GLOWS launches clean water program in West Africa


FIU’s Global for Water Sustainability Program (GLOWS) is expanding its efforts to provide sustainable clean water to the people and ecosystems of West Africa.

The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded GLOWS $28 million for the next four years to budget the West Africa Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Program (WA-WASH) Program.

The WA-WASH program will implement technologies and procedures to help increase access to safe water, enhance sanitation and improve hygiene in Ghana, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Through the grant, GLOWS also will assist governments in policy-making.

“This program is completely different from the others we have because it’s a multi-country project that’s being implemented in four countries,” said Maria Donoso, director of GLOWS. “These countries are very similar but also very different in terms of culture, history, geography and climate. Ghana is the only one to have once been an English colony, the rest were French. Because of this, their legal systems work differently and there lies our challenge. That’s the key issue that makes this program so interesting.”

Sub-Saharan Africa is significantly behind in achieving global standards for safe water and adequate hygiene. Niger, Burkina Faso and Ghana have long struggled with access to sanitation in rural parts of the countries with only 4 percent, 6 percent and 7 percent of the populations having access, respectively. Mali has shown the greatest improvement in access to rural sanitation with nearly 32 percent coverage.

Technologies such as rain-water harvesting, filtering and treatments will also be used to teach these water-scarce communities how to use water more efficiently by recycling, treating and using it for multiple purposes, including cooking, gardening and artisanship.

“It’s often overlooked that GLOWS is an instrument to guide and support governments in sound policy-making in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors,” Donoso said. “We want to assist these governments in being more efficient and responsible in managing safe water. This means that FIU isn’t just helping communities on a micro level, but it’s at the center of governments too.”

GLOWS is a consortium of international organizations led by FIU, working to increase social, economic and environmental benefits to people of the developing world. Other members include CARE, WaterAid America, Winrock International, World Vision and the World Wildlife Fund.  The consortium provides expertise across the policy, governance, educational and technical dimensions of integrated water resources management. GLOWS is an integral component of FIU’s School of Environment, Arts and Society in the College of Arts & Sciences. GLOWS has conducted projects in Peru, Ecuador, India, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and and Georgia in the Caucasus.

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