The Water and Environmental Sanitation Network (WESNET) is optimistic that harmonizing the Malawi data on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) can assist to improve the sector.
Program specialist for BASEflow Hector Chilimani, made the sentiments in Lilongwe on the side lines of a WASH consultation on digital library.
According to Chilimani, data management remains crucial in complementing the 2030 sustainable development goal number six which advocates for availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Said Chilimani, “We need to have a digital library that can trace all the WASH data and make it more accessible to people in the country for us to make better decisions.”
Country Director for Pump Aid Beyond Water Simon Msukwa, said harmonizing the WASH data can provide wide response to national challenges.
“We need to have a long term approach by identifying a unified way of keeping our data to adequately serve the community,” Msukwa said.
The meeting also focused on the Global Water Partnership Integrated Water Resources Management (GWP IWRM) Toolbox which promotes adoption of better practices in water management.
Among others, the digital library will help to centralise, organise and make easily accessible information related to WASH.
The discussion comes at a time when lack of harmonisation of crucial data and resources related to WASH continues to hinder stakeholders in the sector to access information ‘crucial’ in their project implementation and reporting.