Alie Eleveld, a leader of the safe water and AIDS programme (SWAP) in Kisumu, western Kenya, was awarded a royal decoration by the Queen of the Netherlands as a Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau, late in April. It was due to her “selfless dedication and devotion” in her work, reports SWAP.
Much of the work of SWAP is characterised by a sharp attention to detail, which allows for optimised delivery of health and hygiene services, including safe water treatment. Such detail was featured in our journal UPSCALE #1, pp 14-15.
A compelling interview with Alie is featured in UPSCALE #2, pp 6-7, where she describes how SWAP have developed the notion of a basket of products and services.

Innovations come, it is often said, from the edges. Here’s impressive news of one in HWTS which has hit the mainstream, to the tune of 5.5 million USD for three years.

Earlier this week, the Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) programme of USAID announced an award to Dispensers for Safe Water(DSW), a social enterprise mothered by our colleagues in Innovations for Poverty Action.

The IPA communiqué gives full details of DSW and video connects plus links to the bountiful DIV, clearly motivated, according to DSW, by treating scale-up as “the biggest bang for the buck”. True, making a splash makes lots of ripples.

The Safe Water School project of the Swiss EAWAG (aquatic research), Helvetas and Antenna Technologies Geneva, financed by the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC), is building a solid foundation in Bolivia, Kenya and Haiti for a large-scale adoption of school-driven water treatment.

A new Antenna video – which could well become a model of excellence for institutional progress reports – presents the key players, and their adult enablers, in the Haiti programme, known as ‘Lekol dlo san danje’ (Lit: L’école de l’eau sans danger, The school of risk-free water). Mainly French, English sub-titles, 5’40″.

The idea now, the film concludes temptingly, is to see what the results of the programme are today, and try and replicate it on a national scale in Haiti. Now, would that be ‘replikayson pou nivo nasyonal’?

[Ed: Antenna also administers SDC support to 300in6 communications services.]

The 300in6 presence at The Hague on World Water Day was seen a bit, felt a bit and heard a bit – the latter if the templated narratives of IISD are correct, seeing how “one participant suggested …” a community-rooted approach, plus the overall plea for universal access to WASH services.

Our stand, and frequent video screenings, were graciously offered us, in the Market area of the celebration, reported here: 300in6 at WWD 2013

In our quiet moments, we had time to reflect. Could conference organisers learn from how airport organisers have transformed their venues into shopping centres, on the way to the plane?

Instead of placing information markets quite a way from the high-level participants, and vice versa – by over-packing the agenda, and over again, so the HLPs cannot do any shopping trips for new ideas – how’s about allowing the market place to transform the talking shops? Doesn’t anyone walk the talk about market-driven development anymore?

Leading World Water Day 2013 is a high-level meeting in The Hague, long home to global core values and initiatives, including 300in6 — and today to our videos.

Fed by inputs from across the organs of world society, the meeting risks the repetition of old messages under new words: of exhortation and instructions to others. That’s the tired old-business as usual: you must, they should, let’s cooperate.
Let’s hope that all parties simply say “We shall”. And do.

As the sun sets over a briskly cool The Hague on 22 March, today’s leadership will be walked out of the conference building by that of tomorrow, as today’s schoolkids conclude their impressive Walk for Water. A picture that speaks a million words, and almost one billion new consumers, and three billion re-assured ones, of safe water.

Walk on, with hope in your hearts.

Strong government leadership, empowered further by keen private sector interest and in-depth voluntary sector commitment, is providing the framework for a national HWTS platform to emerge in Malawi.

The final report of a preliminary consultative study, commissioned by government, enabled by 300in6 with Aqua for All and conducted during 2012, is now available.

It makes lucid reading for policy makers, practitioners and platform builders, bringing into view such issues as standards and customs duties alongside the usual raft of health interventions. A canny insight in how platforms are built. With passion and patience.

Go direct to the final report (lightly revised 30 January 2013): Malawi HWTS Preliminary Consultative Study by Rowe – Final

There’s a backgrounder, a summary and instructive bibliography on our Malawi pages.

For the scale-up revolution, we refresh old traditions, and embed new ones, right?

One of ours, the 300in6 stick (file), is updated several times a year. For this week’s HWTS annual moot, and Water and Health sittings at UNC, here’s the latest, with our new Upscale journal, carbon finance report and more. It’s also available from our delegates Sjef Ernes and Henk Holtslag. Scale ‘em up!

Our online version (29Mb) omits our videos. Just ask WaterChannel or YouTube for ‘Delivering Desire’. You can download this ‘stick’ until 4 November 2012.

What is the Safe Water Dividend, and how can we calculate it?

How does building out the safe water sector (fundamentally a health intervention) in low-resource communities have an impact on job creation, labour productivity, income generation, the water service value chain, carbon reduction, fiscal growth and other metrics of human development? Where are the tools to measure, and explain, the impact of ‘scaling-up’? How can one mesh micro-experiences with macro-policies?

It’s time, we believe, to move further towards a shared Safe Water Dividend.

We invite your inputs and insights, for discussion and debate, and for inclusion in UPSCALE – The Safe Water Review, and in our growing video suite.  Contact:

Carbon finance for safe water projects. A review for 300in6. P Galgani, 2012, 33p.

Clear, concise and encouraging, this review was commissioned by 300in6 in Q3-2012, to help us examine future operational options in carbon finance for ourselves and partners.

Lifting the lid on the complexity of the carbon trading markets (compliance and voluntary) and types of projects, it details how the safe water scale-up could become a key carbon player. The report clarifies many questions about the notion of avoided and suppressed demand (no boiling), before a detailed briefing on potential revenues, eligibility, costs, and the responsibilities and risks, micro and macro.

Ready? It explains the procedures and players in Programmes of Action, and exisiting projects. And then … The Equation, a calculation of how it could work for water. This is an area that requires a deep breath, a deep belief and deep pockets, and this review is one of the best ways to prepare for it.

Read it alongside the special feature articles in our journal Upscale #2

Carbon Finance Review Report FINAL v2

Watch it here. Delivering Desire – the Prelude to the 300in6 Video Suite on Scaling-Up Safe Water Our suite of 12+ videos about the new revolution of scaling-up safe water starts onlining in December 2012, continuing in 2013.
Get extra notes: Delivering Desire – The prelude – Script notes vU2