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Community Development Leaders Present at WEDC Conference in Ghana

July 12, 2016

Andrew Armstrong, PE, Water Mission’s Community Development Programs Manager, and Ritah Nakafeero, Senior Community Development Officer at Water Mission Uganda, will be co-presenting their paper on solar pumping in refugee camps at the WEDC Conference in Ghana on Tuesday, July 12th. The conference is hosted by Loughborough University’s Water, Engineering, and Development Center (WEDC) and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. WEDC is one of the world’s leading education and research institutes for developing knowledge and capacity in water and sanitation for sustainable development and emergency relief. At the WEDC Conference, organizations across the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector will gather for a week of presentations, discussion, and workshops centered on achieving the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. Armstrong and Nakafeero will be presenting their co-written paper, “Utilizing Solar Water Pumping for Development-Oriented Relief in Refugee Settings in Uganda.” Considering the average duration of refugee displacement is now better measured in decades rather than years, Armstrong and Nakafeero’s recommendations align with the UNHCR’s emphasis on building solutions designed to last long-term.

Children collect clean water in Ayilo Refugee Camp

Armstrong and Nakafeero cite examples of prior Water Mission projects in UNCHR refugee camps (such as Ayilo, Uganda) that utilize solar pumping systems, explaining how the technology is a viable option, how users are willing to pay for better service, and how the systems can be “owned”, operated, and maintained in such an environment. Their findings show:

Increased service level and reliability of water offered by solar pumping systems leads to increased willingness to pay on the part of refugees.
Refugee participation in the implementation, operation, maintenance, and ongoing financial cost-recovery of solar water pumping systems has proven to be feasible and critical to generating ownership and encouraging sustainability.
An ongoing relationship, with technical support and administrative accountability, can help refugees embrace a positive self-image, despite their former perceived vulnerabilities.
Refugees respect and follow the lead of UN stakeholders and partners. Presenting a unified approach encourages refugees to provide financial support towards operating and maintaining solar water pumping systems.

Presentation for WEDC Conference: Demand and Ownership Generation | Community Development, Water Mission

As a side event at the WEDC Conference, Water Mission is joining with Desert Research Institute, Improve International, and Whave to present “Overcoming Barriers to System-Wide Action in the WASH Sector.” In order to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, an alignment is needed around “system-wide” approaches across water, sanitation, and hygiene organizations. In this side event, the barriers to adopting such “system-wide” action will be discussed as well as promising approaches for moving forward. Additionally, Armstrong will be presenting the first paper ever published by the Accord WASH Alliance on how to best transition WASH interventions from relief to development. You can read the full paper here. Learn more about our team’s latest publications and research on our research page.

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