West Africa Regional Leader's Visit to Mauritania - Reflections on Water, Adovcacy and Sustainable Development
I am bringing you greetings from Mauritania, where I am presently visiting projects with our Partnership Leader for Field Operations, Dirk Booy. I want to share 3 aspects of what we have learned in Mauritania and which I trust will be inspiring you:
The first is regarding WASH:
Mauritania is a country in which over 90% of its surface is made out of the Sahara desert – so you can easily understand the importance of the topic of access to water! The innovation in MRT is that WV has started to work in WASH in the urban context! In their urban ADPs, there were recurring spouts of diarrhea epidemics and other water born diseases. Together with local government and partners they identified over 60 water points that will now be rehabilitated, better managed and better supervised. Tackling contamination of water during transport to and inappropriate storage of water in households is another area they are working on. And in schools and kids clubs, WVMRT is promoting good sanitation and hygiene practices. With consistent monitoring of impact indicators (for example the incidence of diarrhea in the neighborhood), the NO will soon have good evidence for the impact of their work which can be used to attract further funding!
We have just celebrated World Water Day (22.March) in which WV supported Goal 6 of the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (the successor of the Millennium Development Goals which are ending in 2015): ‘Getting to Zero communities without clean water and sanitation facilities' If access to clean water and proper hygiene can be made possible in Mauritania, it can also be done in your country!
The second learning from our visit in MRT is regarding WV’s commitment towards ‘sustainable well-being for children’. We were visiting an ADP which will transition at the end of this fiscal year. Years ago WV had put in place ‘Community Development Centers’, initially to monitor RCs, but then it rapidly became a platform for multi-dimensional work for child well-being. When we visited the center women showed us lists of students they were following in the surrounding schools: they identified the weakest students of each school and then were making sure they were catching up with the rest of the class: providing encouragement, needed text books, additional tutoring etc. Within 6 months most of these weak pupils had returned to doing well in class! The women also showed us pictures of children they had defended against abuse: the community network informed them of children that were beaten and the women confronted the parents, explained the danger for the child in this situation, counseling and also warning them about impending legal action if this behavior would not cease! The same women are setting school drop outs up in a small business and providing the support needed to make it work. The same women are running nutrition groups for children under 5 that were screened as undernourished. All of the above is funded by income generated through multiple income generating activities and savings groups which also allow them to provide for their own families!
The women were confidently and proudly affirming’ WV can leave now! We now know what to do, how to do it and we have the means to do it! We invite to come back in 2 years – you will find us here still doing what we are doing today for vulnerable children, even if WV is not with us anymore!’
When highly vulnerable women fleeing the drought and stranded in a city can turn into a solid community of engaged promoters for child well-being – then WV knows that the work done there had sustainable impact on children! I trust that you can see similar things in the communities you are working in, too!
The third one is about advocacy: 2 years back WVMRT had zero advocacy staff, zero advocacy budgets at NO level and hardly any ADP advocacy budget. Today they have 2 full time positions for advocacy, are strategically working through CVA (Citizen’s voice & action) on local advocacy and for the 2nd year engaging in the Child Health Now Campaign. Last year’s CHN focused on growth monitoring to tackle the issue of malnutrition. Together with partners, WVMrt developed a national guide, training module and standardized tools, inspired by the global World Vision module and tools. These materials were subsequently validated by the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs and have been rolled out. This year’s CHN campaign focuses on pushing the government to allocate more resources towards child and maternal health specifically to have more skilled health workers in rural and remote areas to allow the poor and vulnerable to be reached.
If WV can boldly engage in local and national level advocacy in contexts such as Mauritania, you should feel encouraged to join the Partnership in the upcoming Global Week of Action to work for child well-being through the means of advocacy!
All the best to each of you!
Esther Lehmann-Sow, WV WA Regional Leader