The Institute of Water and Sanitation Development (IWSD) promotes applied and academic research meant to support decision-making and policy formulation in the water and sanitation sector. The IWSD has and continues to carry out research within the focus areas of water quality, poverty, urban sanitation, (IWRM), gender and information dissemination and utilisation. It is also heavily involved in building research capacity among regional institutions and individuals and in promoting the utilisation of research results within the stated focus areas.
The three-year Duckweed project funded by NORAD and involved local authorities of Gutu Rural District Council (RDC), Masvingo RDC and Harare municipality.
This project was funded under the Water Research Fund for Southern Africa seeking to contribute towards improving the welfare of poor rural and urban households.
This project was conducted in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It was implemented by IWSD, CSIR in South Africa, and University of Southampton in the UK.
The project was supported by CIDA and its purpose was to put in place a gender sensitive sanitation technology and provide a supportive psychosocial environment in the school system in Zimbabwe.
This was a regional project piloted in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The project investigated the relationship between water quality at the point of use and health outcomes.
The project managed to document traditional rainwater harvesting techniques and assisted farmers practicing rainwater harvesting with construction of tanks and inputs such as open pollinated yellow winter and summer maize seed.