WASH = Water Sanitation Hygiene Report

B. Reporting Period/Coverage

C. Reporting Scope 

Organisations qui ont envoyé  un rapport cette semaine    13

Organisations totales qui ont rapporté, cumulative totale   39

Agences qui participent régulièrement aux réunions WASH Cluster  67

Nombre des sites avec des activités relatées     750*

Nombre des sites avec des données des agences et  des coordonnées géo. 473**

* This number may include duplicate sites and this is being verified by the information team

** This is the number of sites we can put on a map digitally

C. Humanitarian Needs, Response, Gaps

Summary of Key Issues/Priorities/Advocacy Messages

Needs

1. WASH cluster planning figure is for approximately 1,100, 000 people for the immediate/emergency WASH needs.   New but unverified figures may put this much higher towards 2.1m
2. The WASH Cluster has a list of 750 locations in its database although only 473 with GPS points that we can plot on the map covering Port au Prince, Jacmel, Gressier, Leogane, Grand Goave and Petit Goave.  It is believed that some of these are either duplicates or are registered with a WASH agency name, but who reported the camp, although they may not be working there.  With the need to carry out new surveys highlighted by WASH work, new surveys were carried by CCCM with WASH to ensure only one data set.  It is estimated that the actual figure is more than 900 sites in Port-au-Prince with over 1300 sites for all affected areas, but again these need to be verified which is being carried out by CCCM

• The potential doubling of the number of people in camps has obvious enormous implications – both for the WASH Cluster’s ability to be able to respond to support basic needs, but also to understand why more people are being drawn to camps (as highlighted in the last report) and if there is a way to reduce this.  Currently we are not all working on the same data set
• The WASH data that was collected in Port-au-Prince was not complete and there are some questions on the quality, but suggested that 60% of sites had no WASH agency.  CCCM is carrying out a second multi-sectoral monitoring this week and data will be available in one week which should cover all of the new sites
• The SAG (Strategic Advisory Group) of the WASH Cluster meet this week to discuss strategies to be able to fill these potentially enormous gaps.  However, the lack of an overall humanitarian strategy presents great dilemmas for agencies of how much and how to invest in current camps.  This is now being taken up more seriously with the arrival of the new HC and an expressed desire by the humanitarian community to try to have a more coherent plan to enable organizations to move forward.
• Strategies are being discussed across the humanitarian community to see how we can better support people to live outside of camps but there are many complicating factors:-

• Most people were renting properties

• People have lost livelihoods to enable them to pay rents
• No rent is required in the camps
• Rumours that camp residents may get access to land and housing

• Unicef are looking into carrying out discussions with representatives of communities who have been displaced to none affected areas and to those inside the existing camps to find out what are their resettlement needs

Immediate Relocation Needs

Sites have been identified as at high risk (or parts of the site)

• 9000 need to be moved from some of the sites listed above deemed at high risk where no remedial works are possible.  These include 7500 from Golf and several hundred from Camp 23, Bourdon Vallee and Ancien Aeroport
• An additional 37,200 people have been identified from these sites which can be supported to stay in those areas if remedial works can be done on those sites.  The greatest proportion of those at risk are in the Golf site (25,000). Remedial works are on-going the other sites to reduce the need for people to move and is progressing well

New Relocation Sites

Tabbare Issa

• Preparation work continues at this approved new site (for 2,500)– current date for operation 15 April.  This site will take a small portion of those at risk
• Concern taking on WASH along with shelter and overall camp management

Coraille

• A large piece of land has now been acquired by government and work and work has been ongoing for the last 2 weeks
• Initial plots have been survey UNOPS and CCCM Cluster (out of the 500ha) to provide initial space for up to 20,000 and support the remainder of the 9,000 people and any further population that at risk from those currently identified
• Oxfam is ensuring WASH facilities and World Vision has supplied Hygiene Kits

The new relocation sites are planned sites, where the standard of access to water, sanitation and hygiene will no doubt be better as there is site planning, space, no issues of land ownership and camp management for coordination of services

Response and Gaps:

Reporting on response has improved over the last 2 weeks.  With the new site mapping and collation of basic WASH response indicators, we will have much more information on this in the next days.  Meetings will be held with WASH response agencies to identify and agreed further priority sites. 

