“One Stop Shop” for WASH info for refugees and IDPs Challenge Statement

Challenge presented by UNHCR

The WASH Data Portal would play the following key roles: Be the One Stop Shop for information about WASH Service Access for Refugees and IDPs.

  • Be used to identify people groups and geographical areas where WASH service access falls below minimum standards, or is lagging behind SDG development processes.  This then becomes the basis of advocacy for more resources to support improved WASH access in these areas/people groups. 
  • Be used to monitor progress and improvements/decline in access to WASH services over time, and therefore inform WASH programming/budget decisions.
  • Be used for comparative analysis between WASH service provision to refugees/IDPs and Hosting communities, to ensure Refugees are not left behind in SDG development processes.

The new improved WASH Data Portal would include some of the following functionality:

  • The data collected and presented in reports would align with the SDG 6 (JMP) WASH indicator monitoring – so that comparative analysis could be undertaken to determine if refugees/IDPs are receiving access to WASH services in line with hosting populations.
  • Partners/UNHCR Staff would be able to input WASH Access Indicator Monitoring data from their specific areas of operation.  The indicators to be monitored are found here: http://wash.unhcr.org/unhcr-wash-standards-and-indicators-for-refugee-settings/
  • Additional indicators may be required to align with SDG 6 monitoring – particularly for the measurement of safely managed WASH services.
  • Data would be collected for all Refugees (approx. 20 million) and all IDPs (approx. 40 million).  Third party data sources could be used (eg. WB Surveys, JMP), as well as primary data collection using UNHCR WASH Monitoring System (annual HH surveys and monthly reporting).
  • The data portal would provide the function to generate reports (eg.  Trends of WASH access improvement/decline over time, geographical comparison of WASH access, comparison of refugee/IDP WASH access with host population (from SDG Data), comparison of Urban WASH access with Rural WASH access).  3 Key measures would be Litres of water per person per day, number of persons per toilet, number of persons per bath/shower.  Other Key measures would be required for comparative analysis with SDG 6 JMP data.
  • The Data Portal would support GIS functionality and enable geotagging of data, so that reports could include mapping and visualisation of the data.