WASHCost Burkina Faso learning alliance start up

The learning alliance (LA) began as an initiative to share experiences on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and to join hands in the implementation of the project. This was discussed among participants at the first meeting in September where key participants showed their interest and a task force committee was created. The task force supports the project in the implementation of activities. The rational of this arrangement is that it is more difficult to coordinate through a bigger group of sector actors. The committee can be seen as the eye of the learning alliance in WASHCost.

Activities of the learning alliance

The main purpose of the LA is to support the research activities into life-cycle costs of sustainable water and sanitation services in rural and peri-urban areas. Research within the WASHCost project is intended to be participative. This social endeavour requires involvement of the sector actors, be it during the research phase or during the influential phase. LA will be associated to all the research activities, tools development and site selection. It is agreed that the LA will play major role during the dissemination of the research results.

The LA activities started officially on the 23rd of September, just after the official launch of the project. About 20 sector actors were convened to the meeting to discuss how best to share information on WASH sector. This planning meeting resulted in various decisions, besides the formation of the task force committee.

In particular, a training package presented by IRC, the project partner, on WASH governance (WASHIRIKA) was appreciated. It was agreed that the LA will meet periodically during the year to focus on a theme from WASHIRIKA tool. A prioritisation was done to rank the topics within the tool kit and three top topics were chosen by participants for trainings. Gradually, other topics related to the project activities and research can be added to the package.

Also discussed during the first LA meeting were national sector issues related to governance problems, as well as, achievements and inadequacies in Burkina Faso.

Membership

The WASHCost committee was created through common consensus and its members were designated by their respective institutions through formal statements. More information on membership is available in the article on the task force.