Below the chart gives a view on progress achieved and gaps remaining to be addressed in the areas of water, excreta disposal, bathing facilities, cleaning and maintenance of sanitation facilities and distribution of hygiene kits.

Figure: Le diagram montre les activités completées (gris) par rapport les activités prévues (vert) et les standard EPA (blue) en pourcent.

Decentralisation of WASH Coordination to Municipal Level

In order to support the involvement and capacity of municipal authorities in managing the response within their commune and to better identify and meet needs of the affected populations, work has been ongoing by DINEPA and the WASH Cluster Coordination Team, to really reinforce the coordination capacity at municipal level.  Capacity has been reinforced in the municipal teams and DINEPA have posted 2 staff in each of the 7 municipalities in Port-au-Prince, and now starts in earnest with additional human resource capacity in the Leogane, Gressier, Petit Goave, Grand Goave and Jacmel .

This week

• Coordination Meetings hold at Cité Soleil, Tabarre, Croix-des-Bouquets, Delmas and Pétion Ville to help coordinate activities in the field. Participants of these meetings were staff of agencies working in the municipality or willing to work there, at least one representative of the municipality, and DINEPA.
• The first objective of these meetings was to cover existing gaps, guiding agencies which still have resources. In Tabarre especially, where very few camps had received assistance before, ACTED will intervene in more than 13 priority camps and COOPI in 8 camps. Within few days, while IRC will identify other none covered camps in this municipality. Some gaps in Delmas are also going to be covered by Solidarités, ARC and Oxfam GB. IRC has been invited to survey identified gaps in Pétion Ville.
• In Cité Soleil, agencies are desperately missing. Due to security reasons, most international agencies do not want to work in this municipality. This will be examined at the national level to develop strategies to overcome this, particularly with support to national organisation
• Croix-des-Bouquets remain also a municipality with poor support from agencies, though World Vision will do an assessment in more than 100 camps, with capacities of intervention in case theses camps have priority needs.
• The second objective of the meetings is to desegregate each municipality into zones lead by a volunteer Agency (if possible the one with the most activities in the zone). Progress was made except in Cité Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets, due to poor coverage by agencies.
• Agencies leading these zones agreed to be the communication focal point in case of emergency eg flooding.  Any warning coming to the municipality staff (Protection civil or else) the agency will be contacted by the municipality staff in case the municipality doesn’t have any means to help. Agencies agreed to lead the first evaluation and first response, but will request support from the cluster (supplies or cash) if needed.
• Agencies leading these zones will also also be focal point for coordination issues (camps not covered/ overlapping of activities etc).
• The exercise will continue with Carrefour and Port-Au-Prince to get a comprehensive map of coverage and gaps in term of geographic zones for the seven municipalities of the Port-Au-Prince urban area affected by the earthquake.

Water supply

Water trucking has been in progress since January13th. The water is supplied in water trucks to more than 397 destinations in Port Au Prince, Leogane, Petit Goave, Grand Goave and Jacmel.  Water has also been supplied through 450 subsidized private sector ‘kiosks’.

More than fifteen organization (that we know of) are involved in water trucking.  DINEPA/UNICEF supported trucking, which has been more than half of the capacity is reviewing the way forward looking at handing over water trucking to camps to other organizations and to reduce and eventually remove the subsidies to private sector kiosks as the most expensive option for providing water supply.

The WASH Cluster is developing a ‘Beyond Trucking’ strategy to introduce different options which promote options which are more replicable over time and leave more durable solutions in place eg rainwater harvesting, household water treatment, connections between areas near camps to networks, small and medium support or repairs to networks, use of existing boreholes, drilling of new boreholes.  Plans for accelerating these options are being discussed with the Strategic Advisory Group of the Cluster.

