Woman Water Champion, Rose Wamalwa

Meet Rose Wamalwa. Rose is one of ten women selected as one of Global Women’s Water Initiative Fellowship Program for 2011. GWWI launched this program in response to the need for more women to be actively participating at every level of the water and sanitation sector. GWWI Fellowship Program creates a network of support by linking grassroots women with African and International women working in the environmental, health, water and/or public sector. The goal of the Fellowship program is two fold: 1) to offer hands-on technology construction, project planning and field training for graduate students and/or women professionals in the water and sanitation sectors and 2) to create support teams for the grassroots women teams selected to go through our women and water training program. Learn more about our women and water training program here. By expanding the Fellows’ opportunities to deepen their skills as trainers and facilitators, GWWI’s ultimate goal is to support the Fellows to professionalize their work, so they can get paid for their expertise providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) related services to their communities and beyond.

In the summer of 2011, Rose and the other Fellows participated in a rigorous training program which included leadership development, WASH education, water testing, action planning and hands-on construction of toilets, rainwater harvesting system, and various water treatments. She was assigned grassroots women’s teams to provide support in planning, development and implementation of technologies and water projects in their communities.  Rose is in collaboration with grassroots teams in Kenya and Tanzania supporting them to build technologies, plan holistic strategies, and design sustainable projects. Because of this experience, Rose has since opened her own organization called Women in Water and Natural Resources Conservation which will offer trainings to grassroots women in Western Kenya.