As a signatory of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Nepal is dedicated to improving access to water and sanitation and achieving SDG 6 (“Ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”) by 2030. However, there is currently a lack of complete and centralised data on water resources and water and sanitation services in Nepal, which is needed for effective decision making, good governance, and efficient monitoring and evaluation of SDG progress. Realising this, the Nepalese government called on Nepalese civil society and the international community for assistance with data collection, and monitoring and evaluation in the water and sanitation sector. In response, GIWEH and SOPHEN (Society of Public Health Engineers – Nepal) launched a partnership with the government of Nepal to create The Nepal Water Knowledge Hub, a national centre of knowledge of water and sanitation in Nepal where organisations and individuals can share experiences and information. The hub will also include an online and open database which will contain all existing data on water and sanitation in Nepal.

The project’s first phase will be to collect all pre-existing data on water and sanitation in Nepal which is currently scattered across various organisations and institutions, and collate it into a database on the platform mWater. GIWEH, SOPHEN, and the Nepalese government will host workshops in Kathmandu to train 40 volunteers from across the country in data collection. The majority of the volunteers will be women, and many will be members of their regional government. They will then be tasked with training at least one more volunteer in their respective regions and will be supported by GIWEH and SOPHEN throughout project’s data collection phase.

Once this phase of the project is completed, knowledge gaps and important missing data can be identified and the following phases of the project can be planned. The knowledge gathered in the database will ultimately make informed decision making on water and sanitation possible, as well as the effective tracking of the progress made towards achieving SDG 6 in Nepal.

For more information email   anziani.morgane@giweh.ch