The Community-led Accelerated WASH COWASH IV (COWASH IV) is a bilateral project working to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in eight regions of Ethiopia. It is funded by the Governments of Ethiopia and Finland. It is implemented by the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy in collaboration with the Ministries of Education, Health, and Finance as well as regional WASH partners.
Improved public health and well being, social development and climate resilience in the communities of rural Ethiopia.
Increasing the sustainable provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene in 104 rural woredas.
Build the capacity of WASH stakeholders. including community members, government officials. and service providers
Provide inclusive, increased. sustained. safe and climate resilient community Water supplies
Improve access and usage of household sanitation and hygine
Improve inclusive water and sanitation supply( access) in health and school centers (Institutional WASH)
Promote social and behavior change for good WASH practices
At the heart of the project, is the Federal Technical Assistance Team (FTAT). The FTAT provides the support needed to implement all aspects of the project in an efficient manner and leads the training and knowledge sharing process.
Communication and Dissemination Specialist
Yeshi leads the effort to disseminate COWASH IV knowledge and information to project stakeholders and communities including the writing of case stories, news articles, brochures and presentations and facilitates experience sharing visits, both inside and outside of Ethiopia.
Chief Technical Adviser
Neil is the Chief Technical Advisor for COWASH IV and has the prime responsibility for liaising and coordinating with all COWASH IV stakeholders, ensuring the timely delivery of training and community support, progress reporting, and facilitating the project decision making processes.
CMP Specialist
Yohannes has the prime responsibility for the design, implementation and scaling up of the Community Managed Project (CMP) approach which is one of the key rural water supply implementation modalities in Ethiopia.
Climate and Environment Risk and Water Safety Specialist
As a climate and environment risk and water safety specialist, Mussie is responsible for developing guidelines, providing training and technical support on all project matters related to the mitigation of climate change risk.
Behaviour Change Specialist
Ebsa leads the development, execution and monitoring of strategic and result-oriented approaches for Social and Behavioural Change activities in the COWASH IV project.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist
Abebaw focuses on the development of the project’s monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems including capacitating the stakeholders, coordinating the implementation of the systems and preparing result-based performance reports of the project interventions.
SME, MFI Procurement and Financial Reporting Specialist
Mulatie’s areas of expertise include entrepreneurship development, enterprise establishment and financial inclusion. He leads the COWASH IV market–based sanitation and financial access creation activities to support the improvement of household latrines.
Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist
Firewoyni is responsible for integrating gender equality, disability inclusion, and social equity throughout the project's activities. She provides technical guidance, capacity building, and monitoring to ensure WASH activities are inclusive and responsive to the needs of women, girls, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups. She also supports the development and scaling of gender and inclusion pilots, including menstrual hygiene management and gender-sensitive WASH training across all project regions.
Development Advisor
Pietari has joined the COWASH IV team as part of the Government of Finland's Young Professional Development Programme. He is responsible for coordinating project collaborations to ensure sustainable WASH and nutrition integration. Pietari’s work also involves diverse tasks contributing to the project's development results, primarily focusing on capacity building and gender inclusion, as well as risk mitigation.
WASH Financial Access and Sanitation Specialist
Ermiyas leads the project's efforts to address financial gaps in sanitation and empower communities to build their own household sanitation facilities. His work focuses on enabling communities to take ownership of their sanitation needs through sustainable financial solutions and capacity building.
Office Management Assistant
Bertukan manages administrative and financial workflows, as well as the logistical coordination that keeps the project moving forward. She is responsible for maintaining project assets and documentation, overseeing outsourced services and facility maintenance, managing financial reporting and procurement, and ensuring the smooth day-to-day operation of the office.
The bilateral relations between Ethiopia and Finland date back to July 17, 1959. The two countries cooperate in the areas of economic development, water, and education. Their cooperation on the Ethiopian water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector began in 1994 with the Rural Water Supply and Environmental Program in the Amhara Region. The program was successfully implemented over the following 17 years, in four phases, up to 2011. In parallel, cooperation was expanded to include the FinnWASH project which addressed sector needs in five districts of Benishangul-Gumuz over the period 2008 to 2015.
The Community-led Accelerated WASH (COWASH) project was launched in 2011 and initially focused on the rural sector in Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples and Tigray Regions. The first phase was implemented from 2011 to 2014, the second phase from 2014 to 2016 and the third phase from 2016 to July 2021. These first three phases of COWASH provided rural communities with over 19,000 water points, institutional facilities and rehabilitated schemes benefiting almost five million rural inhabitants.
The Community-led Accelerated WASH IV (COWASH IV) is building upon the work of the three earlier phases of COWASH and focuses on the achievement of targets through the establishment of an enabling environment and the implementation of community managed project (CMP) interventions. Compared to the previous phases, COWASH IV is working in an expanded project area and now covers 104 Woredas in 34 zones of eight Ethiopian Administrative Regions (Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia, Central Ethiopia, Sidama, South Ethiopia, South-west Ethiopia Peoples and Tigray).