WASHable: Participatory design and community engagement Network on WASH in Lusophone and Francophone African Countries

人类与水的历史紧密相连，这给可持续发展带来了复杂的挑战。获得清洁用水、环境卫生和个人卫生被认为是一项重要的人权。然而，在撒哈拉以南非洲国家，仍然有很大一部分人口生活在贫困之中，没有干净的水，甚至没有基本的厕所设施。不安全的水、环境卫生和缺乏个人卫生导致传染病和死亡人数上升，特别是幼儿。非洲法语国家（法语国家）和葡萄牙语国家（葡语国家），如喀麦隆和安哥拉，受影响最大，因为生活在城市和农村的人之间以及最富有和最贫穷的人之间存在着严重的不平等；研究和投资也很少。为其他撒哈拉以南国家制定的解决方案不一定适用于法语和葡萄牙语国家，如安哥拉和喀麦隆，因为这些国家存在种族、社会、文化和语言差异。然而，了解社会、文化和宗教习俗对制定和采用任何水、环境卫生和个人卫生解决方案和干预措施具有重大影响。让当地社区、当地政府和其他组织（如非政府组织）参与到可持续的、更广泛的社区可接受的解决方案的开发中来至关重要。妇女和儿童参与这一进程也很重要，因为他们主要负责管理家庭供水、环境卫生、个人卫生和家庭福利。然而，目前非洲研究机构在如何支持这种与社区的积极接触以及与社区共同设计解决方案方面的知识和能力有限。WASHable项目是英国兰开斯特大学（Lancaster University）、喀麦隆布埃亚大学（University of Buea）和安哥拉天主教大学之间的一个合作项目，它将开发一个研究网络，提供知识交流和能力建设，解决非洲学术组织打开大门、与社区合作、在社区内为社区工作的需求。这将通过在英国、喀麦隆和安哥拉举行的一系列关于艺术和人文方法的培训和知识交流讲习班来实现，这些讲习班将侧重于让社区、妇女和学童参与水、环境卫生和个人卫生研究。此外，该项目将使决策者参与进来，并导致发展新的研究伙伴关系，这些伙伴关系将发展具有文化敏感性和性别主流化的项目，旨在为非洲提供安全的水、环境卫生和个人卫生服务。除此之外，WASHable研究网络除了与非洲其他法语国家（科特迪瓦、贝宁、塞内加尔）和葡语国家（莫桑比克、佛得角）合作外，还将通过参加喀麦隆和安哥拉讲习班的泛非洲专家（来自加纳、肯尼亚、尼日利亚、坦桑尼亚、乌干达、赞比亚等国）建立一个全非洲网络。这是撒哈拉以南地区，特别是法语和葡语非洲地区第一个以社区为基础的水、环境卫生和个人卫生研究网络，是开展更长、更深入研究合作的垫脚石，即使在项目结束后也将得到加强和维持。

The deeply connected history of humans and water presents complex sustainable development challenges. Access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene is recognised as an important human right. However, in countries in sub-Saharan Africa there are still large parts of the population who live in poverty without clean water, and even basic toilet facilities. Unsafe water, sanitation and lack of hygiene leads to a rise in infectious diseases and deaths, especially of young children. French-speaking (Francophone) and Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) countries in Africa, such as Cameroon and Angola, are affected the most as there are significant inequalities between people living in cities and the countryside and between the richest and poorest; and there has been very little research and investment.Solutions developed for other sub-Saharan countries will not necessarily work in French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking, such as Angola and Cameroon, due the ethnic, social, cultural and language differences that are found in these. Yet, understanding of social, cultural and religious practices have a great impact on the development and adoption of any water, sanitation and hygiene solutions and interventions.Engaging the local communities as well as the local government and other organisations such as NGOs in participating in the development of sustainable and acceptable by the wider community solutions is critical. Important is also the involvement of women and children in this process, as they are mainly responsible for management of household water supply, sanitation, hygiene and household wellbeing.However, there is currently limited knowledge and capacity within African research institutions on how to support this type of positive engagement with communities and co-design solutions with them. The WASHable project, a collaboration between Lancaster University (UK) and the University of Buea (Cameroon) and the Catholic University of Angola, will develop a research network that will provide knowledge exchange and capacity building, addressing the need for African academic organisations to open their doors and work with, in and for their communities. This will be achieved through a series of training and knowledge exchange workshops on arts and humanities approaches held in the UK, Cameroon and Angola, that will focus on engaging communities, women and schoolchildren in water, sanitation and hygiene research. Furthermore, the project will engage policy makers and lead to the development of new research partnerships that will develop culturally-sensitive and gender-mainstreaming projects aimed at delivering safe water, sanitation and hygiene services for Africa.In addition to this, the WASHable research network will, apart from engaging other Francophone (Ivory Coast, Benin, Senegal) and Lusophone countries (Mozambique, Cape Verde) of Africa, also establish an African-wide network through the pan-African experts (from countries in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia) attending the workshops in Cameroon and Angola.This is the first community-based research network on water, sanitation and hygiene in sub-Saharan, and especially Francophone and Lusophone Africa, and is a steppingstone for longer and deeper research collaborations that will be strengthened and sustained even after the end of the project.