Minutes of the National WASH Cluster Meeting UNICEF Children s Room on 27 July 2012 1.0 WELCOME REMARKS AND INTRODUCTION Belete Woldeamanuel welcomed the participants to the meeting. Participants attending the WASH Cluster meeting for the first time introduced theme selves. These were from International Medical Corps, Mvuramanzi Trust, NCU, Norwegian Refugee Commission and Green Life Trust Africa. All members present were reminded to fill in their contact details. 2.0 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Minutes shared on 23 July 2012, with the amendments proposed by ACF, were adopted as a correct record of the previous meeting. 3.0 UPDATES ACTION BY& WHEN? 3.1 Epidemiological Update Donald Shambare made a presentation that highlighted that there was no cholera outbreak in the country since 19 June 2012 and that reporting has improved in completeness and timeliness so much that surveillance has consequently improved to close to the 80% target. There was an increase in diarrhea in week 28 and deaths resulting from diarrhea increased from 5 to 7. There were 73 cases of typhoid versus 1 the previous week.. 3.2 Sector Update: National Coordination Unit (NCU) John Mwenda of the National Institute for Health Research and the National Committee presented, on behalf of the NCU, the highlights of the workshop held in Masvingo from 17 th to 18 th July 2012 to standardize approaches to promote the UBVIP. s showed that the acceptance of the ubvip has improved among stakeholders after a practical demonstration showing that the approach is no threat to standards. The NCU supports zero subsidy and supply chain related initiatives in sanitation interventions. The manual is being finalized and will be available by the end of August, 2012. There will be a National Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on 10 August 2012. Piloting of the ubvip by various NGO partners can now begin. The Data Harmonization workshop was carried out on 20 th July 2012 to agree on common definitions and indicators for WASH interventions. A manual will soon be ready for distribution.. Village-Based Consultative Inventories (VBCI) will be carried out in 7 districts in Manicaland and in 4 districts in Mashonaland East. The training of trainers has been done for the PWSSCs and is yet to be done for the DWSSCs. The National Census is likely to delay the process. However the inventory process should be complete by end of September 2012. It was observed that there is a link between the WASH Atlas and the VBCI in that the Atlas shows who is doing what where and the VBCI shows what has been done where. The National Sanitation Week will be commemorated on 21 September 2012 at the Harare Waste Treatment Plant. The theme, Proper Waste Management for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment, and will focus on Waste (solid and liquid) Management. The President has been invited as the guest of honor.
The NCU to send ubvip Manual by email It was suggested that there should be a link between the data harmonization and VBCI. Therefore all districts should be encouraged to collect data using the VBCI format. UNICEF and NCU to work closely together to link the data harmonization to VBCI; especially with regard to definitions and indicators. Partners are also encouraged to support the data collection exercise. There is need to ensure that the inventory system is sustainable by developing appropriate updated databases at district and provincial levels. 3.3 UNOCHA Update The CAP has been revised to about $238million. 49% of the targeted WASH funding has been accessed. Overall Zimbabwe has managed to access 48% of the targeted funding. The global average is 45%. WASH is also one of the top 3 well-funded clusters in the CAP All partners to improve on financial reporting such that the cluster can report on all available or accessed funding. 3.4 Emergency Urban Rehabilitation Update Presentation by; Steve Muduviwa Mercy Corps will be working in 6 towns (Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru, Chitungwiza and Harare) under the Joint Initiative Program (JIP). The works will focus on data harmonization, hygiene promotion, sanitation and construction of rainwater harvesters. The PRP Program will come to an end on 30 September 2012. The program is supporting partners carrying urban WASH rehabilitation works in Growth Points. Care is working in Nyika and Jerera and World Vision is working in Maphisa and Kezi. The works are generally on track for completion except for the sewage treatment plant related activities. UNICEF has advertised for the pre-qualification of contractors for water and sanitation rehabilitation works in 6 towns;- Bindura, Karoi, Chipinge, Shurugwi, Rusape and Chiredzi. PCAs for partners to carry out hygiene promotion activities are being processed. Bulawayo has decommissioned two of its water supply dams and the remaining dam levels are critically low. Consequently the City will start water shedding on 27 July. All residential areas will have no water for 48 hours per week. The Power Supply Sub-Committee of the Urban WASH Sub-Cluster is chaired by ZESA. This initiative aims to exempt water treatment plants from load shedding and to install dedicated power lines to treatment plants where possible. World Vision invited partners to participate in Water Crisis Committee of Bulawayo City and the subcommittees on Advocacy, Resource Mobilization, Monitoring & Compliance and Information Dissemination and Publicity. 3.5 WASH Emergency Response Updates (Typhoid, DD etc) ACF Cholera in Chiredzi is under control. No cases in 5 weeks. Working in ward 10 to reduce the risk through demand creation for WASH
