We want to hear from you: draft Rural Water Supply Network RWSN Strategy 2024-2030

You may even find that the talk you’re looking for is already translated into your language. Embracing diversity is central to how we work, and in everything we do we will support the voice, leadership and career progression of women and young professionals.

RWSN places a very strong emphasis on innovation, documentation, research and capacity building. RWSN is a collaborative platform dedicated to knowledge exchange, networking and learning to achieve universal access to safe water, with a focus on rural water services. This endeavour involves fostering connections among rural water practitioners and organisations on a global scale. Today the network has over 15,000 members in over 160 countries, continuing the mission of helping rural water supply practitioners from NGOs, governments, companies and development partners to learn from each other and work together.

Together we will collaborate on WASH systems strengthening, particularly around mentoring, life-long learning and supporting the role of women as professionals and decision-makers. We will also work collectively to advocate for, and support national and local governments in, strengthening the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems required to deliver universal, sustained access as outlined under Sustainable Development Goal 6. The RWSN Forum is the foremost global event on rural water services and takes place every 5 years. RWSN’s vision is of a world where all rural people have access to sustainable and reliable water supplies that can be effectively managed to provide sufficient, affordable, and safe water within a reasonable distance of the home. For RWSN, rural covers a spectrum of settlement patterns including isolated homesteads, hamlets, villages, and small towns.

The information in this website has been carefully researched and diligently compiled. Nevertheless, Skat Foundation, RWSN and partners do not accept any liability or give any guarantee for the validity, accuracy and completeness of the information provided. Information and opinions presented in this Website have been obtained or derived from sources believed to be reliable, but we make no representation as to their accuracy or completeness. We maintain the right to delete or modify information on this Website without prior notice. The linked sites are not under the control of the RWSN and we therefore are not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. If linked pages contain irritating or illegal content, the RWSN web admin team is grateful for noticing us and will remove the link immediately.

• Nothing on the Websites shall form any legally binding contract about products or services, unless explicitly noted.
• The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) is the global network of individual professionals and organisations who are dedicated to rural water supply.
• The linked sites are not under the control of the RWSN and we therefore are not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site.
• This webinar provides a platform to discuss the issue, including looking at some of the types of quality problems encountered and the experiences of several organizations that have managed to consistently procure quality components.
• Using links from this Website to any website not owned by RWSN is at your own risk.

Poor quality infrastructure continues to be a problem in rural water supplies. This webinar provides a platform to discuss the issue, including looking at some of the types of quality problems encountered and the experiences of several organizations that have managed to consistently procure quality components. We are primarily concerned about viable technologies and approaches that improve rural water supply. We achieve our objectives by catalysing innovation, providing evidence-based documentation, supporting research, sharing information, influencing policies and practices, supporting efforts to build capacity and facilitating networking. RWSN is a safe space for discussion and collaboration, which enables members to share expertise, experience and resources on rural water; it is a trusted source of information for many rural water practitioners worldwide. At RWSN, our goal is to spread ideas and increase professionalism in the rural water supply sector worldwide.

Executive Committee partners

We encourage the RWSN members, non-profit organizations, bloggers, companies news media, and the like to share RWSN talks, films and webinar recordings that are open for distribution, through social media, other platforms and public events. While sharing ideas openly is a big part of who we are, we do license our content under certain conditions listed below. RWSN has joined Agenda for Change as a Strategic Ally, and they have joined RWSN as a partner network. Established in May 2015, Agenda for Change is a collaboration of like-minded organizations (“Members”) that have adopted a set of common principles and approaches.

Executive steering committee

The RWSN networking activities focus on rural people most in need of safe access to drinking water, which means its geographic focus by default is developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. However, in principle anyone living in a rural area anywhere in the world could benefit from the network’s activities. Find out how you or your organisation can get involved in RWSN activities for rural water practitioners and organisations around the world. Our vision is of a world in which all rural people have access to a sustainable and reliable water supply which can be effectively managed to provide sufficient, affordable and safe water within a reasonable distance of the home. RWSN aims to bridge the gap between academic research, policy and practice and to encourage evidence-based decision-making, and decision-based evidence making..

Since 2013, RWSN has been a knowledge broker for the UPGro programme on Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor, as well as for the REACH Programme. The terms of use outlined on this page govern our relationship with users who visit or interact with rural-water-supply.net. This website was developed for interactive public use, it is not an official Swiss Government website, and therefore, does not necessarily state or reflect the views or opinions of RWSN, Skat Foundation or its governing partners. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Agreement or to modify any features RWSN Forum of its Services at any time. All RWSN materials are freely available following the open-source concept for capacity development and non-profit use, so long as proper acknowledgement of the source is made when used. Users should always give credit in citations to the original author, source and copyright holder.

The scope has moved far beyond handpump technology to encompass a more holistic and integrated approach to improving rural water services as part of the wider Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights. The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) is a global, multi-stakeholder network focused on achieving universal access to safe, affordable drinking water for all rural people worldwide. Established in 1992 as the Handpump Technology Network (HTN),12 the organization originally concentrated on the development and maintenance of handpump technologies. Over time, it expanded its scope to address broader rural water supply issues, and in 2004, it was rebranded as RWSN.3 The network has no legal structure and instead is a loose collaboration.