GHD helps deliver Water for Women Fund

Global professional services company, GHD has been selected as managing contractor for the Water for Women Fund, a new initiative of the Australian Government being delivered as part of Australia's Aid Program.

As the largest single investment in the sector by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Fund will invest AUD110.6 million over five years. The goal of the Fund is to improve the health, gender equality and wellbeing of Asian and Pacific communities through socially inclusive and sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programs. This builds upon the work of the current Civil Society Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Fund (CS WASH Fund).

Basic sanitation is still out of reach for 2.3 billion people around the world with nearly 900 million of the world’s poorest people still practising open defecation. It is a particular problem for women and girls, undermines education and healthcare and diminishes the dignity of those already disadvantaged and vulnerable. The Water for Women Fund responds to these challenges.

GHD will partner with DFAT, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and research organisations to deliver WASH programs that focus on women, girls, people with disabilities and other marginalised communities in the poorest human settlements.

Alison Baker, GHD’s International Development Assistance Service Group Manager, who will transition to the role of Fund Manager for Water for Women Fund, says, “We are proud to be a part of this innovative and transformative project, which recognises the link between gender and social equality, and access to water and sanitation. The Fund makes sure women, girls, people with disabilities and other marginalised communities have opportunities to become involved in WASH programs, and benefit equally from their outcomes.”

GHD has been supporting the Evaluation Committee to assess and select project proposals from CSOs that will be implemented through the Fund.

The selected CSOs are:

• Centre for Advocacy and Research, India - Mobilising, facilitating and replicating socially inclusive WASH initiatives in India’s urban slums
• Habitat for Humanity Australia, Fiji - Strengthening community resilience and inclusion through improved WASH services in Fiji
• iDE (International Development Enterprises), Cambodia - Cambodia Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Scale-Up Program 2.0 (WASH-SUP2)
• International Rescue Committee, Inc., Pakistan - Leveraging inclusive WASH for empowerment in Pakistan (LIFE-Pakistan)
• Oxfam Australia, Myanmar - Breaking down barriers to socially inclusive market based sanitation in Myanmar
• Oxfam Australia, Philippines - Beneficiaries to buyers: a market-based approach to inclusive and sustainable WASH in the Philippines
• Plan International Australia, Solomon Islands - New times, new targets: supporting Solomon Islands government WASH transition and resilient WASH for all
• Plan International Australia, Indonesia - WASH and beyond –transforming lives in Eastern Indonesia
• SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Bhutan - Beyond the finish line - sustainable sanitation and hygiene for all in Bhutan
• SNV Netherlands Development Organisation , Nepal - Beyond the finish line - inclusive and sustainable rural water supply services in Nepal
• SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Lao People’s Democratic Republic - Beyond the finish line - sustainable sanitation and hygiene for all in Lao PDR
• Thrive Networks Global, Cambodia - Women-led output based aid (WOBA) Cambodia
• Thrive Networks Global, Viet Nam - Women-led output based aid (WOBA) Viet Nam
• WaterAid Australia, Papua New Guinea - Strengthening sector systems to ensure universal, equitable and sustainable WASH in Papua New Guinea
• WaterAid Australia, Myanmar - Supporting safe births in Myanmar – strengthening health systems to improve the quality of maternal healthcare
• WaterAid Australia, Timor-Leste - Timor-Leste - Beyond inclusion: realising gender transformational change and sustainable WASH systems
• World Vision Australia, Papua New Guinea - WASH voices for empowerment (WAVE), Papua New Guinea
• World Vision Australia, Vanuatu - Laetem Dak Kona: gender-equitable and disability-accessible WASH in Vanuatu
• World Vision Australia, Bangladesh - SHOMOTA - Strengthening gender equality and social inclusion in WASH in Bangladesh

The Fund will also support Wash Research Awards (WRAs), with a call for proposals for research grants to be released to the market in December 2017.