Latest news

One full year has passed since we have heard from Bachir Afonso, our dear friend and companion, who was the practical manager of ”Grupo de Saneamento de Bilibiza” in Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique. The 29th of January 2020, Bilibiza was attacked by resurgents from the north, burning half of the total of houses in Bilibiza. Most people of Bilibiza had fled to the woods by then. Late afternoon they came to the workshop of GSB, where Bachir still was present.
At 19.19 PM Henk Holtslag of the SMART Centre Group received an app-message in the Netherlands from Bachir Afonso saying:

“Cry for help. Armed men have entered Bilibiza and are burning from 5 PM till now. All schools were burnt. We no longer have a SMART centre. They are destroying Bilibiza!!”

This was the last we ever heard from him. So we fear for his life and probably also that from his wife. We have still some hope that he is still alive.

As one of the COVID-19 responses the Jacana SMART Centre in Zambia took the initiative to provide water to Health Centres in Eastern Zambia. This initiative was supported by Wilde Ganzen and several other donors.

The website www.dutchwatersector.com/ recently published a newsitem in which the project is highlighted. See newsitem.

This initiative has shown how, through the trained entrepreneurs, the SMART Centres can contribute to increased access to the much needed water at Health Centres which will, also beyond COVID-19, have an impact on the surrounding communities.

For more info, check the website of the Jacana SMART Centre:

• Project Launch – May 2020
• Funding update – July 2020

On the 25th and 26th of January 2021 the first online international Climate Adaptation Summit will be held. The focus of CAS 2021 will be on finding solutions that enable people to adapt to the effects of climate change, such as extreme rainfall, drought, heatwaves and sea level rise. World leaders such as Angela Merkel, Ban Ki‐moon and UN Secretary‐General António Guterres will attend the high‐level opening session in the Netherlands and launch a broad Adaptation Action Agenda, setting out practical climate solutions and plans up to 2030.

The work of the SMART Centres also provides options that help households to adapt to the changing climate. Some of the work has been presented during the IAAS pre-event to the CAS. A recent 2-pager (Increase climate resilience in Africa with water buffering and the SMART approach) highlights some of the achievements of the past 20 years, with a focus on Nicaragua and Tanzania, but also provides an outlook to scale this approach.

Download the 2-pager here.

For more information on recharge technologies check here.

On the 25th and 26th of January the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 will be organised online. As pre-event to the summit, the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences (IAAS) organised a pre-event which brought 1500+ students together. The SMART Centre Group hosted one of the workshops under the title: “SMART Centres and smart solutions Increase resilience to climate change by building local capacity in innovative and affordable water and agriculture solutions”.

Henk Holtslag, Reinier Veldman presented on the SMART approach and SMART Centres and the link to Climate Adaptation and (Youth) Employment and Abraham Mehari covered the Smart Water for Agriculture project. The workshop generated a fruitfull discussion and provided input to the ‘Call to Action’ (English, French) which will be presented by IAAS to The Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Summit.

The presentations are available on the resources page.

The Netherlands Water Partnership recently developed a portfolio of ‘COVID-19 Water Technology and Services’. The portfolio is an overview of initiatives and Dutch companies who have services or products that can contribute to stop the spread of COVID and also monitor the spread. As part of the portfolio two cases work of the SMART Centres is mentioned and also the water filters of Basic Water Needs are included. Basic Water Needs has been a long term partner and supporter of the work of the SMART Centres.

The portfolio can be accessed through https://publications.dutchwatersector.com/covid-19-portfolio/start/. The individual pages related to the work of the SMART Centre can be accessed through the links below:

• Global Handwashing Day – https://www.dutchwatersector.com/news/lets-celebrate-global-handwashing-day
• Supporting Hand wash solutions – https://www.dutchwatersector.com/news/self-supporting-handwashing-solutions-to-fight-covid-19
• Tulip Water Filters – https://publications.dutchwatersector.com/covid-19-portfolio/detection-and-filtration-technologies/overlay/basic-water-needs/

One of the technologies that are being tested by the SMART Centres are small solar pumps in the price range of $30 – $60. With a solar panel, a complete set would cost in the range if $80 – $120.

The Jacana SMART Centre in Zambia has recently released a manual on Electical pumps selection & installation and has also trained a group of entreneurs as ‘pump advisors’. This will be used as a service to clients to advice them on the pump suitable for their situation and provides the entrepreneurs with another possible income stream.

Check the update from the Jacana Website and request the manual here.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the CCAP SMART Centre in Malawi set-up a project to provide handwashing stations to public places around Mzuzu, such as markets, hospitals and schools. The project has been carried out and one of the staff members reflects on the approach in the video after the ‘read more’.

Thanks to Wilde Ganzen, Wierda Baas Foundation, Rotary Apeldoorn ‘t Loo, the SMART Centre Foundation and De Gevulde Waterkruik for their support.

Since 2013, the 19th of November is celebrated as World Toilet Day. This years’ theme of the official celebrations was ‘Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change’.

One of the ways in which the SMART Centres contribute towards access to a toilet or latrine is offering a range of options such as zero cement ‘corbelled latrines’ and SaTopans or Flapper. See also the overview of Sanitation Technologies.

Another interesting set of resources are the timelines with the NICC Foundation is developing. Recently two WASH timelines have been added to the collection. Check them on the website of NICC.

Jacana is building a new Jacana Business Centre in Chipata, Zambia. The Jacana SMART Centre will be integrated in this building together with the activities around beekeeping, business training and sustainable agriculture.

Jacana is combining the building of the Business Centre with the training of bricklayers, which will be certified by TEVETA, after successfully completing the exam in April.

So far the fence has been build and a borehole has been drilled. Also the foundation for the office has been constructed.

For a full update, visit the website of the Jacana SMART Centre.

Global Handwashing Day is October 15. And as every year, the day serves as a platform to raise global awareness on the importance of hand-washing with soap.

Within the work of the SMART Centres, handwashing is an important theme as it contributes greatly to improved health and reduced spread of diseases. There are ongoing projects in Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Niger around Handwashing and COVID-19 and we have recently published several resources with ideas to scale-up low-cost handwashing solutions.

• Video on ‘making a Wash Bottle‘
• Clip on Global Handwashing Day 2020 by SMART Centre Malawi
• Brochure on ‘SMART Hygiene Solutions, affordable options for household level‘
• Webinar on ‘SMART WaSH Solutions in times of Corona‘.
• Technology Overview page
• Welding against COVID-19 blogpost