Out with the old and in with the new: Using Akvo to collect and analyse WASH in Fiji schools

Nasautoka District School students. ©UNICEF Pacific/2014/Hing

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) partners from the Fijian Teachers Association, Fijian Government Ministries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil-society organizations worked energetically over the week to learn to use a tool that will allow them to bypass regular, time-consuming steps in collecting data. From this moment on, WASH partners will no longer rely on pencils to mark responses for a survey, organize tattered papers from the field, nor enter rows of data into a spreadsheet. Instead, they will utilize a phone application called Akvo (which means “Water” in the language Esperanto) in order to administer a survey, plot data points on an interactive map, craft informative analyses, and produce graphs. This all sounds fancy, but what does it mean?

The lure of flush toilets and the rewards of patience

By Karen Allen, UNICEF Pacific Representative

I am in Malaita, Solomon Islands in a village. I am looking at a large, multi-layered concrete slab covering what I am not sure. On top is a concrete encased porcelain toilet bowl open to the elements. Of course it is full of rain water. Where are the walls and roof for this toilet? No wonder the UNICEF staff and community member look unhappy. Who built this toilet? Who is responsible for it? What is the story?

Toilet abandoned in a village in Malaita
with a concrete encased porcelain toilet bowl open to the elements.
© UNICEF Pacific/2013/Allen