WASH United
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Changing Lives Through Football competition.
Take advantage of the power of football to catalyse social change and engage top international and African football stars as role models to promote safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all in Sub-Saharan Africa leading up to and following the 2010 World Cup.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Thorsten
Last Name
Kiefer
Website
Organization
WASH United
Country
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
WASH United
Organization Website
Organization Phone
++ 49 30 555 768 06-0
Organization Address
Rungestraße 22-24, 10179 Berlin, Germany
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
Germany, BE
Your idea
Name Your Project
WASH United
Country your work focuses on
Describe Your Idea
Take advantage of the power of football to catalyse social change and engage top international and African football stars as role models to promote safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all in Sub-Saharan Africa leading up to and following the 2010 World Cup.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
Water and particularly sanitation have been neglected in development for decades. The result: in 2010, diseases caused by adirty water and lack of toilets still kill more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Every 45 seconds, an African child dies from preventable diarrhoea.
WASH United has come come up with a unique new approach to tackle this crisis. What is unique about WASH United? Firstly, WASH United harnesses the power of sport to facilitate life-saving behaviour change, including through football-based tool-kits, games and learning materials, which are completely new for the WASH sector.
Secondly, WASH United has convinced some of the strongest role models possible to become Champions for the neglected issues of water, sanitation and hygiene. Particularly with regard to sanitation - which is still a taboo topic in many countries - WASH United has produced revolutionary materials which are expected to do a have an enormous impact on the ground. Similarly, football stars - who are the biggest role models for children and adolescents - promoting hand-washing with soap (which can reduce diarrhoea by half) will have an enormous effect when it comes to promoting this fundamental hygiene intervention, which alone can reduce the occurrence of deadly diarrhoea by half.
Thirdly, WASH United is a Club. Everyone can become a member and play in the same team as Drogba, Ballack, Kanu and Robben. But like in any other club, you must subscribe to a set of club rules. Our club rules: as a member, you have to wash your hands with soap at key times, use toilets and share your WASK knowledge with others.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
WASH United campaigns are about to be launched in 8 target countries in early June 2010. In the run-up to the implementation phase, WASH United has already succeeded in building one of the broadest and most diverse coalitions to ever tackle the crisis in access to safe drinking water and sanitation in Africa, ranging from United Nations Agencies like UNDP to African foorball clubs like South Africa's Orlando Pirates. Besides, WASH United has already generated significant political momentum, with more than a dozen African Ministers in charge of water and sanitation becoming members of the WASH United club and committing to promote WASH for all.
The impact that is expected from the campaign in 8 target countries leading up to the 2010 World Cup are:
- reach more than 20.000 children through football-based hygiene sensitisation programmes (WASH in schools and youth football teams), who understand the importance of WASH and follow the examples set by the stars;
- build political support for the human right to water and sanitation / WASH for all in the target countries, in particular by gaining high-level political champions in each target country;
- with superstars standing up for sanitation, people start talking about the issue more openly and the taboos are weakened.
Problem
1. While handwashing with soap is considered the most effective and cost-efficient intervention to reduce deadly diarrhoea, sustainbable behaviour change has proven difficult to achieve. WASH United uses the power of football and the role model status of the stars to facilitate life-saving behaviour change with regard to handwashing with soap;
2. Sanitation is often still a taboo topic. By engaging stars as Champions for sanitation, WASH United undermines the taboo, enables people to talk about these issues and helps to create demand for sanitation services. If even Drogba can "touch" toilets and not become less cool, ordinary people can, too.
3. Advocate for water and sanitation as a human right. Using the association with sport and the stars as a "door opener" with political decision makers, WASH United builds political suppport for the right to water and sanitation.
Actions
WASH United implements the following activities in 8 target countries:
- "WASH in schools and youth football teams"-campaigns, which aim to educate children in schools and youth football teams about the importance of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene and to facilitate behaviour change;
- poster campaigns to raise awareness and advocate for WASH issues;
- broadcasting of radio and video PSAs;
- participation in Public Screening Events of World Cup matches;
- activities around the World Cup in South Africa, including presence at the International Football Village in Johannesburg (World Toilet Cup game, panel discussions, etc);
- direct lobbying of decision makers at international and national level;
- advocacy at international events, such as African Union Summit in Uganda in July 2010;
- media: articles in newspapers, info on our website, blogs, etc.
Results
- Many lives saved and improved: a significant number of lives will be saved and many more will be improved due to better awareness and better behavioiur with regard to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene;
- Generate political will: in most cases, lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is not due to absolute water scarcity or lack of low-cost technical solutions to ensure that everyone has access to safe water and basic sanitation, but due to a lack of political will to make WASH for all a genuine political and development priority. WASH United will help to generate the necessary political will on the side of African governments, so that they strengthen their efforts to tackle the crisis in access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene with far more vigour. WASH United will also lobby Northern governments to focus their development cooperation more on the WASH sector and, within the sector, on the poorest countries.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Following the campaign around the 2010 World Cup, WASH United will conduct a thorough evaluation. We want to know exactly what has worked how and why - and what hasn't. After that, we will go into full strategic planning for the next four years, till the 2014 World Cup. In addition, WASH United will have to be developed further from an institutional point of view.
So at this point, it is difficult to talk about the next three years with clarity. However, some indications can be given.
