Community-Led Accelerated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Ethiopia, phase III

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

COWASH (Community-led Accelerated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene ProjectI) increases the availability of safe water and sanitation in rural areas of Ethiopia. The aimed long term impact is to improve the health of the population. The project is based on community led approach: the villages are themselves in charge of the management of the building of the water points. Institutional WASH is targeted to schools and health facilities. The project is in alignment with the Government of Ethiopia’s long term plan (GTP II) and the One WASH National Program II (OWNP II). Moreover it contributes towards the SDGs 6.1 and 6.2. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the planning of Phase IV is delayed. In order to avoid any gap between the phases, the Ethiopian government supports the idea to continue the Phase III with an extension from June to December 2020. WASH sector is in addition to health sector the most critical one in fighting the pandemic. Therefore the extension includes elements of emergency and humanitarian aid as well as building resilience against the spread of Covid-19 in all of the current five regions: Tigray, Amhara, SNNPR, Benishangul Gumuz and Oromia. These include supporting the functioning of water supply and sanitation facilities in the health units, isolation, quarantine and treatment centres. The rules and restrictions declared in the Federal State of Emergency as well as additional Regional State of Emergency rules and regulations will be applied throughout. The extension also enables the continuation of the project’s usual functions, which also contributes to Covid-19 prevention and response. The project has a specific focus on women and girls as well as on people with disabilities; the specific needs of them will be applied in the project and emergency activities.