Learning Together: Africa Regional Workshop
October 11, 2013
Water Missions International Kenya country program office in Kitale, Kenya
We recently held a workshop for all community development staff from Water Missions International’s Africa programs. For two weeks in August, staff from Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Germany, and the United States gathered at our office in Kitale, Kenya to share success stories and ongoing challenges faced while working with communities to sustain access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. Staff members shared various approaches and tools that they have developed in order to address these challenges, all with the intent of identifying best practices and harmonizing the underlying philosophy that guides daily decision making.
Water Missions International staff from Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Germany, and the United States participated in the 2013 Africa Regional Staff Workshop on Best Practices in Community Development.
One of the primary benefits of this type of capacity building event is that it provides an opportunity for staff to share and learn from other’s experiences.
Paul Kilonzo of Water Missions Kenya relates his experience in meeting with community leaders during on-site assessment visits from his previous work with Grundfos LIFELINK in Kenya.
As in previous workshops, we began this specific event by harmonizing ideas about the impact that our work can have in the lives of people in rural communities. Specifically, we explored the biblical perspective of poverty and how it can be alleviated through our work with water, sanitation, and hygiene by restoring people to wholesome relationships with themselves, with others, with their environment (including time, talents, and resources), and with God. This set the scene for discussing how we define success in the context of community-managed water supply projects, which involves specific metrics for water quality, management capacity, financial sustainability, and transformational behavior change. We then spent the remainder of the first week systematically covering every aspect of community-managed water supply projects where Water Missions International staff members interact with community residents including on-site assessments, development and training of Safe Water Committees, promotion of healthy water, sanitation and hygiene behavior in the community, and ongoing follow-up and support of committee members.
Ritah Nakafeero of Water Missions Uganda leads a participatory exercise to identify responsibilities of various Safe Water Committee members.
Andrew Armstrong uses a pictorial activity made available by our friends at CAWST to show how various water, sanitation, and hygiene behaviors can break diarrheal disease transmission pathways. This activity promotes healthy behaviors in communities with operating Safe Water Projects.
In the second week of the workshop, we practiced the various processes associated with our community development work. Teams made up of staff from different country programs held a mock assessment meeting, Safe Water Committee financial sustainability training, and community WASH promoter trainings.
A team consisting of (from left) Adamson Katilu (Kenya), Fred Nkuutu (Uganda), Fred Muwanguzi (Uganda), and Jackline Tum (Kenya) prepare to lead a mock on-site assessment
Another objective of the workshop was to identify gaps in our current thinking and areas where additional development is needed. Through discussions held during the two weeks, it became apparent that a number of our standard documents and forms (e.g. assessment form and Safe Water Committee financial logbooks) need to be revised and that a few aspects of our approach need to be researched further. By continuing to develop our policies and evaluating current practices we can work towards excellence and create opportunities for even greater impact through our work.
Water Missions International staff members display certificates of recognition after completion of the workshop.
What else would you like to know about the work that our staff members in Malawi, Uganda, and Kenya are doing?
Related Impact Stories
