Contribution to international development: report 2021 to 2023

8. Water and Sanitation

The Scottish Government’s Water Futures Programme in Malawi supports the Government of Malawi to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: Access to clean water and sanitation. Additionally, through the IDF we have supported further Water and Sanitation initiatives.

8.1 ODA Spend Projects

In the reporting period, Scottish Government ODA has supported a number of Water and Sanitation (WASH) initiatives, including:

• the Malawi Scotland Regulatory Partnership (MSRP): funded from the Scottish Government Hydro Nation budget;
• Scotland's Global Partnership for Knowledge and Expertise in Water and Climate (SPARKE): funded from the Scottish Government Hydro Nation budget, explored in more detail for the period of this Report through our Case Study below;
• Nyamagabe Alba Project, funded from the Scottish Government IDF and delivered by WaterAid Scotland/WaterAid Rwanda, and explored in more detail for the period of this Report through our Case Study below; and
• Deliver life to mothers, girls and children in the southern region of Malawi, funded from the Scottish Government IDF and delivered by WaterAid Scotland/WaterAid Malawi. This project was to improve the health of mothers, girls and children in rural and peri-urban low-income areas of Machinga and Zomba by facilitating access to safe water, improved sanitation and good hygiene in health care facilities, early childhood development centres and communities, d funded from the Scottish Government IDF and delivered by WaterAid Scotland/WaterAid Malawi. (Please see our 2018/2019 Report for a case study on this project).

8.2 Case Studies

Case Study W1: Malawi Scotland Regulatory Partnership (MSRP)

Between 2021 and 2023, the Malawi Scotland Regulatory Partnership (MSRP) has offered peer-to-peer support and capacity-building to colleagues in Malawi's two environmental regulators the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) and Malawi Environment Protection Agency (MEPA).

In 2021-2022, the partnership included on-going collaboration with the James Hutton Institute (JHI), Hydro Nation Scholars and Water Witness International (WWI) in Scotland, and Malawi-based NGO BASEflow working closely with BAWI consultants. The ability to assemble a collaboration of this kind, enabled by Hydro Nation, continues to offer a valuable and effective vehicle for supporting fellow institutions from other countries.

The MSRP delivered corporate governance support to the NWRA and MEPA, but also supported the development of information and evidence relevant to the regulators through increased engagement with the Ministry of Water and Sanitation. This included a national assessment of Malawi's groundwater monitoring network and forward planning to secure investment in improved national monitoring infrastructure.

The model of delivery continued to be influenced by a post-COVID-19 and Net-Zero world, with a significant proportion of work being led by Malawi partners or through remote engagement. The MSRP will continually review this model of delivery to ensure it pursues innovative and effective ways to continue to support Malawi in the most carbon efficient manner.

Case Study W2: Scotland's Global Partnership for Knowledge and Expertise in Water and Climate (SPARKE)

In 2021, Scottish Ministers made the commitment to: “create new peer-to-peer partnerships between Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Climate Change, Water & Flooding and organisations in the Global South, sharing experience and data towards tackling these shared challenges".

To support the fulfilment of this pledge, the Hydro Nation International Centre has worked in partnership with a wide range of global stakeholders in the water environment to share knowledge and experience of science-policy exchange.

Throughout the evolution of the project, the Centre is working with partners in Malawi and India to identify data as well as capacity and skills needs to co-construct a series of activities that make use of peer-to-peer approaches for addressing these needs. This aim is underpinned by Scotland's new international development principles of in-country led, demand-driven partnership working.

Case Study W3: Nyamagabe Alba Project – WaterAid

WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone, everywhere has safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene. WaterAid’s Nyamagabe Alba project aims to improve access to these basic human rights in vulnerable communities, schools and healthcare facilities in Nyamagabe District, Rwanda.

Only a quarter of countries worldwide are on track to achieve their national sanitation targets, and less than a third of countries have sufficient human resources required to carry out key drinking water, sanitation and hygiene functions^[28].

Since 2021, the Nyamagabe Alba project has constructed rainwater harvesting tanks in 5 schools and inclusive toilets, with menstrual hygiene management rooms in two schools, taking the total reached with decent toilets to 12 schools. This means that children with disabilities can access decent toilets and girls can manage their periods with dignity; without interrupting their learning.

Through Community and School Hygiene Clubs as part of this project, the project has reached over 370,000 people with key sanitation and hygiene messages. In the community, 81,359 households gained access to decent toilets, over 9,000 of those households, now have decent toilets at home thanks to affordable loans funded by the project.

The impact of this work has contributed to the achievement of 100% of schools and 91% of households with basic sanitation services (from a baseline of 50% and 62% respectively) in Nyamagabe, Rwanda. Other key outputs of this work include:

• Permanent Handwashing stations were constructed in the community, at Kigeme District hospital and in two community health posts.
• Kaduha District Hospital now also has decent toilets, with handwashing and laundry washing stations.
• 14,000 people in one school and two communities have been connected to new water supply networks, gaining access to clean water for the first time.

8.3 Cross-Scottish-Government Policy Initiatives

Through its Hydro Nation Strategy the Scottish Government and its Hydro Nation partners continued to deliver important work, perhaps most notably in Malawi where the tragedy of Storm Freddy caused such devastation in 2022, highlighting the importance of our work with Government of Malawi colleagues to establish and grow capability in water and environmental regulation.^[29]