Funding for Water and Sanitation / USAID / Development Grants Program

Dear nonprofit partners,

We would like to make you aware of a funding opportunity offered through USAID - the Development Grants Program (DGP):

http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=kQ2pRgRDQDTnQgTvt58Y7Z4MfHKvkqKzPWQf9LwDH2wTpJ10fJcH!-337921640?oppId=237329&mode=VIEW

DEADLINE: August 8, 2013

(Awards up to $2million for US and Non US-based nonprofits.)

Background

USAID has established the Development Grants Program as a small grants program to increase the number and quality of NGO implementing partners who can partner with USAID. This Program is open both to U.S.-based nonprofits and those based around the world. A total of $45m is available through this program for the estimated fifteen grantees.

In its first three years, the program funded 145 organizations in over 26 countries. Water and Sanitation is one of the DGP’s selected technical sectors for the program, having providing funding for over 24 organizations focused in this sector. "In the water sector, the DGP supports activities that directly increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation and improve hygiene. This includes investments to support infrastructure as well as activities related to organizational/institutional capacity-building needed to create sustainable management, improve service delivery or promote human behavior change."

Here are some examples of DGP-funded WASH activities:

Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) Zambia

Received $2 Million to extend a WASH in schools programs that served over 320,000 pupils in over 800 schools

Alliance for Youth Achievement

Received a USAID DGP grant to implement 30 new clean water projects in Uganda

Pacific Institute

Received a USAID DGP grant to create a highly accessible communication and monitoring system that develops crowd-sourced map data to improve water and sanitation services for the urban poor in Indonesia

Palms for Life Fund

Received $1.9 M over 3 years for a WASH in schools project affecting 42,000 pupils in 120 schools in Swaziland

*** At WASH Advocates, we see this as an invaluable opportunity for WASH organizations doing vital work around the world to receive USAID funding. The August 8 application deadline is fast approaching. ***

TO APPLY:

1)     Go to www.grants.gov (or follow this link: Click Here)

2)     Left hand menu: select “find grant opportunities”

3)     Left hand menu: Select “browse by agency”

4)     Select “Agency for International Development”

5)     Select “Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-OAA-13-000020”

6)     Select “full announcement”

7)     Download the “full announcement” PDF. (See attached.)

To jumpstart this process, here are countries whose USAID Missions have prioritized water/WASH (these are listed on pages 1-3 of the Request for Applications):

Angola, Botswana, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Nepal, Nigeria, Office of Middle East Programs, Philippines, South Africa, South Africa (regional), and Ukraine.

I encourage those of you active in those countries in particular to consider applying for Development Grants Program assistance. Please distribute this notice as widely as you can – the more WASH applications they receive, the more likely a nice chunk of the $45m will go to WASH.

US organizations: please consider applying directly, and share with your local partners.

Nonprofits in Africa, Asia, Latin America: please consider applying directly, and share with other WASH groups as appropriate.

Please, contact Ben Mann at 571-225-5823 or bmann (at)  WASHadvocates (dot)  org with additional questions.

Sustainable Water Solutions and the Rule of Law

I'll have the pleasure of moderating a panel at the World Justice Forum tomorrow (July 10) in The Hague: 

Sustainable Water Solutions and the Rule of Law

In anticipation of that event, a couple of thoughts on WASH and the rule of law follow: 

 

Safe drinking water for everyone on the planet is not a controversial issue. Every political leader in every country, province, or municipality wants each of his/her constituents to have access to the safe, affordable, and sustainable drinking water they need to survive and improve their lot in life. Yet even though the world has never been richer, smarter, or more abundant than it is in 2013, there remain over 783m people without access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion people without a safe place to go to the bathroom.

So why does this fundamental global safe drinking water and sanitation challenge continue to exist, when we have known how to solve this problem for millennia? Why do hundreds of millions of women around the world continue to be exploited as water and wastewater infrastructure, and why do millions of children under the age of five die from preventable waterborne diseases each year?

My answer: a lack of political will. And that answer is typically the quickest way to end a conversation, as most people look at politics and elected officials only as part of the problem, not as a key part of the solution.

Politics are indeed problematic in many instances, yet if there are to be permanent and sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing development challenges, politics and political leaders must drive the solution, not just be invited to ribbon-cutting ceremonies to new water treatment facilities.

I had dinner a couple of years ago with a handful of other non-profit leaders and the former prime minister of a sub-Saharan African country. I asked the prime minister: “What made it possible for you to strengthen policies and increase your national budget for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic public health while you were in office?” He told me that to do so he needed two very simple things:

•  He needed to hear about the problem from his own people.
• He needed to see how the problem is solvable.

Using that as a benchmark, how can we make it possible for each government around the world to prioritize safe drinking water and sanitation? I suggest - as the prime minister said – that we in civil society, in developed and more importantly in developing countries, must let our governments know this is an important issue for us - their constituents - and that the challenge is solvable. And let’s take it one step further: to strengthen political commitments and rule of law for water, we need to show our governments not just that the problem is solvable, but that it is already being solved, and we simply need their support to solve it more quickly, equitably, and sustainably. We need politicians not so much to lead on this but simply to follow what their constituents are already doing by supporting and complementing our efforts with stronger policies and increased budgets.

