CAWST’s Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) Knowledge Base is an interactive, user-friendly, web-based resource centre and mobile app which provides access to open content downloadable HWTS education and training resources with most of the resources available in English, Spanish and French, adapted for multiple world regions and contexts. It is available at no cost to users, putting technical HWTS expertise within reach of water, sanitation and hygiene practitioners in low- to middle-income countries around the world.

Users can obtain practical, useful information on context-appropriate point-of-use water treatment technologies, approaches and modes of implementation and also share their experiences. The platform builds their capacity to promote correct, consistent and sustained use of these technologies in households and communities to improve health outcomes.

To optimize the availability of this information, the HWTS Knowledge Base is available online and is also accessible to those working in areas without connectivity with the launch of the HWTS Knowledge Base off-line first mobile app. Country Focus pages provide information on the enabling environment for HWTS in specific countries.

The platform has a significant global reach with over 29,000 unique users from 200 countries and territories. The platform is accessed by over 4,000 users monthly and has garnered recognition from leading advisors in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector.

https://www.hwts.info/

• International

• Youth
• Women
• Remote and rural communities
• Individual and groups from civil society organisations, government agencies and micro entrepreneurs who serve vulnerable populations

The Knowledge Base is a highly replicable concept. CAWST has another platform, the BioSand Filter Knowledge Base (https://www.biosandfilters.info/) which is designed along similar lines to the HWTS Knowledge Base.

The HWTS Knowledge Base can be expanded or replicated to cover more topics and serve other audiences. The utility of this kind of platform as a technical resource is not limited to the water, sanitation and hygiene sector but can be adapted to other sector-specific themes in humanitarian and development work, for example health.

As the Knowledge Base gets populated with more content, and gets shared amongst water, sanitation and hygiene practitioners, it will fill the information gap in point-of-use HWTS implementation in different contexts. Its availability as an offline-first mobile application, allowing access without internet connection enhances its utility and convenience to a broader audience.

CAWST is committed to updating and moderating the content over the long term so that it remains relevant and up-to-date.

The HWTS Knowledge base promotes sustainable development by promoting inclusion and equity in access to information and knowledge (for example, it provides technical information to practitioners who lack formal education but are capable of taking action). It utilizes connectivity and digital technological advances to mitigate social, economic, geographic, and gender-based barriers that prevent the flow of information and sharing of technical expertise that is crucial to community empowerment and development. The HWTS Knowledge Base reduces gender inequity by giving female water, sanitation and hygiene practitioners equal access to technical expertise. This builds their capacity, increases their participation and empowers them to add value and contribute meaningfully to decision-making in HWTS projects. The HWTS Knowledge Base provides free access to users and those who are unable to afford other resources can access the technical expertise needed to do their work effectively. The remote nature of the platform reduces inherent bias enabling equality and inclusion among water, sanitation and hygiene practitioners. Knowledge transferred to water, sanitation and hygiene practitioners through this platform will ultimately have a positive impact on marginalized communities. CAWST provides remote online support to help practitioners make use of the information on the knowledge base.