In April 2021, ECODIT successfully closed out the five-year $15 million USAID Water Communications and Knowledge Management (CKM) Project. Since 2015, Water CKM has been supporting USAID’s Center for Water (formerly Water Office) and its partners to increase internal and external water sector program knowledge sharing and data collection, and to enhance communication and outreach to increase awareness of USAID water program activities and results. The project reached millions of people and increased water sector knowledge through original stories, case studies, evaluations, podcasts, social media, photo essays, and much more. 

Water CKM helped raise the profile of USAID’s water programming. Accomplishments included managing the @USAIDWater Twitter account, helping it more than triple its followers; publishing 142 articles and photo stories that garnered more than 114,000 views; and launching the Global Waters Radio podcast series. This pioneering series highlighted USAID’s thought leadership and technical expertise on a variety of topics including water security, WASH financing, sustainable sanitation, handwashing hygiene, and COVID-19, and brought in listeners from 120 countries.

One of the project’s top achievements was building the globalwaters.org platform. This website contains information on past and current USAID water projects, USAID water priority countries, and a host of resources including webinar recordings, reports, factsheets, blogs, and more. It became a recognized and sought-after platform among USAID water, sanitation, and hygiene and water resources management (WASH/WRM) practitioners, partners, and stakeholders for conveying and sharing information.  The project also completed a number of activities which facilitated knowledge sharing and learning among USAID stakeholders, including conducting a series of ex-post evaluations of USAID water projects, creating a database of all USAID water projects, producing a newsletter featuring the latest water research, and working with more than 20 partner organizations to produce 25 webinars on cutting-edge water topics with thousands of attendees. Through activities such as these, the project helped stakeholders engage with each other, learn from each other’s experiences, and work more effectively. 

“ECODIT is proud of its partnership with USAID on Water CKM,” said ECODIT President Joseph Karam. “The project’s impact will be felt for years to come as its tools and resources go on to inform  USAID and its partners’ work in the water sector.”

ECODIT is a U.S.-based small business with 27 years of experience working with governments, businesses and local communities to advance environmentally and socially responsible development in more than 50 countries. To learn more about ECODIT, visit www.ecodit.com and follow the firm’s social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.