You are invited to view all of the back issues of the WASRAG Newsletters at http://www.wasrag.org/news For more Water and Sanitation News for this month, please Read More.......
NEWS: Learn more about Rotary success in the WASRAG stories.
CALENDAR:
World Water Day – March 22, 2020 – Plan Now! Getting your club to clean up a local river is just one of many excellent ideas for a Service Project for World Water Day, March 22. World Water Day Competition - FLYER - Your club could win $500! LEARN MORE
April 24 to 26, 2020: Household Water Filters & Testing (in Guelph, Ontario)- A Vision for Clean Water has coordinated with the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technologies (CAWST), to produce a 4 day workshop (April 24-26, 2020) that will provide participants with the knowledge and skills to implement, monitor and evaluate household water treatment and storage and small community water supplies in developing countries.For details and to register visit Water Workshop.
May 28, 2020 - MENSTRUAL HYGIENE DAY: http://menstrualhygieneday.
Jun 5, 2020 - WORLD WATER SUMMIT 12, Honolulu, Hawaii - https://wasrag.org/page/world-
Oct 15, 2020 - GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY https://globalhandwashing.org
Oct 24, 2020 - WORLD POLIO DAY https://www.endpolio.org/
Rotarians Learn From Failures: We seldom learn from successes. WASRAG will be leading a break-out session at the RI Convention in Honolulu on the topic “Learning from WASH Failures”. The failure could be due to any of a number of causes: inappropriate technology, failure of the community to take ownership, lack of funding for ongoing operations, etc. Contact Ron Denham, ron.denham@atkearney.com with your examples, so he can coordinate a panel on this important topic. Please let us know what you’d like to share with Rotary friends. They are anxious to learn, and to avoid making the same mistakes.
WASH in Healthcare Facilities : Over the past year, there has been an increase focus on clean water, adequate sanitation and hygiene training in healthcare facilities. Some significant partnerships have been forged and some great resources developed. In September, Emory University completed an excellent series of videos on the topic. Their website http://washconhcf.org/ is full of useful resources. One of the resources is a WASH Conditions Assessment Tool, which they call WASHCon . The WHO and UNICEF have been taking a very active role in this area and have created a very good website of information at https://www.washinhcf.org/. One of their recent resources is an Advocacy Toolkit
Building WASH Partnerships that Work! As Rotarians scale up WASH programs, what can we learn from the United Nations and other partnerships? Why do some partnerships produce results and others fizzle, wasting time, money and resources? How should we: choose the right partner, select the right project, learn to work with others, develop a shared vision - towards SDG-6, agree on the right role for Rotary clubs and Rotarians, develop the best relationship with governments and local authorities, assemble a team that builds on mutual strengths, reconcile money issues, and Most important - what can we learn from mistakes - ours and others?
Let Us Help You With Your Project - WASRAG members are working on a wide assortment of wonderful projects. However, getting partners to help support the project is always a challenge. Dr. Omar Helferich, Visiting Scholar for Calvin College Institute for Clean Water, has accepted the volunteer position of Project Listing Manager. He will work on developing the Projects section of the WASRAG website and assisting clubs in getting their projects listed. He will also be assisting the WASRAG Professional Services Team in reviewing and revising Rotary Grant proposals to achieve project approval and meet budget targets. To get help with your Project Listing send an email to info@wasrag.org and indicate Project Listing in the subject header.
We Want to Help! - WASRAG has assembled a group of professionals to assist Rotary Clubs with their WASH projects. The team have experience in needs assessment, planning, grant preparation, implementation and WASH training. Members of the Professional Resources Team are from many countries, experienced in working in developing countries and are fluent in a number of languages. If you need help with a project send an email to: info@wasrag.org. For more details visit http://wasrag.org/page/
Our Members Asked? - WASRAG is extremely fortunate to count many dedicated and knowledgeable Rotarians on its team. Which is good - as our membership has lots of questions about the best technology to use on projects, how best to assess local needs, and best practices for sustainable projects. We would like to start a new feature in the newsletter, where you ask the questions and we get answers from our experts and the readers. We will provide the input in a future newsletter. Send your email to info@wasrag.org and indicate QUESTION in the title
The Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group is a group of Rotarians whose purpose is to support Rotary clubs to effectively plan, finance, implement, monitor and evaluate water, sanitation, and hygiene programs, where they are most needed in a collaborative, cost-effective, timely, and sustainable manner, true to the principles of Rotary International. Wasrag operates in accordance with Rotary International policy but is not an agency of, or controlled by, Rotary International.
The Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group (Wasrag) is pleased to consider partnerships with any corporate supporter. Due to the unique attributes of water sources and water provision, acceptance of corporate support does not imply an endorsement of any particular water technology. Rotarians, Rotary clubs, and Rotary partners must evaluate any technology to determine if it is the best solution for the conditions where the program will be implemented. Wasrag can provide guidance about where different technologies work best, but Rotarians and Rotary clubs must make the final decision about how to implement their programs.
To submit stories and pictures our Newsletter, please email: info@wasrag.org to the attention of Wasrag newsletter editors Ian Rumbles and Terri Black.
Wasrag needs your membership. Membership revenue helps cover our administrative costs, website upgrades, training, development of support materials etc. To check whether your membership has expired, email Anna Shepherd
We love hearing about your projects and are delighted to relay these great opportunities for Rotarians to get involved in WASH projects! When posting your projects on the wasrag.org website, please remember to include the name of your Rotary club and District number. Contact us at info@wasrag.org if you need help with your posting.