2011: We see two key opportunities for 2011, the Cricket World Cup in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (February-March) and the Women's World Cup in Germany. The challenge for the first event will be to secure funding for 2011 and then to translate the WASH United concept to the sport of cricket in relatively short time. Also, in 2011 we aim to achieve the full recognition of the human right to water and sanitation by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Such recognition would provide a strong thrust for WASH United.
2012: There are many opportunities in 2012, including the African Cup of Nations, the European Championship, the London Olympics and the Special Olympics. Prioritisation will be important.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Decreasing interest in water and sanitation: unlikely.
Decreasing willingness of sport stars and other celebrities to act as Champions for WASH : unlikely now that we have engaged with a significant number of top stars.
Lack of funding: well, that could be a problem. However, as we have succeeded in securing funding for WASH United in the middle of the worst economic crisis in decades without any stars firmly on board then, I'm optimistic we will manage to find the necessary resources after the World Cup.
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for less than a year
In what country?
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Brot für die Welt
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
WASH United is a coalition consisting of almost 20 international partners now, ranging from governments, faith based organizations to African football clubs. Each of these partners brings in its distinct knowledge, constituency and reach. And only together we can really make a change.
Partners are more important even at the national level, where all the implementation is done by national and local partner organizations that work hand in hand with our country coordinators (who are always sector experts from that country).
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
Comprehensive evaluation and learning process after campaign around World Cup 2010.
Strategic planning till 2014.
Development of a sustainable financing base.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
I had been working on the human right to water and sanitation since 2002, in the beginning mainly from a legal advocacy perspective. In 2008/9, I started to focus more strongly on sanitation. Sanitation is such a key issue in our daily lives, but simple does not have a very attractive image. At one point, I came up with the idea that in order to promote sanitation in Africa, one would need to associate it with the people that are considered most attractive and most cool, because then people would talk about it. And nothing is more of a crowd-puller or role-model in Africa than African football stars shortly around the first World Cup in Africa. I have a very smart friend who works in football and when I called him and told him about this idea, he understood. I called a few contacts at donors and sector organizations and when they all understood, too, we knew we had indeed found something. That was exactly a year ago. Since then we haven't looked back.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
That is a bit difficult since it was me who came up with the basic idea. My name is Thorsten Kiefer, I'm a 37-year old human rights lawyer (LL.M in international law from the University of Amsterdam). I've been working to promote the human right to water and sanitation for the past 8 years or so, at University, then in the framework of a ph.d. (still incomplete), later in the Right to Water Programme of the Geneva-based COHRE, as a researcher at the German Institute for Human Rights, and now at Brot für die Welt, where I'm in charge of the topic human right to water and sanitation. I'm married with a psychologist. We live in Berlin and we have two small children.
I love communicating, linking people up to build networks and bring plans and ideas to fruition. What motivates me is the idea of really making a change on the ground, not just in our heads or on paper. And I genuinely believe that WASH United has vast potential to do exactly that: make a change to the lives of people on the ground. If there is one combination that can get kids to adopt good hand-washing behaviour and adults to talk about toilets, it is football as a tool and football stars like Didier Drogba as Champions.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Through another organization or company
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
Ashoka Fellow Jack Sim (World Toilet Organization) encouraged me to make an entry. Jack's WTO is part of WASH United.
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Comments
Hi Thorsten,
I am so glad that Jack was spreading the word. He and I had a long chat whilst he was in London and he mentioned different projects taping into the World Cup to promote sanitation through sports. Brilliant!
Are you guys also organizing the WC tournament? He mentioned it to me (and I love the pun with the WC for World Cup and toilet!) but I haven't seen the entry yet.
Are you tackling specific health/sanitation issues to attrack girls to play football (like separate toilets/sanitation tissues etc)?
I wish you good luck on the competition!
Renata
Hello Thorsten,
Use the World Cup in Africa as a kick-off and continue with the World Cup's activities everywhere they go throughout the year.
Although toilet was a taboo before, it is fast becoming a sexy subject due to massive media coverages thanks to its humor power.
Using the World Cup's WC acronym is an effective tool for media coverages. Mix humor with serious hard facts and they'll listen.
Sanitation is no laughing matter, but the way to make people talk is to make them laugh first.
This one is going places.
Jack Sim
Founder, World Toilet Organization
And I love the video with the players!!
Congrats!
Renata
This is definately a great idea that shall see transmittable diseases prevented by over 50%. However, your project should say more specifically about the countries, areas and people it is working with. Let us know their names (especially countries and proffesional players). Again state clearly what is it you have on the ground at the moment.
Great way to highlight a neglected issue - safe water and sanitation. We'll do what we can to spread the word.
John
http://www.cleantheworld.org voted for your idea, help us in the Pepsi Refresh Project at: http://pep.si/dCofs4
WASH United has unlimited potential in making toilets sexy! Way to go!
Dear All,
please visit the WASH United website for latest campaign news and photos: http://www.wash-united.org/countries/all-countries.html !
Best,
Rima
WASH United is now in full-fledged roll-out mode in all 8 target countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This means that activities in schools and football clubs aimed at educating children about the importance of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene and facilitating life-saving behaviour change are now virtually taking place every day.
You can learn more about our work on the ground at: http://www.wash-united.org/countries/kenya.html?no_cache=1. Also visit the Mali (http://wash-united-mali.blogspot.com/) and Burkina Faso (http://wash-united-bf.blogspot.com/)blogspots.
If you are interested in learning more about the materials we use, please go to http://www.wash-united.org/about-us/what-we-do.html
Regards,
Thorsten
WASH UNITED can only win!
The potential of this idea is so gigantic!
So vote!
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