Organized
Network of Services for Everyone’s Health (2016-2021): DIG is leading activities to
expand and improve water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in Malawi
under the USAID-funded Organized Network of Services for Everyone’s Health
(ONSE) project, as a subcontractor to MSH. The five-year project will support
the Government of Malawi in its efforts to advance maternal, newborn, and child
health through improved access to and quality of priority health services. The
project will work across 16 districts in Malawi to strengthen district health
systems and increase community demand for services across core technical areas:
reproductive health/family planning; maternal, newborn, and child health;
malaria; and WASH. The project’s WASH component, managed by DIG, is grounded in
the understanding that improving WASH services in Malawi is intrinsically
linked to improving the health of Malawian citizens, including reducing the
incidences of newborn and childhood diarrhea, infant malnutrition, and the risk
of malaria, among others. Under the WASH component, DIG will work directly with
communities and health care facilities in 11 districts, with an aim to increase
access to improved water and sanitation infrastructure; improve the quality of
water and sanitation services; strengthen the performance of key district and
community-level stakeholders; and foster demand for improved WASH services.
WASH Coordination Project (WCP) (2016-2018): The WASH
Coordination Project (WCP) is a two-year, USAID-funded initiative, targeting
urban challenges in the Nigerian States of Kaduna and Bauchi, where water,
sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) service gaps remain acute and where government
officials have demonstrated a firm commitment to sector improvements. Funded
under the Making Cities Work IDIQ, the Project focuses on improving WASH
programming, sustaining the momentum established under the USAID/Nigeria Sustainable
Water and Sanitation in Africa (SUWASA) activity, and providing support to new
reform-minded Kaduna and Bauchi governments. The WCP Team is conducting
baseline surveys and frameworks for improvement, providing capacity building
support, and creating a community of practice, among other activities, to
successfully target their focus areas and mitigate urban WASH challenges in
Kaduna and Bauchi. Through the WCP, DIG hopes to sustain current WASH
initiatives until full programs are in place.
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