In Leogane there are many organization who are preparing to leave who are currently involved in delivery of water.  These agencies are working in coordination with DINEPA and the cluster to ensure the continuation of services as well as looking at longer term options eg handpumps and the operation of the network.   There is advocacy on-going to ensure that trucking continues until the end of the rainy season.   Whilst there has been work recently completed on the pumping station, funds and technical support for the management of the system are urgently  needed to ensure the repair and running of the system.

Wells in parts of Leogane have been found to be dry since the earthquake – follow-up technical investigations will take place

Excreta disposal and hand washing facilities

There has been an acceleration in the implementation of excreta disposal activities, although handwashing facilities and bathing areas have not been keeping pace. 

The coverage in excreta disposal facilities we know is under- reported, but we also know that the coverage is not what the WASH and humanitarian community would like. Specific challenges which are preventing agencies meeting standards include:-

• Landownership – many camps are on private land and often permission to provide services is forbidden, limited and at best takes much negotiation –including being asked for payment in order to provide services.  Some sites are being threatened with eviction
• Space – it has been calculated in many sites that in order to be able to meet standards of what might normally be achieved, there would be little room for tents!  In planned relocation sites there is certainly the possibility to more meet international standards
• No camp management – no overall site coordination/planning and coherent/consistent link with the community – multiple agencies working in the same camp (whilst no-one in other camps) making implementation complicated as agencies bring different approaches which often cause problems with the camp community – resulting in the destruction of some facilities in some sites
• Customs is becoming more difficult with many organizations materials being stuck for several weeks.

The strategy to gradually increase coverage over time is now being put into question particularly related to space and land ownership issues.   The uncertainty of the time the sites will be there also puts into question investment into temporary structures.  Many organizations based initial plans on the idea that there would be significant decongestion of camps giving additional space to support additionally needed services.

Targeting the biggest sites will be important as a priority to try to improve services to the greatest number of people.

Whilst absolute latrine coverage in sites is still low, there is evidence to suggest that open defecation is low (5-15% - Oxfam and CDC surveys).  Many people in proximity to their homes return home to use facilities (30%) , as well as use means such as bags (10%), depositing the used bags in the solid waste. Solid waste is therefore a critical part of the excreta disposal strategy.

Current Health statistics continue to indicate no increase in diarrhea, although preparations are being developed between WASH and the Health Cluster to agree on how they would respond in an increase.

Several small Technical Working Groups (TWG) have been set up by the cluster to address specific issues.  The Excreta Disposal Design Technical Working Group creating clear designs which will incorporate issues of gender, protection, environment, age, disability – they will also set out non-negotiables.   An expert has been seconded from DfID through UNICEF to be able to support the cluster on the development of standards and options in order to better support organizations to ensure appropriate excreta design facilities.  A workshop will be held this week with organizations working in sanitation to review the initial document and assist in the final development.

   Deslugding of Toilets

• Attempts being made to understand overall desludging needs; tender being developed for support  before full fleet management project starts (possibly with CARE) for new trucks which will arrive in-country
• DINEPA attempting to find a compound for the new fleet of trucks; note under development for the Ministry of Public Works to support this
• Challenge currently of disposal at the waste site due to rains and poor access roads

Contingency Planning

• Plans under development for an overall country contingency plan, linking with DPC and OCHA efforts
• WASH Cluster identifying focal points in all departments and renewing mapping of actors who may be able to respond
• Response Matrix being developed which outlines likely types of responses in the event of an emergency and linking this to available supplies to identify key gaps which need to be addressed through additional stock purchase

Hygiene Promotion:

