November 2000

New Drilling Rigs Arrive in Nicaragua

EHP is providing assistance to USAID/ Nicaragua through construction or improvement (rehabilitation) of rural water supply and sanitation systems for areas hit by Hurricane Mitch. Six PVOs/NGOs are implementing the program with full participation of the communities. EHP�s Nicaragua office is managing the effort. The purpose of this program is to improve the health of communities hit by Hurricane Mitch by increasing or improving water supply and sanitation services and providing hygiene education programs. Through this program, more than 100,000 people will have access to new or rehabilitated water supply and sanitation systems. A milestone in the program was the delivery to Nicaragua of two drilling rig fleets purchased by EHP. Below are photos of the new rigs and some examples of EHP work in rural communities in Nicaragua.

Two drill rig fleets, each consisting of three vehicles, were delivered to the project this summer. Each fleet is composed of the vehicles shown above, from left to right: a well-drilling module mounted on an all-wheel truck with both fluid rotary and down-the-hole hammer-drilling capability; a service truck to transport supplies, tools, fuel, etc.; and a trailer-mounted compressor to support air drilling. Standing in front of the trucks are (left to right) Darcy de Leon and Isidro Rodruiguez of ADRA, Christian Ogden and David Ogden, Chief of Party for the EHP Nicaragua program. In August, EHP signed contracts with CARE and Save the Children USA/Nicaragua to manage the drill rig operations. Between them, a minimum of 155 wells will be built in the next 10 months.

The drill rigs were commissioned at ceremonies held on July 14. The festivities included speeches and demonstration of the new vehicles. Shown above, at the right, Tony Umer, Ingersoll-Rand representative in charge of training the rig operators, explains the various functions to (front row, left to right) Swaleh Karanja, Director of Save the Children USA/Nicaragua; Jose Boza, Sales Manager for Equipos y Accessorios, S.A., and Marilyn Zak, USAID Mission Director.

Newly constructed houses in Nueva Palestina, a hurricane resettlement community.
ADRA installed water and sanitation systems for this community.

Woman pumping water to the washstand from a newly installed well with rope pump (Bomba de Mecate). Installation of the pump allows this resident of Cerro Grande to get water for clothes-washing and other household uses, saving her the arduous and time consuming chore of fetching water from the local river.

It�s not too hard for a small, strong child to use the rope pump!

Articles about this program have appeared in previous editions of What�s New--in January, February, April, May/June, and July.

Detailed information on the EHP/Nicaragua Emergency Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Environmental Health Project is available from the EHP/Nicaragua website. The web site is in Spanish. Please visit the site at www.ehpnicaragua.org.ni.

Promoting Hygiene Behavior Change in the Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic, EHP is providing technical assistance to NGOs implementing health, water, and sanitation interventions under the USAID Mission�s Reconstruction Special Objective. The overall purpose of the activity is to strengthen the hygiene behavior change component of the community health, water and sanitation interventions within the USAID/Dominican Republic Reconstruction Project.

EHP will work with ENTRENA (a local contractor), NGOs involved in water and sanitation system reconstruction, and the Ministry of Health to design and implement a strategy for community-level behavior change with the goal of preventing diarrhea disease. The strategy is being implemented by over 15 NGOs through funding provided by USAID/Dominican Republic.

A four-year program in Madagascar linking/integrating activities among projects in Population, Health and Environment (Natural Resource Management) is being implemented by EHP. The expected outcome is that an integrated approach will benefit from synergies among its program components and bring about better and longer-lasting results than vertical programs alone. EHP�s support concentrates in biologically diverse ecosystems in two of Madagascar's priority conservation zones, Moramanga and Fianarantsoa.

Initiated by EHP, the Voahary Salama or Integrated Programs Initiative (VS/IPI), a consortium of 20 partners in Madagascar (7 NGOs, a Malagasy Foundation funded by Summit Foundation, and 12 other organizations including several USAID-funded projects and USAID/Madagascar) has been formed and a common work plan adopted. VS/IPI aims to strengthen the capacity of NGO partner organizations in management and coordination, develop and test model approaches for integration, evaluate effectiveness and synergies created by different integration models, and disseminate lessons learned in integrated approaches locally, nationally, and internationally.

EHP�s support to the program includes monitoring and evaluation (development of questionnaires, household surveys and operations research); supporting capacity building of local personnel in management and coordination; and supporting a local coordinator for the program. In the M&E area, EHP will concentrate on quantitative evaluation and will work with the Michigan Population and Environment Fellows Program which will focus on participatory action research.

The Madagascar activity was discussed in previous editions of What�s New. See March and April.

The Sanitation Connection (SANICONN) is an Internet-based, interagency clearinghouse for information on environmental sanitation. The purpose of this newly formed "organization without walls" is to improve access for policymakers and practitioners to relevant and appropriate information concerning environmental sanitation, initially by means of an "electronic gateway" linking the user to specific information available from a range of sources. Institutions of international standing contribute to the information base as SANICONN partners by providing and maintaining a topic (node). More than 25 topics have been identified on the Sanitation Connection.

EHP is a SANICONN partner for the Monitoring and Evaluation node, and co-partner with the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) for the Hygiene Behavior node. For further information on EHP and the Sanitation Connection, please contact Chris McGahey (lead contact for Hygiene Behavior) or Eckhard Kleinau (lead contact for Monitoring and Evaluation). Both can be reached via email at: [email protected]

The website address for the Sanitation Connection is http://www.sanigate.net

Staff:
Our new coordinator for Community-based Environmental Sanitation and Health (CESH) and 

EHP field staff in Nicaragua and Nepal

Information Center:
A new malaria bulletin prepared in October is available on the Info Services page.
EHP�s Current Awareness bulletin for November is also provided.

New Linked Sites for this update:
Proyecto de Salud Ambiental Nicaragua (EHP/Nicaragua)
FANTA Project
WATERMARK

New Meeting Alert!
The recently added web page, Meeting Alert, provides information about upcoming conferences and meetings. New conferences have been added this month.

Previous issues of What's New:
The main topics or countries discussed are given in parentheses.

September 2000 at EHP (Nepal/Regional, EHP and E-conferences)
July 2000 at EHP (Nicaragua, Malaria Vaccine Development, "Water for the World")
May/June 2000 at EHP (Nicaragua, International Consultation on Indoor Air Pollution)
April 2000 at EHP (Nicaragua, Madagascar, Mozambique)
March 2000 at EHP (Benin, South Africa, Eritrea, Madagascar)
February 2000 at EHP (Nicaragua, Paraguay, Ukraine, Mozambique and Eritrea)
January 2000 at EHP (Nicaragua, EHP Lessons Learned)

How do we look?
EHP�s web site has a new look. Any comments or suggestions? Please let us know at [email protected]