Water, environment and sanitation

Emergency WES Resource Kit

© UNICEF/HQ00-0858/Lemoyne

Two boys collect water from a handpump located near ruins in the village of Jabrail, Afghanistan.

Emergency Policies

UNICEF's Core Commitments for Children (CCC): UNICEF's planning and response in emergencies is governed by the Core Commitments for Children (CCC). Knowledge of the specific water and sanitation Core Commitments are essential for any staff member involved in emergency water, environment and sanitation.S

Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response: The Sphere Project in an international initiative aimed at improving the effectiveness and accountability of emergency response. Although UNICEF in not formally governed by the charter or the minimum standards they represent an point of reference and an indication of partners' positions.

See the Sphere web site for additional resources: www.sphereproject.org

Emergency References

UNICEF

Resources from UNICEF and other agencies specifically on water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies.

Emergency Field Handbook: This handbook is limited to topics addressed in the Core Commitments for Children in Emergencies and is structured to provide answers to the questions UNICEF staff ask about what needs to be done and how to do it when implementing those commitments. Page 165 contains information specific to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

Oxfam

• Oxfam technical guidelines on water and sanitation
• Oxfam technical guidelines on health and hygiene promotion

PAHO (Pan American Health Organization)

• Emergencies and Disasters in Drinking Water Supply and Sewerage Systems: Guidelines for Effective Response
• Natural Disaster Mitigation in Drinking Water and Sewerage: Guidelines for Vulnerability Analysis.

WEDC (Water, Engineering and Development Centre)

• Emergency Sanitation: Assessment and Programme Design
• Emergency Vector Control Using Chemicals
• Emergency Water Sources - Guidelines for selection and treatment
• Out in the Cold Emergency water supply and sanitation in cold regions

WHO (World Health Organization)

Environmental Health in Emergencies and Disasters: A Practical Guide

• Chapter 7: Water supply
• Chapter 8: Sanitation

UNICEF WES Manuals

UNICEF Water and Sanitation Technical Guidelines

• Communication for Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Manual: This manual, with a focus on sound principles in programme communication, provides guidance on how to incorporate communication and behaviour change approaches in water and environmental sanitation programmes.
• Hygiene Promotion Manual: This manual presents a methodology for bottom-up programming for hygiene promotion: first finding out what people know about hygiene through formative research in people's knowledge and practices, and then combining this with state-of-the-art expert knowledge and appropriate communication strategies to develop effective and sustainable programming models. This manual was produced in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso.
• Sanitation Handbook: The manual—first in the Technical Guidelines series—provides tools to support national and local initiatives for improved sanitation programming. The Sanitation Handbook was produced in partnership with EHP, the Environmental Health Project.
• School Sanitation and Hygiene Manual: A comprehensive discussion and guidance document on both hardware and software aspects needed to bring about changes in schools, in the hygiene behaviour of students and, through these students, in the community at large. The Manual On School Sanitation and Hygiene is produced in partnership with IRC, the International Water and Sanitation Centre.
• Water Handbook: A comprehensive review and guide on procedures, methodologies and technologies for water programmes.

Supply Information

UNICEF

• UNICEF water and sanitation supply catalogue
• Main catalogue
• List of approved emergency items
• UNICEF basic family water kit