The Uganda WASH writeshop is on: WASHTech takes its stand

For three days 22-24^th February, 2012, 20 participants from 4 organisations (IRC, SNV, NETWAS, Cartias) and Triple-S will dedicate time aside from their daily work to write. It is difficult to focus on writing due to the busy work schedule characterised by; meetings and answering e-mails or phone calls and strategic program work.

WASHTech Uganda Staff will participate in the writeshop to develop an introductory summary to TAF.  The summary will help stakeholders comprehend TAF in five minutes. The two page summary will be developed during the 3 day workshop among other products.

The Uganda WASH write shop is meant to help each participant to create sharable outputs. The write shop will provide the space and time to focus. Time will be allotted each day to peer-review and proof read each other’s work.

Some of the finished products will be published on Uganda WASH Resource Centre website during the workshop and after.

Activating the UWASNET Technology Working Group.

WASHTech seeks to utilize all opportunities to embed the Technology Assessment Framework in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector under its learning alliance approach. Fortunately, the Uganda Water sector has a vast array of such windows of opportunity. The Uganda Water and Sanitation Ngo Network (UWASNET), the umbrella organization for all NGOs in the WASH sector set up thematic working groups to foster learning for change among the civil society organizations in the sector. Such as Technology, Functionality, Good governance, Software thematic working groups.

However the technology thematic working group is underutilized. In 2011, the working group implemented a few of activities including exposure visits to a sodis water treatment plants, participated in  the FLOW software capacity building training and presented their experiences during the CSO Forum 2011.

WASHTech seeks to revamp the group and build on its existing works and plans of the working group to facilitate learning, profiling NGO WASH technology activities.

NETWAS Uganda the chair of the working group will organize a planning meeting in early to forecast the future of the working group, especially on what to do differently and better.

Towards embedding TAF, Mainstreaming TAF into the self supply initiatives for 2012.

WASHTech in Uganda has integrated its upcoming research on the Technology Assessment Framework into the Uganda National Self Supply Acceleration Framework for 2011 to 2015 that is under development. This follows a presentation on the testing of TAF on two supply self technologies namely, the rope pump and Tippy Tap during a self supply steering committee meeting held on the 30^th/01/2012 at the Ministry of Water and Environment.

Output 6 of the National Self Supply Acceleration Framework indentifies the need for research to access the potential, applicability and sustainability of self supply technologies. The TAF assessment results on the rope pump and Tippy tap will generate evidence that will attempt to provide answers on the sustainability of these in different specific contexts.   

Presenting TAF at an Inter-district meeting.

Mrs. Cate Z. Nimanya, Program Manager NETWAS introduced the Technical Assessment Framework concept to district water officers and Politians during an inter-district on platform on the 23^rd/12/2011 held in Waisko district. The inter-district meeting was convened by Technical support unit 5 (TSU 5).

In her presentation, Mrs. Nimanya elaborated on the WASHTech project and its action research. She clearly emphasized that the TAF is a decision support tool that will enable stakeholders to develop a consolidated picture of the applicability and sustainability of the introduction of a WASH technology into a specific context.

The presentation of the TAF raised mixed feelings and anxiety among the participants. Some felt TAF will bridge a gap in the technology introductory process. Some participants expressed that would like to part of the testing of TAF to have a more practical experience.  Information materials including the Country leaflet were shared with the participants.

In the learning alliance approach of the project, WASHTech in Uganda utilizes such existing government initiated information sharing platforms to embed the introduction of TAF into the WASH sector. In the hope that they will adopt, use and scale up its application in they work.

Africa wide WASH technology review published

WASHTech has published a literature review focusing on 14 technologies used in Africa in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.

For each technology there is a description of the range of literature available on it, a concise description of the technology itself, a description of its application, a selection of interesting case studies, and an explanation as to whether the technology meets technical, financial, social and institutional success criteria.

Only two technologies met all four success criteria: hand dug wells and the India Mark II pump, and the latter only with the caveat that there was a functional maintenance system.

WASHTech: Promises for visibility in the WASH sector in Uganda

Within six months of the introducing the Technology Assessment Frame (TAF) concepts, evidence suggests that the TAF is being recognized in the WASH sector in Uganda as acknowledged in the Sector Performance Report (SPR) 2011.

The set up of WASHTech in Uganda

The Ugandan water and sanitation sub sector is not short of new and emerging technologies, however in the recent years, there is hardly any technology that has been adopted into national strategies, nor taken up by private enterprises. One key constraint identified is the lack of ability to take new technologies to scale effectively. WASHTech Uganda therefore seeks to address the problem through research and learning to assess the potential and sustainability of a wide range of technologies and design strategies for scaling up.