services. Training of Village Health Workers and handing over PHHE materials to Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. Activities will be complete by the beginning of August. Observed that the ubvip can be used as part of the emergency response. GAA: Responding to typhoid outbreaks in Harare and Chitungwiza. The Chitungwiza outbreak occurred in the 1 st week of July 2012 but it was initially treated as just an increase in diarrhea. GAA was informed on the 11 th of July after samples were tested. Seven (7) cases have been confirmed and there were 109 patients under treatment at the time of reporting. The response was generally late, hence the disease spread to other suburbs. The possible predisposing factors are that there is no water in Units L&M where improvised shallow wells and pit latrines were observed to be within distance of 5m or less from each other. There are also no alternative water sources. There were 19 suspected cases from a cluster of houses. Their 4 communal wells were tested and they were found to be contaminated. The index case was from a food handler at Food World canteen. The response includes providing assistance to MOHCW. A CTC has been set up at Seke South Clinic where there is free medical care. Cases have been received from Units L, M, J, and K. Coordination meetings were held and the partners are requesting support on case definition and case management guidelines. Other strategies being employed include;- door-to-door promotion of water disinfection at home using Aqua Tabs. 50 health workers are being engaged. There is need to provide new boreholes as water trucking is very expensive. UNICEF is being engaged to assist in drilling more boreholes. There is need to use lessons learnt in Dzivarasekwa to prevent non-typhoid cases presenting for free treatment. No case definition has yet been developed but it is now being developed in collaboration with WHO. The first coordination meeting was held yesterday (26 th July 2012). PSI to make a presentation in the next cluster meeting linking Water Guard and Aqua Tab to sustainable home water treatment in emergency response Oxfam: To present work on DRR project activities funded by ECHO in the next meeting. GOAL: has had no direct response in Mash East but has been assisting GAA in Chitungwiza GOAL has been carrying out IDSR trainings that are scheduled to end in August 2012. These will be presented in the next cluster meetings. IRC:.. No re report Mercy Corp: No report WVZ: No report. UNICEF-CERF Updates: The project was successfully implemented and ended in June 2012. WVZ completed implementing project activities in Chipinge.
Care has completed all activities except for school latrine construction which was at 70% completion. Monitoring will continue. The UNICEF supported partners WVZ and CARE will make presentations to share their experiences in Chipinge and Bikita districts in the next cluster meeting 3.6 Sub Cluster Updates Chitungwiza- GAA reported that a coordination meeting was held last week Harare- GAA reported that a coordination meeting was held on 26 th July Manicaland- Mercy Corps reporteds that no coordination meeting was held. Masvingo- ACF reported that the coordination meeting has been postponed until August. Mash Central- GAA reports that a coordination meeting was held on the 18 th July. There was a discussion about the planned model village at Muchayire where there will be toilets for all homes. Mash East- There was no coordination meeting held and it was deferred until August. Mash West There was no PWSSC meeting held this month but a crucial planning meeting was held by the DWSSC of Kariba in collaboration with the PWSSC aimed at resuscitating that DWSSC and training its members on its roles and responsibilities as well as their relations hip to the PWSSC, NCU, NAC, and Rural WASH Sub-Committee. Budget allocations for boreholes, training of latrine builders, training of pump minders, purchase of software, and funding of the DWSSC activities were discussed. Matebeleland S. No meeting was held. Matebeleland N. No meeting was held due to preparations for the National Census. There will be a meeting in August. Midlands Partners were encouraged to attend and participate in cluster meetings and to report to the National Cluster 4.0 Presentations 4.1 NIHR Presentation Differed to a future date.
4.2 Presentation on Aquasolar hand pump Silas Chakurira representing the German Water and Energy Company presented the solar hand pump to the cluster. He emphasized that the pump is made of rust free materials and has a use life guarantee of 20 years pumping from depths of down to 30m. He recommended the pump for use by institutions such as schools and clinics as the pump can supply water for domestic and productive use. A unit can supply up to 200 people. The price ranges from $2500 to $10000 and may include a maintenance kit with spares for 2 years. The company is organizing for a demonstration to be held at the Harare Agricultural show. The company was advised to follow the procedures of introducing the technology option by working closely with the NCU. 4.3 Preparation for the WASH Atlas 2012 - UNICEF reported that the data collection exercise has started. Data collection tools will be sent on the 1 st of August. The package will include a letter of introduction, indicators; RWS Tools and Urban WASH Tools. It is intended to publish the WASH Atlas early this time around. - Partners were encouraged to respond and send data early to UNICEF so that there is ample time to produce the Atlas and an interactive CD. 5.0 Any other Business None 6.0 Date and Venue of the next meting August 31, 2012- UNICEF Children s Room 9:00-11:30am