The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), together with Emory University and others have recommended inclusion of the IWISE-4 Scale in global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) monitoring efforts under Sustainable Development Goal 6 because of its ability to track gender disparities in water access and use.
Nearly ten years of WISE impact was summarized in a report launched at the Shard, with the help of a panel of esteemed guests, including Jeremie Brecheisen (Gallup), Tim Wainwright (CEO, WaterAid), Aude-Sophie Rodella (Lead Economist, World Bank), Rachael McDonnell (Deputy Director General, IWMI), Andrew Roby (FCDO), Sara Viviani (FAO), Zeina Jamaluddine (LSHTM) and Suneetha Kadiyala (LSHTM).
On World Water Day, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted an online event to discuss the value of WISE data for peace. They innovated with some excellent data visualizations of nationally representative data of water insecurity from 40 low-, middle-, and high-income countries.
Edoardo Borgomeo, a professor at the University of Cambridge signed a data-sharing agreement with the government of Nuevo Leon. The government issued this statement about the event: "This signing represents an invaluable opportunity for our Government in its fight against water insecurity; the collaboration to analyze water insecurity data will provide privileged access to the specialized expertise and knowledge of a world-renowned academic institution such as the University of Cambridge, which is one of the top five universities in the world."
The Kajiado County government will be using the WISE Scales in WASH evaluation efforts. As Dr. Leina Mpoke, Kajiado County Minister for Water, Environment, & Natural Resources put it: “WISE data can greatly assist utility managers and decision-makers to quickly understand where and when problems related to water supply or water quality are occurring. This can facilitate timely repairs, lower costs, and reduce non-revenue water as leakages can be more readily identified.”
WISE data were featured in a session at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Pavilion at COP28 in Dubai entitled “If climate change is a shark, water is its teeth: How water insecurity data can mobilize action.” The session is available to view here.
Water is the theme of World Food Day this year. The value of experiential measures of water for understanding and mitigating food insecurity and poor nutrition is being highlighted in a number of ways, including a webinar hosted by Nature Water.
The first Water Insecurity Experiences-Latin America & the Caribbean (WISE-LAC) Network newsletter has been published. Learn more about the mission and values of the network in an article published in the International Journal of Equity in Health and in this blog post. You can subscribe to the newsletter here, or send an email to WISE.LAC@ibero.mx to subscribe.
The WISE Scales were featured in a number of sessions during Stockholm World Water Week World Water Week, including a talk show about a feminist agenda for water, a closed session on inclusivity hosted by the Asian Development Bank, and an session in which the power of WISE scales for policy change was described in case studies from Mexico, Nepal, Kenya, and Australia.
In their series highlighting progress towards SDGs, the journal Nature featured the utility of the WISE Scales as a policy tool, along with some of the ways it is being used by communities around the world to measure water insecurity.
In their global report focusing on gender, the JMP called out IWISE data for their ability to reveal disparities unmeasured by household-level indicators.
In July, the WISE Scales were featured in two webinars about the pathways between water security, climate change, and mental health hosted by the University on New South Wales and others. Watch part one and part two, to learn about how climate change and water insecurity go hand in hand, directly impacting mental health.
On July 4, 2023 five members of the Water Insecurity Experiences Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (WISE-LAC) were invited to the Palace of the Governor of Nuevo León to sign a commitment to join the WISE-LAC network and ameliorate water insecurity in their state. The government of Nuevo León demonstrates their role as a thought leader in the measurement and mitigation of water insecurity by adding the HWISE to their routine household surveys of social programs.
Researchers at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP) led a paper validating the HWISE scale in Mexico, based on data from the large National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT).
Sera Young spoke at the Foreign Policy Climate Summit about her research on water insecurity. "I would argue that water insecurity has been invisible for a long time because we haven't been measuring it at the level of the human," she said.
The WISE Scales were featured in several sessions inside UN Headquarters for the UN Water meeting. Watch a video of the “Global to Local Water Security Assessment” session.
The WISE scales are making an appearance in Australia. Community groups are using the WISE Scales to measure disparities in water insecurity within Australia, and at the Next Water Australia meeting there was great interest in using the scales throughout the country.