The hygiene sub-cluster group is working on a number of different issues:-

Current Focus: Hygiene promotion during the rainy season/hurricane Season

• The rainy season/hurricane season action plan is now a third draft. It focuses on prevention of WASH related diseases and response in the event of outbreak.
• Issues of concern in the different earthquake affected regions have been identified and corresponding hygiene messages developed for Port au Prince, Leogane and Jacmel:

• Blocking disease transmission routes through handwashing at critical moments

• Safe excreta handling & disposal using available means (latrines & plastic bags)
• Access to safe water at household level (including safe storage)
• Drainage and solid waste disposal
• Latrine cleaning and maintenance

• The first meeting to operationalise the plan has defined roles and responsibilities, as well as a minimum hygiene kit for the rainy/hurricane season.

Issue 1: Handwashing with soap

UNICEF is ready to order soap for 500,000 people for 1.5 months if the hygiene sub-Cluster needs it. The Hygiene Group feels the soap is crucial for the following reasons:

• To supplement the 100g/person distributed in some hygiene kit by partners, which is 150g below the minimum hygiene kit standard.
• Promotion of handwashing at critical times must be accompanied by distribution of soap.
• The soap will be part of the hygiene sub-cluster contingency stock for the rainy season.
• Handwashing with soap is a key component of a proposed nationwide hygiene campaign for the rainy/hurricane season, planned for April/May.
• Remaining soap will be distributed to vulnerable people without means of accessing soap. Information from livelihood surveys being carried out will help to identifying the vulnerable.
• The rainy season/hurricane plan is for six months and targets not only camp populations but host communities, especially in Leogane and Jacmel.

Issue 2:  Household Water Treatment (HWT)

• Water contamination at household level is a significant issue that needs addressing in all 3 regions of PaP, Leogane and Jacmel.
• Promotion of HHWT should also focus on access to appropriate and clean containers.
• A technical meeting to define guidelines for promotion of HWT, given the multiple products currently with partners, will be held this week.

In Leogane-Gressier, HWT guidance is being particularly requested as well as continued support on a regular basis for hygiene promotion.  Links are established and being reinforced between working groups in PaP and other affected communces

Crucial points for consideration in implementation of the rainy/hurricane season plan:

• How to ensure handwashing (HW) at household level is prioritised by the population in the use of soap distributed in hygiene kits
• HW with soap at household level is much harder to ensure – and monitor – than HW after using the latrines
• How to ensure water availability in HW stations at all times

Assessments outside Port au Prince

Unicef is considering a intensions/needs consultation with populations to look at what it is that families need to be able re-establish their lives in order to inform medium to longer term programming across the sectors

The rapid WASH evaluation mission conducted by DINEPA and UNICEF on behalf of the WASH Cluster in the main towns where many people displaced to after the earthquake – Gonaive, Port-de-Paix, Jean Rabel, Cap-Haitien, Ouanaminthe, Hinche, Mirebalais, Les Cayes and Jeremie, can be found on the WASH Cluster google groups website (public access).

National Organisations

An emphasis has been since the start of the emergency on working with and through government nationally and now at commune level.  A greater emphasis will now be made on working with national and local NGOs.  A strategy to involve more intensely organizations and may include additionally capacity building and mentoring by more experienced organisations

Information Management

Although considerable movement has been made on information management in the last weeks, it still remains a challenge to get information from all WASH response agencies on a weekly/regular basis - 13 organisations reported this week.

Work has been on-going to simplify reporting and many key agencies participated in trying to agree this.  Further efforts will be made this next week to work with organization to get their reporting up to date as we know there is significant under-reporting

The survey that was recently carried out with CCCM with WASH is currently being verified and intersectoral surveys being carried out in the several hundred additional camps that were added to the database.  There is still significant work to be done between OCHA, CCCM, Shelter, WASH and others, to ensure we are all using a single list of sites.

These IM products, together with maps and meeting minutes can be found on the WASH IM Google Documents site: http://groups.google.com/group/wash-response-haiti-2010?msg=new&lnk=gcis