PIND’s approach to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) has evolved over the years, from a focus on clean water access using technology to an expanded approach that now also addresses needed change in behavior and structural issues in the administration of WASH programs by local governments in the region.
“What has really helped us in the past few years has been learning quickly and forming the needed partnerships,” says Timi Kiakubu, PIND’s WASH Coordinator. “Having a good deal of patience does not hurt either. Things like the WASH in Schools program to improve access to clean water and sanitation in schools have been a long time coming, and we’re finally seeing the fruits of those efforts. We have also been able to start forming needed linkages with organizations like Rotary International and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and these are proving very important links to have.”
On September 1, 2015, PIND signed a first partnership agreement with UNICEF that saw both organizations collaborate on a five-month rural WASH project in 2 local government areas each in Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Edo, and Delta States, under UNICEF’s Niger Delta Support Program (NDSP) to mainstream conflict sensitivity into WASH programs. Local partners Academic Associates PeaceWorks (AAPW) and Community Initiative for Enhanced Peace and Development (CIEPD) worked to enhance peacebuilding in 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the five Niger Delta states through development of systems for mainstreaming conflict sensitivity in WASH Programming and strengthen the capacities of local institutions on the application of these systems in strengthening social bonding and mitigating conflict in project communities
In a lot of ways, the second partnership agreement that both organizations signed in 2016 was as a result of further deepening the gains made on the first one. Take the work to set up the Peacebuilding Monitoring and Response Team (PMRTs) in each participating LGAs to improve response to conflict that may threaten access to WASH facilities, for example. Raphael Nwozor, UNICEF’s WASH Specialist, wanted to see the PMRTs they had helped establish in action.
“at the time they were trained and beginning to take on issues, the period of the first agreement had run out. They were not able to do much ground work, so we felt it’s something we need to explore further, to get them to be more hands-on, and see them begin to address some issues, and build them up to a point where they can stand on their own. Based on that, we felt that we still have some more work.”
The second partnership agreement also presented both parties with an opportunity to address one of the challenges they noticed: the need to improve the quality of WASH training across the country. With the second partnership agreement, PIND received ₦80,757,204 from UNICEF to enhance service delivery capacity of local institutions through research and development of appropriate technologies development of training tools and guidelines, as well as to mentoring support towards improving WASH services delivery. This work is being implemented in eight local government areas across five states (Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and Kaduna States).
Dr. Bilkiss Dosah (standing) leads a session during a training on WASH Best Practices in Keffi, Nassarawa State. The PIND-UNICEF training on WASH has helped show her a more effective way of training people who provide WASH services throughout the country
Improved training processes are already beginning to bear fruit, as it is already beginning to improve the quality of training and instruction on WASH best practices. Dr. Bilkis Dosah of the Kaduna State-based National Water Resources Institute, a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, underwent the training in March 2016, and was enthusiastic about the marked difference between this new training method and all the others she had ever experienced.
“In this one, the participants are the trainers,” Dr. Dosah told us. “I now have to show it step by step, and engage the trainees. The participants now make their own presentations. We didn’t have to use a multimedia projector. The former is more trainer-centered, now the focus is on the participants.
After my training, I trained people in Ekiti State using the knowledge and skills from the training . I think that was why subsequent trainings were organized for other trainees. Trainees tell me “we’ve not received training like this”, and I see their enthusiasm. Overall, we hear people call us back to tell us that this training was very different from previous ones they’ve got. They tell us that it is better for them. UNICEF were also in the Ekiti State training, and according to them it was a great change.”
But perhaps the most exciting prospect of the new partnership agreement between PIND and UNICEF is the work to improve availability of affordable water filtration technology in more Niger Delta homes. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals have water quality as a major indicator, an area in which Nigeria falls quite short: 61% of Nigerians have access to safe water, but when one applies the condition of water quality the number drops to 12%. Before the year ran out, PIND and UNICEF began work on market research for clay filters and will use the insight gained to determine a marketing plan in low-income communities in the Niger Delta and elsewhere to ensure adoption of the filtration technologies.
UNICEF WASH Specialist, Raphael Nwozor stands in the hallway of the UNICEF office in Abuja. He extolls PIND’s input on peacebuilding and has worked with PIND on the partnership agreements between both organizations
“Under the Niger Delta support program, which is a bit different from a traditional WASH program, what was critical for us is that the project did not consider the delivery of WASH services as the end result, but rather considered WASH services to be a means to an end, which in this case is to contribute peace in the Niger Delta. This is quite tricky for us, in terms of how we can drive peacebuilding in a way we can use WASH as an entry point. And also at the time of implementation, we knew we must do it differently. That basically is where we found PIND quite handy in terms of experience working in the Niger Delta and in peacebuilding”
“With this partnership,” Nwozor tell us, “We are exploring the possibility of both expansion of biosand filters that PIND is currently working on and clay filters. We’re looking at providing options, affordability and water quality. Clay filters can deliver the same service at a lower cost but the fact that they can be put together locally is another advantage.”
In the course of his research on improved and low-cost water filtration, PIND’s WASH Coordinator Timi Kiakubu happened upon a research paper by Ebele Erhuanga from the Industrial Design Department of Federal University of Technology at Akure, Ondo State, on water filtration using ceramic water filters. Erhuanga has been working with UNICEF and PIND on the market research and design of the clay filters and hopes to improve the chances of adoption of the clay filters by ensuring the design of the filters are responsive to local needs.
“We broke the research down into different phases: first, for the factories, we want to find out what successes and challenges have been, and learn what they have done right to produce a good quality product. Second, we are going to have a market system analysis to see what the market is like for both the filters and to see what factors will affect their entrance into the market. We also want to see what prices people will buy these filters. Previous studies have shown that design plays a role in people accepting a product, so we are going to be pulling in feedback from a social study on how people in a community see the filters and how functional they are.”
2016 saw the beginning of the operational research for the clay water filters, and more work will be done in the coming year to launch the filters in the market and getting clean water to more households.