This blog post discusses key findings and lessons learned from an evaluation of the long-term sustainability of selected components from the USAID-funded Environmental Services Program (ESP) in Indonesia. The program was implemented from 2004–2010 and included capacity-building efforts to improve financing and management of Indonesian municipal water utilities.
Rapid urbanization in resource-constrained countries like India places massive pressures on infrastructure, and long-term solutions are needed to meet growing safe water and sanitation (WatSan) demand. USAID has invested in urban WatSan activities across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East that aim to address these needs, but there is seldom opportunity to validate whether its approaches yielded sustainable outcomes.
The U.S. Government Global Water Strategy sets water security as its overarching goal. The strategy envisions a water-secure world, where people and nations have the water they need to be healthy, prosperous, and resilient. Achieving water security requires understanding how complicated and interconnected social, environmental, political, and economic factors shape access to safe drinking water and sustainable management of water resources.
The Public Action for Water, Energy and Environment Project (PAP) is a public education and behavior change communication program developed to support USAID’s technical and policy investments in the Jordanian water and energy sectors, and to support specific initiatives in the environment, in particular with regard to solid waste. ECODIT implemented the project. As part of the first phase of the project (assessment and Baseline data collection) ECODIT conducted numerous surveys, including 12 or more research efforts, to determine the project's direction and focus for behavioral change.
A central goal of the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy is to facilitate sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation services, and promote the adoption of key hygiene behaviors. Such improvements are especially important in underserved peri-urban areas that often lack access to these services.
Every May 28, Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day) raises awareness and combats taboos associated with menstrual hygiene with the goal of enabling women and girls to achieve their full potential. The theme of Menstrual Hygiene Day 2019—It's Time for Action—not only emphasizes the urgency of this public health issue, but also highlights the transformative power of improved menstrual hygiene to unlock economic and educational opportunities for women and girls.
Many international development projects have unintended negative consequences. Without post-implementation evaluation, these unintended consequences can go unnoticed by almost everyone—except the people who were supposed to benefit from the project. Even with evaluations, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) professionals are often reluctant to share poor findings due to perceived repercussions. However, allowing others to learn from mistakes could help to prevent the same problems from happening again.
This year’s Global Water and Development Report of Water and Sanitation Activities examines USAID programming through the lens of its new areas of focus and opportunity, takes a closer look at USAID’s support for partner countries on their journeys to self-reliance, and provides a country breakdown of WASH and water funding.
In December, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies joined with USAID implementer AECOM to host a panel discussion on Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS), a topic of particular interest as USAID expands its focus and shifts its thinking on how to address sanitation.
Note: This event has ended. View a recording of the webinar.
The USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) is holding a webinar on March 28 from 10–11 a.m. EDT to discuss efforts to improve sanitation infrastructure and service delivery in the rapidly growing town of Debre Birhan in Ethiopia.
