Water champions from around the globe joined forces to explore how water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education can be made sustainable through the incorporation of basic human values in a workshop sponsored by Project WET and UN-Habitat on March 20^th in Cape Town.

A lead-in event to international observances of World Water Day, the Human-Values-Based Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education: Best Practices for Sustainable Programs seminar featured interactive discussions, the participation of an internationally acclaimed musical artist and a township visit for its 20 participants.

The goal of the seminar was to introduce the concept of human-values-based WASH education, share experiences and success stories around WASH education and discuss best practices for promoting both sustainable WASH projects and water and ethics in the urban setting. John Etgen from the Project WET Foundation served as moderator for the event’s key speakers: Dr. Art-Ong Jumsai from the Water Institute in Thailand, Andre Dzikus from UN HABITAT, Sagie Naike of the Africa Institute of Sathya SAI Education in Zambia, Julia Nelson from the Project WET Foundation and Teddy Tindamanyire from the Uganda Ministry of Water.

During one session, the speakers and participants were joined by Rolf Stahlhofen, an internationally acclaimed German musical artist and a UN HABITAT “Messenger of Truth,” who shared his vision for the creation of his new song, “Water is Life,” which debuted later that day at the Expo.  He based the song on the human connection to water and the right to water for all people.

Participants also visited Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s largest and fastest-growing townships, to open the Water Expo—an interactive theater project modeling proper water behavior and ethics—with music, dancing and a presentation of Project WET water education materials to a local teacher and her students.

The key recommendations and conclusions of the seminar were: incorporating the five human values of peace, love, truth, non-violence and right-conduct into educational projects; focusing on behavioral change through institutionalization of school curriculum, political buy-in and diversifying implementation strategies; and incorporating best practices, including monitoring and evaluation, increased local ownership, utilization of local knowledge and traditional practices and enhancing local skills.

This post was prepared by the Project WET Foundation.