Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage Knowledge Base

WHAT IS THE HUMANITARIAN NEED?

With the increased use, availability and implementation of Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) solutions in pre, active, and post-emergency contexts, humanitarian WASH practitioners face a multitude of options. There is currently no independent knowledge base or comprehensive analysis on HWTS options, implementation approaches, location and conditions of implementation, and their suitability for emergency contexts or their place in the emergency-development continuum. This is the gap that our innovation is targeting.

CAWST’s innovation complements existing initiatives by providing a dynamic, regularly updated space with expert moderated knowledge. It is the first space to use visual geo-mapping of information.

WHAT IS THE INNOVATIVE SOLUTION?

CAWST is creating a centralized, web-based, knowledge and technical support hub on Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) solutions to support WASH practitioners, including those working in pre, active and post-emergency settings. This innovation will improve existing humanitarian practice:

• By making relevant information available, it will allow humanitarian WASH practitioners to increase their decision making efficiency and effectiveness in implementing quality, contextually appropriate and timely WASH solutions.
• By creating an online platform with structured information, active content management and expert moderators, WASH practitioners will be able to easily access a tool with credible and up-to date information, providing a positive user experience. This will encourage more practitioners to share their knowledge on HWTS solutions and implementation, learn what has/has not worked for others, incorporate it into their decision making and project implementation and adapt their HWTS implementation accordingly, resulting in better emergency decisions and responses.

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES?

This project will provide a user-friendly, interactive, online knowledge base where Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) implementers and practitioners can access information, connect, and contribute their experiences. Practitioners worldwide will access the knowledge base and learn about the latest available products, implementation models, and successes and failures of HWTS projects. They will also connect and interact with others working in similar regions/technology contexts.

This increased level of knowledge and stronger network amongst HWTS implementers will support practitioners to plan and deliver more successful HWTS projects that incorporate appropriate technology choices, tried and tested implementation models, and shared learnings. Improved HWTS implementation will lead to a higher rate of correct, consistent and continued use of HWTS products by vulnerable communities, improving their health.

This innovation will bring incremental change to significantly improve WASH implementation and coordination among key actors in humanitarian WASH response before, during and after emergencies.