Millennium Water Alliance Welcomes Global Water Institute as Newest Member
Washington, DC, May 5, 2022 – The members of the Millennium Water Alliance (MWA), the partnership of leading implementers and researchers in international water, sanitation, and hygiene, are pleased to announce acceptance of our newest member, The Global Water Institute at The Ohio State University (GWI).
GWI connects the creative abilities of its university community and external partners to provide practical and innovative solutions for water-related problems. GWI builds cross-sectoral partnerships to being local specialists together using an integrated picture of community health and livelihoods, not just piecemeal components, and works on private sector engagement in rural ware service delivery connected to ongoing research and training.
“The Global Water Institute is delighted to join the Millennium Water Alliance and work alongside organizations who share our vision for clean, available, accessible, and sustainable water for all,” said Dr. Tom Darrah, GWI Director. “GWI’s mission is to connect the vast expertise and experience of Ohio State’s community with external partners to develop and implement best practices for sustainable water management and use. At a time when pressures on water resources have never been greater, we greatly value the opportunity to learn from and with other members, expand our partnership network, and increase the impact of our work on critical water needs.”
“We welcome the Global Water Institute’s extensive network and expertise to our growing global alliance,” said MWA Executive Director Keith Wright. “Their commitment to cross-sectoral partnership and innovative models and research are a great complement to our collective capacity.”
For more information on MWA, contact us at info@mwawater.org. Websites for all our members can be linked to through our Members page.
Millennium Water Alliance, Swiss Development Corporation Launch New Five-Year Water and Resilience Program in Kenya
World Water Day Event Opens $15.3 Million Kenya RAPID Plus, Building on MWA’s Innovative Kenya RAPID Program in Five Counties in Northern Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya, March 24, 2022 – The Swiss Ambassador to Kenya joined representatives of the Kenyan Government, local and international nongovernmental organizations, and private sector partners on World Water Day (March 22) to launch Kenya RAPID Plus (the Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development, also now known as RAPID+), a major effort to accelerate access to safe drinking water and rangeland services for more than 200,000 people in Turkana, Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, and Wajir counties.
The program began organizing in November last year, but with the formal launch this week, it will now engage multiple partners for increasing access in pastoralist communities to sustainable water for multiple personal and agricultural uses, and to improve the health of rangeland resources critical to likelihoods in this region. The Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) is the primary funder, with contributions from implementing nongovernmental organizations and others for a total of $15, 365,239 USD through October 2026.
From 2016 to 2021, The Millennium Water Alliance-led Kenya RAPID program, funded primarily by SDC and the United States Agency for International Development, deployed $31 million USD to improve or bring first-time access to water, sanitation, and hygiene for 650,226 people. RAPID brought together public, private, and civil society institutions and communities to increase access to water and sanitation for people and water for livestock, and to take steps to restore a healthy rangeland management.
The new RAPID+ is designed to address two core problems and the complex interactions amid changing climate conditions: insufficient access to adequate and sustainable water for multiple uses, and declining rangeland resources.
Posted March 24, 2022
Congress Approves$475 Million for WASH in FY 22
$25 Million Increase Brings Annual USAID Spending for International WASH to Highest Level Ever
Washington, DC, March 2022 – Congress enacted and President Biden signed into law a $1.5 trillion federal spending package this month for Fiscal Year 2022 (even though there are only six months remaining in the fiscal year), including a small increase for State and Foreign Operations, but a major $25 million increase for international water, sanitation, and hygiene programs under USAID, up from the previous FY 21 level of $450 million to a record $475 million.
The final bill provided $64.9 billion to what are collectively known as SFOps (State and Foreign Operations, which include the State Department, USAID, Millennium Challenge Corporation, and related programs), but that topline figure includes $6.9 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, leaving $58 billion for regular SFOps programs, a 1.1 percent increase over FY 21.
MWA thanks the members of the Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs in both the Senate and the House for their continued support each year for foreign assistance in safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. In particular, we deeply thank the dedicated subcommittee staffs, Senate Subcommittee Chair Chris Coons (D-DE), Senate Ranking Minority Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC), House Subcommittee Chair Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Ranking Minority Member Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), for their support. As always, we are extremely grateful to longtime WASH champions Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the full Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senate Majority Whip Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) for their unwavering support for WASH!
MWA Member Spotlight
Save the Children integrates WASH work with other health, education or child protection activities that contribute to their three Agency Breakthroughs to ensure that children around the world Survive, Thrive and are Protected. In the United States and around the world, Save the Children is dedicated to ensuring every child has the best chance for success.
With over $70m in global WASH funding, Save the Children leads WASH activities funded by a variety of other private and public donors across 40 countries. Save the Children’s programs advance universal access to quality WASH services in households, communities, health facilities, and schools across development and emergency contexts.
One of their global projects, the USAID-funded Practices, Research & Operations in WASH (PRO-WASH), provides support to implementing partners in order to strengthen the quality of WASH interventions through capacity strengthening, knowledge-sharing and applied WASH research opportunities. You can learn more about PRO-WASH’s research and capacity strengthening activities here. More member spotlight information about Save the Children is available here.
Naw Lay at Handwashing station in Myanmar (credit: Nyein Thaw Htoo)
The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering (MCGE) at the University of Colorado Boulder trains engineers to work in partnership with institutions and communities worldwide to develop improved tools and methods to addr
ess global challenges. Our program is based on the principle that students educated in Global Engineering will be prepared to solve engineering and science problems within the socioeconomic, environmental and political constraints often encountered in lower-resource settings. We combine education, research and partnerships to positively impact vulnerable people and their environment. Our vision is a world where everyone has safe water, sanitation, energy, food, shelter, and infrastructure. The Mortenson Center details its approach in a newly released article: A Body of Knowledge and Pedagogy for Global Engineers. 
One of the Mortenson Center’s initiatives, in collaboration with the Millennium Water Alliance, is the Drought Resilience Impact Platform (DRIP) which is aimed at ending the cycle of drought emergencies in the arid regions of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Learn more about DRIP and the Mortenson Center HERE.
July 15, 2021
Impact of Cloud Technology for the People of Kenya's Arid Lands
See new video from IBM on impact of cloud technology in monitoring and maintaining water services in remote areas:
See it in on You Tube HERE...
Kenya RAPID Video Shows Impact in Year 4
See the video for an update on Kenya RAPID as it nears its fifth and final year of implementation!
View HERE...MWA and Other WASH Organizations Seek Major Increase for USAID WASH
June 2021 – MWA is asking Congress to approve a $90 million increase in funding for international water, sanitation, and hygiene programs through USAID for Fiscal Year 2022. Congress is now working on appropriations – if approved, this would bring total USAID WASH funding to $540 million next year.
See more HERE...
The Millennium Water Alliance is a 501(c)(3) permanent and operational alliance of leading organizations and enterprises working to bring safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene to millions of people in poor communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Founded in 2002, MWA convenes opportunities and partnerships, accelerates learning and effective models, and influences the WASH space by leveraging the expertise and reach of its members and partners to scale quality, sustainable WASH services globally.
