There was an exchange visit made by Kenia WASH Alliance (KWA) to Ethiopia WASH Alliance (EWA) last week from 21- 26 January to share experiences on the theme mainly on multiple of uses of water services which also integrates school WASH and waste management. The participants were able see the linkage how the idea of business in WASH is being piloted i.e. F FIETS. The team composed of 11 members from KWA, other partner NGOs of KWA and government. EWA was also represented staffs of alliance members.

The KWA and EWA team together

The two groups joined and made a bigger one which shared common transport that made to travel along the big East African Rift Valley and eastern mountains of the country. During the travel, there was also great opportunity for both alliance members to make bi-lateral discussions.

The visited includes sites Afar region where AMREF Ethiopia is implementing followed by Oromiya where two of our partners (HCS and RiPPLE) are implementing. The field visit was complemented not sharing the program overview of EWA but also EWA partners profile & program activities they are implementing in relation to WASH Alliance.

Besides the lessons that EWA shared to KWA, the EWA team also learned a lot from the discussions carried out at the different sites and plenary ones made at the beginning and end of visit.

The team making discussion at the site (Awash)

EWA as a host of the learning visit values the importance of such kind of horizontal learning visits among the different local WASH Alliances now and then.

Read also about this event from a Kenyan perspective here.

Tamene Chaka is Country Coordinator of the Ethiopia WASH Alliance