The 38th AGUASAN Workshop will take place in Switzerland from October 7 to 11 on the topic of the WASH humanitarian-development nexus, consideri...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
Applications run until July 10 (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/aguasanws2024">https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/aguasanws2024). Places are limited to maintain the interactive and expert nature of the event and applicants will go through a selection process, interested participants are invited to complete the full registration form as soon as possible.
DETAILS: Announcement 38TH AGUASAN Workshop 2024
The WASH humanitarian-development nexus
Meielisalp, Switzerland, 7 – 11 October 2024
The 38 th AGUASAN Workshop will take place in Switzerland on the topic of the WASH humanitarian-development nexus, considering case studies from around the world brought in by participants, allowing to anchor discussions on realities faced by participants. It will address the topic by looking at the challenges of working in the nexus and considering the systems strengthening approach as an overarching goal between humanitarian action and development cooperation. Places are limited to maintain the interactive and expert nature of the event, and we therefore invite interested parties to please complete the full registration form (see last page) as soon as possible and by July 10 th at the latest.
Background
In international cooperation, the generation, organisation, sharing and application of knowledge is crucial to foster relevant and effective results. Knowledge management and a culture of learning are commonly understood as instruments to enhance the quality and effectiveness of interventions. In this context, the AGUASAN Community of Practice (CoP) exists to promote joint learning in the water and sanitation sector within the Swiss international cooperation community. Since 1984, AGUASAN has been a vibrant multi-actor platform and think-tank, constituting an essential link in the innovation and knowledge management strategy of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). As one of its core practices, the CoP convenes annually for an international workshop where water specialists and wider development practitioners from all over the world gather to collectively reflect on the latest sector issues, and elaborate strategies and innovative tools of practical use.
The aim of the AGUASAN Workshop Series is to forge and facilitate the implementation of the Swiss response to water and sanitation issues in developing countries and countries in transition. The workshops are in line with advancing the realisation of good governance and human rights principles, gender sensitive approaches, sustainable natural resource management and environmentally friendly practices. The workshops prepare sector decision-makers and practitioners to conceive, respond to and contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). They do this by providing participants with mutual learning and knowledge sharing experiences, improving their awareness of the wider development challenges, and creating opportunities for co-creation and joint validation. Over its almost four decades of existence, the AGUASAN Workshop Series has displayed widely distinguished and innovative events generating highly relevant water knowledge. Driving forces behind the events are carefully selected themes and the week-long workshop format which allows for direct interactions and joint developments.
The 38 th AGUASAN Workshop will take place in Switzerland on the topic of the WASH humanitarian-development nexus. It will address this by looking at the challenges of working in the nexus and considering the systems strengthening approach as an overarching goal between Announcement 38th AGUASAN Workshop 2024
humanitarian action and development cooperation. The workshop will address the topic through case studies from around the world, brought in by participants, allowing to anchor discussions on realities faced by participants. The 2025 Workshop is seen as a continuation of the 2024 Workshop. It aims to deepen learning on the topic and refine outcomes of the 2024 Workshop by diving in a selected case study from the 2024 Workshop. The 2025 Workshop is intended to be hosted in the country of the case study and to address participants drawn from the region.
The workshop announcement is directed towards applicants who are interested in participating in the week-long in-person 2024 Workshop. Details on how to apply for the workshop are listed on the last page of the announcement.
Workshop features
Dates and venue The workshop will be held over five days from 7 to 11 October 2024. The venue of the workshop is Hotel Meielisalp near Spiez, Switzerland.
Target audience The AGUASAN Workshop Series is designed for a multi-stakeholder audience of practitioners involved in the water sector and beyond. The workshops are open to NGO staff, service providers, consultants, researchers, civil servants, officers of multilateral organisations and donor agencies, entrepreneurs, and other professionals. The 2024 edition targets participants with a background in development cooperation and/or humanitarian action, and that are currently or regularly exposed to situations requiring the mobilisation of humanitarian action.
Path and format The AGUASAN Workshop 2024 comprises a week-long, in-person workshop which will provide sufficient time to deep dive into the topic, reflect on and discuss challenges and best practices and, if applicable, produce recommendations or knowledge products. Please note that the in-person workshop will not be offered in a hybrid format and selected participants are expected to attend the entire workshop week.
Participants of the in-person workshop are also expected to attend the online run-up webinar (set to take place on September 11) which will serve as an introduction to the topic. After the workshop week, key learnings will be disseminated to the wider WASH community during two online follow-up webinars. Most importantly, the topic is intended to be carried forward to the next AGUASAN Workshop by a group of interested participants to continue elaborating on the workshop outcomes.
