 defecation,” a sanitized term for going wherever nature calls. Endless sickness is the result. It prevents people from going to work or school and it leaves them with costly medical bills in a country where the average annual salary is only about $750.
“In our past, people didn’t realize open defecation could cause a problem,” said Ung Kuntear, manager of Cambodia’s WET Centre. “We are trying to transfer the knowledge and skills so they can transform their life.”
Cambodia’s government wants every household to have a toilet by 2025 (though it appears to be relying entirely on NGOs to get it done). Less than 30 per cent have one now. It’s an ambitious goal for WASH campaigners in the country. The WET Centre is still in its startup stage, but eventually it will be independent.
“We’re providing capacity building on a long-term basis, as long as it takes,” said Appell.
This focus on training has a number of advantages over direct donations. Building a latrine for a family without imparting key knowledge falls into a common trap. Nobody knows how to maintain the project or sees the point in the practice, so it falls into disrepair and disuse. Researchers at Cranfield University identify CAWST as the only WASH organization working exclusively on capacity building. Its novel approach earned it a Non-profit Innovation Award from the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations in 2011 and a place as one of Tides Canada’s top 10 change makers in the same year.
“It has become clear that the focus on infrastructure has failed to deliver the desired results,” said CAWST CEO Shauna Curry. “Over the past decade, CAWST has proven that by building knowledge and skills of local organizations, we can have a much greater reach and sustained impact.”
CAWST’s is truly a Calgary-born model. Founder Camille Dow Baker worked in the oil and gas industry until she went back to school at the University of Calgary. There she met Dr. David Manz, who had recently developed the biosand filter, a household device that uses sand and gravel to clean drinking water. Baker’s master’s thesis on how to distribute the product was the conceptualization of what would become CAWST in 2001, and the filters remain CAWST’s flagship workshop around the world.
Now it is moving into a new office at the south edge of the airport, thankful for the city’s continued support.
“From the beginning, Calgarians have supported our pioneering approach by investing their time, expertise and dollars,” said Curry. “Calgarians have enabled us to take risks, be entrepreneurial and become the global centre of expertise that we are today.”