ISF’s 4-week visit to Liquica with WaterAid and its local partner Fundasaun Hafoun Timor Lorosa’e (FHTL) successfully concluded with joint reflection on our collaborative research and planning for how climate change can be considered in WaterAid Timor-Leste’s WASH programming. We are excited to see how some practical community-based actions have emerged as ways of tacking the complex issue of climate change impacts on inclusive WASH in Timor-Leste.
ISF, WaterAid and FHTL asked ourselves questions about our experiences with having community members diagram impacts of climate hazards on WASH access for women and men. We also discussed changes in WASH workload and decision-making across seasons, and how the community can mobilise local resources to mitigate impacts. Did the community enjoy and engage well with the activity? What made the activity work well? Can we see ourselves doing it again in the future? What further support is needed to improve it? These discussions were valuable for considering how to replicate these activities, and what WaterAid and FHTL (as the implementing partner) see as useful in terms of guidance.
In the final week, ISF and WaterAid Timor-Leste decided together what content would go into the guidance note on how to consider climate change impacts on inclusive WASH in WaterAid’s programming. We are looking forward to finalising this guidance note as well as community case studies from our work in Timor-Leste and Indonesia, a concept note detailing the conceptual thinking behind our study, and more. Outputs will be hosted on this website in the future so make sure to check back!