Things can, and do, go wrong in water, sanitation and hygiene. In July 2018, an event at the Water Engineering Development Centre Conference in Nakuru, Kenya, “Blunders, Bloopers and Foul-ups: A WASH Game Show” inspired a call for WASH Professionals to publicly commit to sharing their failures and learning from one another. Attendees from the event and other WASH professionals have jointly developed:
The Nakuru Accord: failing better in the WASH sector
Transparency and accountability are necessary for achieving sustainable, positive impacts from water, sanitation and hygiene. As a WASH professional, I believe that we can achieve this through a culture of sharing and adaptation when things go wrong. To support this, I will:
- Promote a culture of sharing and learning that allows people to talk openly when things go wrong.
- Be fiercely transparent and hold myself accountable for my thinking, communication and action.
- Build flexibility into funding requests to allow for adaptation.
- Design long-term monitoring and evaluation that allows sustainability to be assessed.
- Design in sustainability by considering the whole life cycle.
- Actively seek feedback from all stakeholders, particularly end-users.
- Recognise that things go wrong, and willingly share these experiences, including information about contributing factors and possible solutions, in a productive way.
- Critically examine available evidence, recognising that not all evidence is created equal.
- Write and speak in plain language, especially when discussing what has gone wrong.
Please click here if you would like to sign The Nakuru Accord.
You can download a high resolution version of the Accord and stick it on your wall/door to spread the word and keep yourself accountable
We also suggest adding to your email signature: I am a signatory to The Nakuru Accord: I believe that things can and do go wrong in WASH and I promote a culture of sharing and adaptation.
Signatories to The Nakuru Accord
Current signatories: 329 Individuals | 27 Organisations | 1 Event
*Please note that if you signed The Nakuru Accord before 17th March 2022, we need your permission to share your name on this website (as you originally only granted us permission to share your name on The University of Leeds WASH Blog). You are still being counted as a signatory, but if you would like your name to be published here, please sign again (using a new form) by clicking here.*
Acago Bernadette Virginia
Dale Andreatta
Balogun Hameedat Shade
Cara Beal
Leonel Alberto Guitian Berniser
Dr Amita Bhakta
Titilola Bright-oridami
Jasmine Burton
Habib Chaieb
Munyaradzi Charuka
Vincent Chireh
Rebecca Evans
Fredrick Owino Gudda
Chilala Haankuku
Tom Heath
Lucia Henry
Chilala H. Kapulu
Mofwe Kapulu
Tendai Kativhu
Rémi Kaupp
Abjata Khalif
Dennis Langat
John Macharia
Fungai Makoni
Martin N Mawejje
Onike Mcharo
Melese Mengistu
Mobile Alert Toilets Limited
Dr Kate Neely
Lugard Kaunda Ogaro
Ejike Okafor
Robert Osir Otieno
Aldo Yael Zamarroni Peralta
Elias Phiri
Alana Potter
Mohammed Rashid
Joseph Sabiiti
Ruth Salmon
Shobana Srinivasan
Taita Dew Purified Drinking Water
Transform International/Rotary
Uganda Civil Aviation Authority
Oghenetejiri Sweetheart Utake
Reto Way