Ethiopia is currently ranked 161st out of 190 countries for "Ease of Doing Business". My first post is about why that might be the case, and how the recent new government has the potential to have an impact as it seeks to harness the potential of the private sector. Read more...
A WaterAid thematic review. Read more...
Analysing partnerships and how they strengthen WASH systems. Read more...
USAID programmes collaborate to improve rural water supplies for pastoralist communities in drought-prone regions. Read more...
Behaviours learned at school, like washing hands, stay with students for the rest of their lives and will influence those around them. The Ethiopian government is working hard to ensure that all children are enrolled in school and at the same time is challenged to provide adequate facilities for... Read more...
Half of the sales agents in the USAID Transform WASH project in Ethiopia are women. Read more...
Due to the absence of active and participatory platforms for coordination, WASH sector actors – woreda head, offices of women and children's affairs, health, education, water, agriculture and finance – have shown a reluctance to implement WASH activities together. Regrettably, this lack of... Read more...
"People used to make fun of me saying, 'Do you really expect us to pay 350 birr for this toy you molded while we can get it for free?'" says Tesfaye Lemanche, Chair of Data Concrete Slab production Association. Read more...
A new guideline seeks to professionalise the management of multi-village water supplies in Ethiopia Read more...
A team representing government and NGOs from Ethiopia joined a visit to Ghana to learn about planning for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for WASH. Read more...
With water quality at source and point of use a major concern, there is renewed interest in Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTSS). Read more...
Water is central to the lives of pastoralists in Mille woreda, and water development projects have huge impacts. How these play out for the local community is a complex story. Read more...
It's the final day of the design summit, and we're all a bit weary but energized to see the fruits of all this labor. When we started our 10-day journey with MIT, it felt to me like a long time to spend in a workshop. But as the summit progressed, I realized that we could easily spend a month... Read more...
Climate resilient WASH is about new ways of working across the traditional humanitarian and development sectors. We went to one of the harshest spots in Ethiopia, and surely in the world, to find out more. Read more...
My new role at Cranfield University this year is to drive forward a novel and very exciting project known as WEEP (Water-security in Ethiopia and the emotional response of pastoralists). WEEP has immense potential to 'break new ground' in understanding the everyday and ongoing challenges of water... Read more...
Day 6 at the USAID Transform WASH Design Summit began like every day, with Morning Circle. This is a moment to set the mood, reflect, have a bit of fun, and make announcements about the day. The group is large with 35 participants plus Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Design Lab... Read more...
When we set out to transform the WASH sector in Ethiopia, I knew it would be a fascinating journey. But, our Transform WASH Design Summit, organized by PSI/Ethiopia and led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) D-Lab here in Hawassa, took us to an entirely new place. Read more...
Lessons learnt from a field trip in Ethiopia. Read more...
You may have heard of the Lord of the Rings, but in Bihar, India, that name is taking on a whole new meaning. I recently joined a field visit to this part of the world to see how cement ring businesses are changing the face of rural sanitation. Read more...
As Ethiopia manages to develop more and more new rural water schemes – springs, wells or boreholes with hand-pumps or engines, piped water – keeping the existing infrastructure running well and safely is a challenge that gets bigger every day. And, despite some encouraging efforts, it's a challenge... Read more...