Monitoring water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programmes in Timor-Leste with time-stamped, geo-coded images

Emily Christensen Rand; Crispen Wilson; Jessica Mercer

doi:10.3362/1756-3488.2012.032

Monitoring water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programmes in Timor-Leste with time-stamped, geo-coded images

Emily Christensen Rand | Crispen Wilson | Jessica Mercer

Many groups are working to improve the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) situation in Timor-Leste. Recent availability of low-cost digital cameras that take geo-coded, time-stamped photos offers opportunities to easily improve WASH programme monitoring. From 2010 to 2012, Oxfam staff in remote locations in Timor-Leste have taken photos, overlaying these onto satellite imagery and creating maps to 1) establish status of water systems built previously by Oxfam; 2) monitor quality of current water system construction; and 3) locate community-built household sanitation and hand-washing facilities. The resulting maps produced for villagers, donors, project managers, government, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have augmented monitoring performance and resource use efficiency, increased communication and transparency, and improved programme impact. These easy-to-understand visual maps can help government understand necessary repair work, and help monitor frequency and quality of construction.

Curtis, V. and Cairncross, S. (2003) ‘Effect of washing hands with soap on diarrhoea risk in the community: A systematic review’, The Lancet Infectious Diseases 3: 275-81 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(03)00606-6≯.

Ensink, J. (2006) ‘Health impact of hand-washing with soap’, Well Fact Sheet [website] <www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/fact-sheets/fact-sheets-htm/Handwashing.htm≯ [accessed 18 January 2012]. www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/fact-sheets/fact-sheets-htm/Handwashing.htm

Fretwell, L., Kaufmann, R.B., Kay, D., Enanoria, W., Haller, L. and Colford, J.M. Jr (2005) ‘Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrhea in less developed countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis’, The Lancet Infectious Diseases 5(1): 42-52 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(04)01253-8≯.

Government of Timor-Leste (GoTL) (2010) 2010 Census Results [website] <http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=4144&n=1&xml:lang=en≯ [accessed 25 April 2011]. http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=4144&n=1&xml:lang=en

Grayel, Y. (2008) Manatutu District Rural Water Supply Management Survey - July to December 2007, Triangle Generation Humanitaire, Timor-Leste.

Hamel, S. (2009) Baseline Survey of Aileu and Lautem District Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Coverage, Plan, Timor-Leste.

ISF-UTS (2011) Timor-Leste Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector Brief [website], prepared for AusAID by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney <www.isf.uts.edu.au/pdfs/ISF_TimorLesteWASH.pdf≯ [accessed 9 February 2012]. www.isf.uts.edu.au/pdfs/ISF_TimorLesteWASH.pdf

Kamtukule, G. (2008) Covalima District Rural Water Supply Management Study [website], Oxfam Australia, Timor-Leste <http://dev.thegncs.org/sitefiles/file/Timor-Leste_WRM_Community-based_Oxfam_Kamtukule_2008.pdf≯ [accessed 9 February 2012]. http://dev.thegncs.org/sitefiles/file/Timor-Leste_WRM_Community-based_Oxfam_Kamtukule_2008.pdf

Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Infrastructure (MoI) (2010) Sanitation Marketing Research Report, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Infrastructure, Timor-Leste.

National Statistics Directorate (NSD) (2010) Timor-Leste Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10, NSD Timor-Leste and ICF Macro, Timor-Leste.

Oxfam (2011) Access to Clean Water and Sanitation Initiative (ACWSI) Project Interim Report, Oxfam, Timor-Leste.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2006) Mortality Country Fact Sheet 2006 [website] <www.who.int/whosis/mort/profiles/mort_searo_tls_timorleste.pdf≯ [accessed 28 December 2011]. www.who.int/whosis/mort/profiles/mort_searo_tls_timorleste.pdf