Right2Grow scolarship program

The Global Mutual Capacity Development (MCD) team of the Right2Grow Alliance has launched the first Right2Grow Scholarship program with the objective to support technical capacity strengthening of Right2Grow country partners, preferably local civil society representatives, by supporting their participation in international events, conferences, trainings & internships. The call was launched in early Frebruary 2022 and it was open for Right2Grow partners from six programme countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan and Uganda. We have received over 30 applications so far and four local civil society partners have been awarded: AMR, AJCAD, CN-CIEPA, CIDI. This way we wish to support bringing ‘local voices into the international arena,’ which is one of the core principles and aspirations of Right2Grow.

During our monthly Grow Together session, we had the privilege to hear the successful applicants who received the 2022 scholarship about their experiences in participating in international events and in networking and collaborating with colleagues from other countries.

Bertille Zoungrana, Communications, Advocacy and Public Relations Officer at AMR (Burkina Faso)

“Our objective for participating in the World Water Forum was to make voices of the community be heard. In the event we had the opportunity to express our needs: to have access to basic WASH. It was good to share knowledge and experiences with the other participants of the meeting, like Mali and Sudan. By sharing our knowledge with the participating governments, we hope to make clear that listening to communities is important and we try to influence their decision-making. I hope there will be more events like this and that we can use them to let the voice of all citizens, also minorities, be heard.”

Hellena Kasujja, Deputy Executive Director of CIDI (Uganda):

“I represented Right2Grow at the Ministers Meeting in Jakarta. We had six months preparation time. The Minister of Health and Environment did the preparations. It’s good that the ‘sanitation and water for all-discussion’ is led by government. It’s important we collaborate on reaching our shared goals: access to water, sanitation, and hygiene for all, leaving no one behind. The meeting was well visited by 67 ministers and over 320 participants. I felt it was an inclusive event; we shared experiences and shaped the commitment together. We were able to speak openly. We are committed to put communities in the driver’s seat, meetings like this can contribute to this.

Tabalaba Boureïma, Water and sanitation advocacy at CN-CIEPA/WASH (Mali)

“At the Jakarta Ministers Meeting, we had a day of mutual dialogues with all the participants, organizations, and government workers. It was a great opportunity for every country to share experiences. We also had some discussions with policymakers, about topics like WASH and sanitation services. The ceremony was interesting. With so many nationalities, institutions, partners. We all want to make life better for communities, but we also see and feel that financing is a major challenge. We had different sessions and a plenary dialogue, on topics like climate, water, and environment. On the last day we talked about different committed strategies. A more integrated approach of climate and WASH. In the end, several commitments have been made; it’s important these are lived up to.”