The people of Burkina Faso and Niger, two landlocked countries in West Africa, live in one of the hottest regions in the world: the Sahel. These days, it’s getting hotter – and drier – making survival increasingly challenging. In the arid band just below the Sahara Desert, Burkinabe and Nigeriens are coping with crises both man-made and environmental. With temperatures in the region rising 1.5 times faster than the global average, combined with increasing political instability and conflict, communities are under constant pressure. Prolonged and frequent climate-related disasters including droughts and floods, exacerbated by increasing temperatures, are degrading natural resources in both countries, including lifegiving pastures, water sources and croplands. With more than 80 percent of the population of each country reliant on subsistence farming and animal husbandry, such degradation – especially loss of access to water – is now an urgent humanitarian and environmental problem.…

Millions of people lack access to clean and safe water, especially in developing regions like the West Africa Sahel. The situation is even more dire for women and girls, who often bear the burden of fetching water, sometimes walking miles a day to bring fresh water back to their families.  Climate change compounds the issue. The West Africa Sahel is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change because it is home to communities who are highly dependent on agriculture and natural resources. USAID implements gender-responsive water programs to improve water security and climate resilience in the region while also advancing gender equity goals. These programs have two main objectives: 1) improve access to clean and safe water, and 2) address gender disparities in water access. However, these programs approach the above objectives in different ways.  The USAID West Africa Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program involved women and girls in the design and…

A student demonstrates how to fabricate and use a menstrual hygiene pad. Photo credit: Daniel W. Smith, USAID Five hundred million menstruators around the world struggle to manage their menses each month. This is due to lack of affordable and available sanitary pads, critical services like water or safely-constructed and private toilets, and sufficient information on menstruation. The absence of one of these key components of menstrual health and hygiene places menstruators at risk of infection, violence, shame, and embarrassment. For many women and girls, it means missing days of work or school or even dropping out entirely.  A truly water-secure world - one in which everyone has access to safe and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, is also one in which menstruators can access water and latrines everywhere and any time they are needed. This allows menstruators to enjoy better health, pursue an education, participate more fully in the economy, build their…

A giant in conservation directs focus on water resource management with clear water supply benefits. The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Watersheds Strategy and Water Funds follow in the footsteps of New York City’s renowned water supply approach. Those unfamiliar with how water supply is delivered to human populations are sometimes surprised to learn that America’s biggest city – New York – receives water that only requires filtration on a small fraction (10 percent) of its water supplies for 9 million consumers. Because of the coordinated efforts of government agencies, environmental advocacy organizations, and charitable donors, the watersheds that feed New York City’s reservoir systems have long been protected from the development pressures that would put water supplies at risk. More recently, beginning in 1997, the city’s Watershed Protection Program (initially known as the “Filtration Avoidance” Program), combined the purchase of tens of thousands of hectares of land with other…