The 2022–2027 U.S. Global Water Strategy details how USAID will work with countries to provide millions of people with access to drinking water and sustainable sanitation. But how does the Agency evaluate the degree of need when prioritizing locations for investment, such as high priority countries? One of the components of USAID’s process to identify high priority countries is through a data-driven process to develop a global WASH Needs Index.  This year, for the first time, the results of this WASH Needs Index are publicly available online. An interactive dashboard allows users to access and explore the underlying data and the WASH needs scores for every independent state, as well as other geographic areas where USAID works. Brian Banks, WASH Analytics and Data Advisor with USAID’s Center for Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene, explains that USAID decided to publish these results because, “We are committed to continuously improving transparency and to increasing the use of…

Jeff Goldberg, Director of USAID’s Center for Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene, and Christine Gottschalk, Director of USAID’s Center for Resilience, attend the SWOT launch at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: Jeff Goldberg, USAID On December 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency’s (NASA) U.S.-European Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission launched a satellite that will map the Earth’s surface water at an unprecedented level of detail. The SWOT satellite will provide new and essential information to decision-makers and communities who need to track water in their local areas to better prepare for climate change. SWOT will circle the globe every 21 days and will, for the first time ever, provide data on how water flows into and out of over 90% of the world’s freshwater bodies. The satellite launch is the culmination of fifteen years of partnership between NASA, the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), and…

Most of us are familiar with the pattern of doing research, disseminating findings, and hoping for uptake into policy and practice. If the research partners don’t involve potential evidence users early on in the process, however, most outputs end up not being used effectively, or at all.  In a session at 2022 World Water Week, USAID shared their new and focused approach for promoting stronger engagement between research teams and WASH implementation programs. USAID’s Action Research Initiative encourages sector-wide collaboration so that research feeds directly into implementation. It also increases the effectiveness and impact of WASH investments by positioning them within a strategic package. The first iteration of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) research program, implemented from 2016 to 2021, provided an example of building partnerships between researchers, government agencies, and UNICEF.  These partners worked…

Participants included representatives from water and sanitation utilities, government, finance institutions, private sector solar providers and development partners. Photo credit: TetraTech/USAID Solar technology can transform the water sector in East Africa by increasing access to and availability of water. Solar can also reduce dependency on fossil fuels and boost the sector’s resilience to climate change. This is especially relevant now when the region faces unprecedented drought and the resulting food and water insecurity. To increase the use of solar power in East Africa’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector, USAID hosted a two-day symposium to promote collaboration and learning amongst key stakeholders in the sector between 1-2 November. The Kenya WASH Solar Symposium, which was co-hosted with the National Treasury; Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation; Strathmore University; and GIZ in Nairobi, brought together over 200 participants representing government,…