Pleins feux sur Joy Wahba : Militante pour améliorer le financement public des services de l’eau en milieu rural au Malawi
ISF sees policy and advocacy work as essential to progress in the development sector. It is not right for the Government of Canada to promote progressive development policies: it is all governments. Joy Wahba, an ISF trainee, joined WASH Catalysts as Advocacy Representative in 2016 to support the initiative’s efforts to address governance issues in the rural water services sector.
A graduate of the University of Toronto in international development, Joy leads WASH Catalysts’ advocacy campaign to increase government funding for the maintenance and repair of water points to ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water. rural areas. So far, the campaign has garnered significant support from both NGOs such as UNICEF and governments such as DfIDand the Ministries of Water Resources and Rural Development of Malawi. Joy’s work, which consisted of analyzing national budgets and interviewing local government employees, helped to identify budget gaps in regions with low levels of service delivery, which are used to advocate with the parties. stakeholders.
In one of the poorest and most aid-dependent countries, Malawi’s water sector is not considered government property. Therefore, campaigning to improve public funding for maintenance and repair is a battle against the tide, but Joy has recently been successful. The team has released an animated short film that presents the work of WASH Catalysts and has reached several interest groups in Malawi and even the United Kingdom. The videoexplores the key issues of activism for change in a highly bureaucratic and partially decentralized system. She was advised of the video’s contribution to the lively discussions within the Ministry’s representatives: the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Ministry of Water Development and local government leaders such as the Commissioner. of the district opened the dialogue and debates around the content of the video . Spin-offs have also been noted at baseline levels as Malawians talk about this problem and share the video on social networks.
Leaders are finally debating their roles in facilitating change. Next month, Joy will continue to facilitate these key discussions with departmental officials from multiple departments to overcome technical issues for the changes needed for funding. Formerly disillusioned with the challenge of asking developing-country governments to respect the rights of their citizens, Joy is rekindled by the importance WASH Catalysts attaches to government support during the system development process. inclusive, ultimately working towards sustainable access to community water services in Malawi.
