As WAI, we very much focus on the promotion of learning between our country alliances. Therefore, five participants from partner organisations from Benin, Kenya, Mali and Uganda participated in high-impact learning visits this year. They travelled to Kenya, Uganda and Cambodia to learn more about sustainable and scalable WASH approaches. Their visits were facilitated by three ambassadors of change from partner organisations from Ghana and Bangladesh and by our learning partner Avance. Between 2013 and 2014, these ambassadors of change were part of a learning programme about sustainable approaches which could result in the provision of water and sanitation for all. Their role in this years’ learning exchange was to share their previously gained knowledge and to help the five participants to make their own projects more innovative and scalable.

The learning exchanges, which took place between July and December 2015, looked into different topics tailored to the specific interests and needs of the participants. Jane from Practical Action in Kenya was keen on learning more about how her organisation could scale up its WASH financing model by increasingly involving the private sector and by using low-cost innovative technologies. John from USSIA in Uganda travelled to Cambodia to visit programmes dealing with innovative sanitation technologies and the construction of affordable pit latrines. In Uganda, Bonaventure and Edmond from EEA in Benin, visited inspiring CLTS projects and met with many different stakeholders such as local government officials, representatives of a women’s saving group and  artisans. Mamadou from WaterAid in Mali also travelled to Uganda to see how the Ugandan approaches in the area of scalable systems for sanitation could be used and replicated in Mali.

All visits were a big success and it was inspiring for the participants to learn from projects which were similar to the ones of their own organisations. As a follow-up, the five participants share their gained knowledge with colleagues in their organisations and with other members of their country alliances. This way, partner organisations in their countries can benefit from their experiences and together they can discuss how to best include the innovation in their country programme.

Thank you very much to all the participants, the ambassadors of change and the team of Avance for their participation and hard work!

Katharina Maier, Programme Officer WASH Alliance