Water is a non-controversial issue, and this approach to building political will and commitments has proven successful around the world and across the ages. Former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt was president of the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, progressive leaders came to President Roosevelt and asked for various concessions, including new pro-worker policies as part of the effort to turn the economy around. President Roosevelt was quite progressive and pro-union, and he is reported to have said: “I want to do what you are asking me to do, but I can’t do it politically yet. I need you to go out there and make it possible for me to enact those policies.”

So the union leaders did just that:  In 1937 there were thousands of labor actions whose impact on the economy made it possible for President Roosevelt to do what he already wanted to do.

We do not need to strike for water and sanitation. I do however assert that the job of civil society – including my organization - in the developed and developing world is to demonstrate to governments that what was once unavoidable (millions of deaths due to waterborne disease) is now unacceptable. That simple equation will provide those elected officials with the political cover they need to do what they already want to do, and progressively realize the human right to water and sanitation to everyone on the planet in a tighter timeframe.

Today, the risk of making massive political commitments to water and sanitation remains for the most part too high, because water and sanitation compete with so many other important development priorities (roads, schools, hospitals, jobs) that are in many cases in higher demand.

The rule of law community and the water and sanitation community have an opportunity work together to be a highly catalytic part of the solution to the world’s water crisis. Access to safe drinking water strengthens rule of law, in that local water and sanitation committees often provide citizens in developing countries – particularly women – their first opportunity to be involved in a democratic process that concerns their own well-being. And as local leaders across the globe provide more clear guidance about water and sanitation governance and legal underpinnings, their constituents will have access to drinking water that is safe, affordable, sustainable, and equitable. Access will be universal and equitable, pricing will be fair for all users, infrastructure will be sustainable, and the rule of law will be strengthened as governments provide services and citizens uphold their end of the social contract.

My ambition is that rule of law and water communities will find more ways to work together across a number of platforms, and that both communities will emerge stronger from those collaborative efforts.

Participatory Local Democracy survey / June 25 deadline

Hi everyone,

My friend John Coonrod at The Hunger Project is circulating this survey on participatory local democracy, which I think is an interest/expertise of many who read this blog. John and I would like to have water and sanitation civil society groups well-represented in this survey.

Here is a bit more (and please do circulate to others in your networks as appropriate):

Our key milestone is to collate and publish country rankings of participatory local democracy, and present our first annual report in September. To do this we need your help! Please invite everyone interested in this issue to fill out our 15-minute survey here, in either English, Spanish, or French.

Announcing the new Participatory Democracy Index

Responsive local governance is key to meeting human needs, yet it is not a high global priority. To raise the profile of this issue, The Hunger Project (THP) and UN Democracy Fund have launched a two-year initiative to compile a multidimensional Participatory Democracy Index, and publish an annual State of Participatory Democracy Report. The index has two components: legal provisions for local governance, and perceptions on implementation. THP requests that you support this effort by taking the 15-minute online survey at  http://localdemocracy.net/the-scorecard/.

Many thanks for carving out a few minutes of your time to either participate in this survey or send it to the right folks across the globe.

All the best,

John

From: John Coonrod, Executive Vice President [mailto:John.Coonrod@thp.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 5:23 PM
To: John Oldfield
Subject: Participatory Local Democracy Weekly Update

Email forwarded to you by a friend? Click here to sign up for our email list. Trouble viewing? Click here to see this message in a browser. Dear John, Progress with the survey! Now in French, Spanish and English; be on the lookout for a Portugese survey soon! Read about our two featured organizations/networks below.  John Coonrod, Executive Vice President, The Hunger Project Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy (REDLAD): REDLAD is a network of organizations, civil society members, academics and activists all committed to strengthening participatory local democracy. The network recognizes the importance of strong local democracies for sustainable community development projects, and they hosted their third assembly in May. The assembly attracted over 300 civil society members from both national and international organizations to discuss themes relating to inclusive democracy. Read more about REDLAD here!  Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC) SPARC is a large NGOs working in India on the issue of urban population growth and urban housing and infrastructure development. Working together with the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan , the three organizaions are known as the Alliance. The Alliance works to build capacity and organization within communities and then engages the government and local and regional authorities to undertake housing and sanitation projects led by the community. To read more about SPARC and The Alliance click here!  Help us Score the World! Our key milestone is to collate and publish country rankings of participatory local democracy, and present our first annual report in September. To do this we need your help! Please invite everyone interested in this issue to fill out our 15-minute survey here, in either English, Spanish, or French. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to support local democracy in the Post-2015 Agenda!  The Hunger Project - DC Office 2121 Decatur Place, NW, Washington, DC 20008 Tel: +1-202-527-9505 localdemocracy.net  |   Unsubscribe

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White House / Safe Water / WASH Advocates / USAID

Hats off to my colleague Ben Mann - excited to see him on the agenda.

Friday June 7: Conference call with the White House on USAID's new Water Strategy.