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Humanitarian Crises Perspective

Humanitarian Crises Perspective

Discover tools and approaches that help you promote sustainable sanitation and water management in humanitarian crises settings.

The Humanitarian Crisis Perspective to Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management is a key English-Arabic knowledge platform for practitioners involved in water, sanitation or hygiene-promotion activities in humanitarian crises, with a special focus on the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region. It compiles over 170 factsheets of the SSWM Toolbox relevant to the context and includes more than 40 purposefully developed contents. It covers both hardware and software approaches and aims to support practitioners in planning, implementing and sustaining water, sanitation and hygiene promotion interventions in different settings of humanitarian intervention (such as Camps, Prolonged Encampments, Rural Settings and Urban Settings).

Background

This section provides you with important background information sustainable sanitation and water management in humanitarian crises. It includes an…
3 Factsheets
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Camps

The term camp refers to a form of settlement in which refugees or Internally Displaced People (IDPs) reside and receive protection, humanitarian…
108 Factsheets
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Prolonged Encampments

Although there is a common perception that refugee situations are a temporary phenomenon, it has become clear that protracted refugee situations are…
125 Factsheets
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Urban Settings

At the end of 2015, about six out of ten refugees lived in urban areas. Refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) move to cities in hope for…
113 Factsheets
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Rural Settings

Rural communities commonly depend more on agricultural or pastoral livelihoods than their urban counterparts and usually have less access to…
110 Factsheets
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Vertical Flow Constructed Wetland

A vertical flow constructed wetland is a planted filter bed that is drained at the bottom. Wastewater is poured or dosed onto the surface from above…

Sedimentation/ Thickening Ponds

Sedimentation or thickening ponds are settling ponds that allow sludge to thicken and dewater. The effluent is removed and treated, while the…

Transfer Station (Underground Holding Tank)

Transfer stations or underground holding tanks act as intermediate dumping points for faecal sludge when it cannot be easily transported to a (Semi…

Application of Pit Humus and Compost

Compost is the soil-like substance resulting from the controlled aerobic degradation of organics. Pit humus is the term used to describe the material…

Floating Plant Pond

A floating plant pond is a modified maturation pond with floating (macrophyte) plants. Plants such as water hyacinths or duckweed float on the…

Irrigation

To reduce dependence on freshwater and maintain a constant source of water for irrigation throughout the year, wastewater of varying quality can be…

Water Disposal / Groundwater Recharge

Treated effluent and/or stormwater can be directly discharged into receiving water bodies (such as rivers, lakes, etc.) or into the ground to…

Surface Disposal and Storage

Surface disposal refers to the stockpiling of sludge, faeces or other materials that cannot be used elsewhere. Once the material has been taken to a…

Biogas Combustion

In principal, biogas can be used like other fuel gas. When produced in household-level [8221-biogas reactors], it is most suitable for cooking.…

Co-Composting

Co-composting is the controlled aerobic degradation of organics, using more than one feedstock (faecal sludge and organic solid waste). Faecal sludge…

Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)

Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is an approach which helps rural communities to understand and realise the negative effects of poor sanitation…

Water Safety Plans

Water Safety Plans are an improved risk management tool designed to ensure the safety of drinking water through the use of a comprehensive risk…

Child Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST)

Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) is an approach for promoting personal hygiene among children. CHAST is based on the well-…

School Campaigns (DC)

A school campaign on water and sanitation consists of two main components: one component is the provision of safe water and sanitation facilities in…

Media Campaigns - Posters and Flyers (DC)

The media (television, radio, print media, internet and email) play a significant part in spreading information on Sustainable Sanitation and Water…

Background

This perspective was developed within the framework of the project “cewas Middle East”, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The objective of cewas Middle East is to improve business practices in water and sanitation in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region and to support humanitarian water and sanitation actors to improve the sustainability of their services. To achieve this mission, cewas Middle East offers professional training, coaching, mentorship and consulting in business development, as well as specialised trainings in sustainable water, sanitation and resource management in Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq.

Content of the Perspective

Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management (SSWM) in Humanitarian Crises means mainstreaming ideas of long-term technical feasibility, socio-cultural acceptance, economic appropriateness and ecological viability into humanitarian actions (see A Call for Sustainable Humanitarian Intervention factsheet). The present toolbox compiles approaches and methodologies that can help field practitioners in humanitarian aid to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of their water, sanitation and health interventions. This includes appropriate sanitation options, viable solutions for water supply and distribution, planning tools that support a more long-term perspective, as well as approaches for hygiene promotion.

 

Different settings of humanitarian intervention require different approaches in terms of implementation time, available resources or human capacity. For this reason, the toolbox for SSWM in Humanitarian Crises is structured in four chapters, reflecting four settings of humanitarian intervention:

Each chapter begins with an introductory factsheet that describes the respective setting (including its particular challenges and characteristics), followed by four thematic sections:

All the descriptions of technologies, tools and approaches are backed by interesting reading material to be consulted for further information.

In the four thematic areas, the toolbox presents a broad range of possible tools, selected for the respective setting by a team of experts. Since the appropriateness is determined by the very specific context, the environmental, technical, financial, social and economic framework conditions of the individual situation must always be assessed together with Stakeholder Identification and the affected communities when Project Design the intervention.

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Partners behind this toolbox

About the SSWM Toolbox

The perspective “SSWM in Humanitarian Crises” was developed by cewas middle east with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Benaa Foundation, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology - Department Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development (EAWAG/Sandec), the German Toilet Organisation (GTO), seecon gmbh and cewas international.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

http://www.eda.admin.ch/sdc

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

http://www.giz.de/en

Benaa Foundation

http://www.benaa-global.org

 

EAWAG/Sandec

http://www.eawag.ch/en/department/sandec/

 

GTO

http://www.germantoilet.org/en/home/news.html

 

Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA)

http://www.susana.org

 

 

seecon gmbh

http://www.seecon.ch/en

cewas

http://cewas.org/

   
Created by:  

cewas middle east

http://www.cewasmiddleeast.org