Community-led Accelerated WASH IV

COWASH IV: Building Systems beyond Infrastructure⚙️💧

Since its inception in April 2021, COWASH IV has reached a significant milestone in institutional capacity building. As of December 30, 2025, a total of 91,958 individuals have participated in our specialized training programmes.👩‍🏫

How does this lead to lasting change? 🤔 Our approach focuses on System Strengthening through a structured Training of Trainers model:

🔹 Regional and Woreda Level: Selected officials and experts receive training on technical and management standards.

🔹 Knowledge Transfer: These trainers then cascade their expertise down to local levels, ensuring skills remain within the community.

🔹 Holistic Skillsets: Training covers both "hard" skills (infrastructure viability and maintenance) and "soft" skills (behavioral change and community conversation guidance).

By empowering local government and community leaders, we ensure that WASH services are not only constructed but are professionally managed and sustained for years to come.🤝

Strengthening local systems is the most reliable path to universal and sustainable Water supply, Hygiene and Sanitation ( )services.💧✨

COWASH IV WASH Saving and Loan Associations’ Impact on the Ground💧

A core mission of COWASH IV is empowering households to take charge of their own sanitation and hygiene. To achieve this, COWASH in collaboration with local stakeholders establishes WASH Saving and Loan Associations (SLAs),

effective community-led groups that create financial independence, allowing families to fund and build their own improved latrines.💰🏡

📈The Growth of SLAs: Since we began this initiative at the end of EFY 2014, we have seen a significant surge in community participation and improved household latrine construction🚽:

🔹 EFY 2015: 47 SLAs established ➔ 353 Improved Latrines

🔹 EFY 2016: 84 SLAs established ➔ 423 Improved Latrines

🔹 EFY 2017: 163 SLAs established ➔ 1,411 Improved Latrines

🔹 EFY 2018 (until end of December): 108 SLAs established ➔ 1,806 Improved Latrines

✨Total Impact: In just over three years, 402 SLAs have empowered 3,993 households across 49 Woredas out of 104 project Woredas to build their own improved latrines and hand-washing facilities.

Beyond the Latrine: What happens next?⏩ The impact doesn't stop once the latrine is built. Many communities choose to keep their SLAs active to tackle even bigger goals:

🔹 Village Cleanliness: Funding communal sanitation efforts. 🏘️

🔹 Green Energy: Transitioning diesel-powered water points to solar power.☀️

🔹 Growth: Evolving into Rural Saving Cooperatives to provide larger loans for WASH infrastructure.🏦

COWASH IV supports these groups every step of the way through specialized training, follow-up visits, and by connecting them with concerned local authorities. 👩‍🏫

Through initiatives like SLAs, COWASH IV is not just building facilities; it is empowering communities to design, fund, and manage their own sustainable future. 💪 🌱

Securing Sustainable Drinking Water Supply: How Integrates Nature-Based Solutions?🌿

A sustainable water tap starts long before the pipes are laid. It starts in the watershed.🏔️To protect these vital areas, COWASH utilizes Nature-Based solutions. This is why we integrate Nature-Based Solutions directly into our work.💧

🔍What is Nature-based Solutions? These are measures that protect, restore, and sustainably manage ecosystems to address different economic, environmental and social challenges. By integrating this approach, COWASH works to protect the water source before it reaches the infrastructure. Among these measures, the Watershed Management strategy is a key risk management tool COWASH directly apply by integrating it into its Water Safety Planning.📋

Why do healthy watersheds matter for WASH?

1️⃣ Sustained Supply: They regulate water flow, support groundwater recharge and improve natural storage.

2️⃣ Climate Resilience: They act as a natural buffer against extreme events like floods that can damage infrastructure.

3️⃣ Natural Purification: Healthy ecosystems filter water through biological, chemical and physical processes, protecting quality at the source.

📍COWASH Nature-based Strategy in Action: The Burqa Eresa Success Story

A powerful example of COWASH’s strategy in action is the Burqa Eresa water point in Berek Woreda, Oromia. COWASH began implementing a dedicated Watershed Management strategy here two years ago. By protecting the upstream catchment through biological and physical measures, the project has achieved:

✅ Effective Flood Management: Reducing runoff that previously threatened to damage the water point infrastructure.

✅ Water Quality Protection: Naturally eliminating potential contamination before it reaches the community.

In addition to Berek, COWASH IV is currently scaling these Nature-Based Solutions to over 60%+ of its water points across Ethiopia.

📊The Economic Reality

Research by the International Institute for Sustainable Development shows that Nature-based Solutions are not just environmentally friendly; they are also an economically smart approach.

Globally, these approaches are estimated to:

🔹 Be up to 50% cheaper than traditional human-built infrastructure.📉

🔹 Provide 28% better value for money than human-built infrastructure.📈

🔹 Meet up to 11% of total infrastructure investment needs worldwide. 🌍

By investing in nature today, we ensure safe, adequate and climate resilient water supply system for rural communities over the long term. 🚰