Topics and expected outcomes
The AGUASAN Workshop 2024 will address WASH service delivery in crisis context with a focus on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. Nexus interlinkages conceive humanitarian relief and development as actions that may take place and be financed simultaneously in a given context1 .
The purpose of the workshop is not to define the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, but rather provide an opportunity to reflect on and learn from practical solutions developed when humanitarian and development actors work together. The main objective is to identify best practices and ingredients for success under the following two topics:
1
Schmitz Guinote, Filipa. ‘Q&A: The ICRC and the “Humanitarian – Development – Peace Nexus” Discussion’. International Review of the Red Cross, 1 November 2019. http://international-review.icrc.org/articles/qa-icrc-andthe-humanitarian-development-peace-nexus-discussion-ir912 .
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1. Challenges and opportunities of the WASH humanitarian-development nexus. Practice shows that challenges persist in the proper integration of approaches in contexts where development cooperation and humanitarian action co-exist. This is notably the case in protracted anthropic crisis, for example in refugee camps functioning under humanitarian action in an otherwise stable context with longer-term development needs, or in the case of natural disasters in developing contexts. Challenges and opportunities of the nexus in practice can be grouped as political and institutional challenges, challenges related to various concepts and approaches, and technical challenges.
2. Systems strengthening as an overarching goal2 . This approach is strongly promoted by development practitioners, not only to provide sustainable services but also to ensure preparedness and resilience. Applying the systems approach in humanitarian contexts presents challenges as local actors struggle to fulfil their functions related to delivery of WASH services to the population. There are also cases where the respect of humanitarian principles and neutrality makes it difficult to work with certain system actors, particularly in contexts of conflict, while bypassing long-term actors increases the risk of further weakening the system and creating a dependency towards humanitarian action. However, working through system actors and integrating them from the onset of a humanitarian action appears an effective way for successful phasing out of humanitarian action at the end of a crisis and to increase the quality of institutionalised WASH services.
While questions and challenges remain in addressing the humanitarian -development WASH nexus, there is a great stock of experience among WASH professionals and examples of good practice across the globe. The workshop will aim to distil these learnings and have participants identify ways to make them available for use by both workshop participants and their organisations, as well as the wider community of WASH professionals. The related outcomes are:
1. Developing ideas, strategies, actionable solutions, and recommendations for practical use: Participants reflect upon the experiences shared to identify and organise best practices and develop an outcome product (format to be determined) that can be shared and applied practically.
2. Sharing and learning from experiences: Successes, failures, wisdom, skills, concepts and tools are collected and displayed so that participants can better apply them in their daily work. Participants learn through exposure to specific case studies from various regions.
3. Professional networking: Participants build relationships with other professionals in the WASH sector in both humanitarian action and development cooperation.
Additional information
Participants To optimise the working environment, the total number of workshop seats is limited to 40. Interested participants will undergo an online application and selection procedure. A well-balanced mix regarding the participants’ expertise and gender as well as their thematic, organisational, and geographic background is aimed at. Please find more information about the application on the last page of this announcement.
2
As system strengthening approach, we understand the “actions and supporting interventions that are considered likely to strengthen one or more elements of a whole system” (www.agendaforchange.org), composed both by factors (technology, financing, regulation, coordination, service delivery, etc.) and actors’ capacities to ensure the appropriate functioning of the factors. See for example: Tillett, W., Trevor, J., Schillinger, J., & DeArmey, D. (202 0). Applying WASH systems approaches in fragile contexts: A discussion paper.
3 Announcement 38th AGUASAN Workshop 2024
Expenses and travel Workshop participation does not involve any registration fee but international and local travel costs, as well as accommodation and food must be covered by the participants themselves. The costs occurring at the venue (accommodation and food) are estimated to be around CHF 900.- (around USD 1’000.-) per person for the week. The workshop convenor cannot provide any financial support to individual participants. Other costs for organising the workshop and field visit costs will be covered by the convenor.
Language English is the main working language – working groups may exchange in a language understood by all group members, but inputs and feedbacks in plenary are always in English.
How to join
Are you interested in engaging and participating in the AGUASAN Workshop?
➢ Then fill out the online application form by 10 th July 2024 at the latest:
Click on or copy paste this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/aguasanws2024">https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/aguasanws2024
Selection criteria Workshop seats are limited to a max. of 40 participants and applicants will go through a selection process led by the Steering Committee. The selection of participants will be based on various criteria: expertise as related to the workshop topics; extent of practice; interest in applicable solutions; substantivity of ideas to implement gained knowledge in own practice; and demographic diversity. Applications by female, young and less experienced practitioners are encouraged.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact lucien.blaser@skat.ch of the AGUASAN Workshop Series implementing organisation.
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Taxonomy
- Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)
- Senior WASH officer
- WASH in remote communities
- WASH in healthcare facilities