About Skybird

The Skybird Programme 
Innovation and collaboration in WASH for improved living conditions in East Africa 

Austrian Red Cross together with its partners embarked on an exciting 5-years (2019-2023) regional WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) capacity strengthening programme in East Africa. 

It is the overall aim of The Skybird Programme to contribute to improved living conditions – incl. health, environment and livelihood – in East Africa through increased innovation, strengthened capacities and partnerships of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) movement in WASH and related fields to enable more gender sensitive and effective WASH service delivery. 

Geographic programme priorities: The Skybird Programme targets the East African region, with specific focus on Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Somalia and Uganda.

Besides the geographical focus of the programme itself, our network aims to connect practitioners globally, to share their experiences and expertise (join the network tools here). Our network offers a place to connect with like-minded people, get to know each other, talk about wins and challenges and hopefully to spark innovation in WASH and related fields. 

What are those related fields?

Within the Skybird Programme we defined related fields as follows:

1. Gender, diversity and inclusion 

2. Food security, nutrition and livelihood 

3. Digitalisation 

4. CTP and marked-based interventions 

5. Urban WASH 

6. Climate change and green energy 

7. Community engagement and accountability 

Please note that those fields are not ranked in any way. The network is of course also open to discuss other trends in and outside of East Africa but will initially remain focused on the Programme relevant areas above. 

The target groups

Main beneficiaries of the strengthened culture of knowledge and experience sharing are RCRC staff and volunteers as well as their partners working in WASH or more generally in the water-energy-food Nexus. Informal learning by first-hand experience (micro-projects), learning from others (webinars, workshops, exchange visits) will be fostered and encouraged through multiple online communication tools for the Skybird WASH Network.