1. Partner Exchange Meeting 2013
Environmental Sustainability Event and
10year Celebration
in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
December 10, 2013 to December 12, 2013
Background
Since RAIN Foundation was set up in 2003 the focus of our programme has been twofold: on the one hand on
implementation of rain water harvesting (RWH) projects to provide safe drinking water and on the other hand on
the setup of Rainwater Harvesting Capacity Centres (RHCC) – centres that coordinate the on-the-ground
implementation and act as knowledge hub and lobby and advocacy partner. RAIN’s ambition is to mainstream
RWH and to disseminate knowledge and experiences with RWH. Since 2003, RAIN has been active in Senegal,
Burkina Faso, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Nepal. In the past years, RAIN has organized yearly RHCC
meetings to discuss opportunities for upscaling of its activities in country programmes and to exchange
experiences and knowledge between the different countries.
Now, ten years after the start of RAIN Foundation, the scope of our work has shifted considerably: from
concentrating on water for drinking water mostly on household level, we have gradually moved towards Multiple
Use Services (MUS) and towards a catchment perspective (3R) with an environmental sustainability focus. Our
current focus is on the integrated use and management of the rainwater potential within a landscape for
domestic and productive use as well as restoration of the natural environment. Our way of working also evolved:
from managing implementation programmes we are now more focused on mobilising and strengthening a range
of existing rainwater harvesting networks to undertake collective action and on providing a knowledge hub via
rain4food.net. This exchange platform incites people from all sectors to come together, learn and share good
practices of RWH.
We believe that in the past decade a basis has been created for RWH to be taken to the next level and that our
current efforts will help boost the global RWH movement. Strategic partnerships now need to be forged to
facilitate water harvesting in all its dimensions.
Objective
The yearly RHCC meetings have been very valuable in terms of improving ourselves at what we are doing in the
countries and also in terms of creating a team spirit between RAIN PMU and RHCC’s from all over the world.
However these RHCC meetings are always, by character, rather inward looking: focused on local implementation
by RAIN´s partner network and confined by donor related scope limitations. This year, we will limit the internal
meeting to half a day in which internal programme issues with our RHCCs and main partners will be discussed.
This meeting is for RAIN partners only.
This year, instead of having a regular RHCC meeting, we want to broaden our focus. The objective of the Partner
Exchange Meeting 2013 is to bring together strategic partners from out of our global network to see how we
can jointly further upscale rainwater harvesting.

2. During two days the discussion will be dedicated to:
o
o
o
o
Upscaling water retention, reuse and recharge (3R) at catchment level to creates a win-win situation in terms of
both environment and socio-economic wellbeing.
Developing a RWH programme which boosts business development while it ensures at the same time
environmentally and socially sound practices.
Moving from NGO driven programmes to Public Private Partnerships.
Active and open knowledge sharing on rainwater harvesting.
The invited strategic partners to the Partner Exchange Meeting 2013 (PEM2013) have a strong interest in
rainwater harvesting in combination with environmental sustainability, WASH, food security and business
development and all have different areas of expertise within this realm. Some are active on a national level and
are more practical field oriented while others are active on an international or more thematic level. Bringing
together these different perspectives on the common goal of sustainably upscaling rainwater harvesting for water
and food security and environmental protection will inspire us all to develop innovative and positive ideas to
reach that aspiration.
During the PEM2013, we will strive for practical execution with quick wins at hand. Next to developing a shared
strategy, we will also develop a joint agenda and activity plan 2014 -2015.
On Thursday, the participants will join and be inspired by an excursion to a Dutch example of RWH. In the
evening, an Environmental Sustainability Event is organised by RAIN Foundation, in collaboration with the Dutch
WASH Alliance (www.washalliance.nl) and with Pakhuis de Zwijger, platform for creation and innovation
(www.dezwijger.nl). This event will be an interactive debate, open to the large public, on environmental
sustainability of water projects, shedding light on water from a circular economy perspective and on reverse
innovation. Some of the participants of the PEM2013 will be asked to participate actively during this E-event, by
showcasing their experiences as examples for Amsterdam or by being part of a panel.
The PEM2013 will be closed with the celebration of RAIN’s 10-year anniversary, celebrating a past decade of
achievements and a coming decade of aspiration!
Agenda outline
December 10, 2013
@RAIN Office
December 11, 2013
@RAIN Office
09.00 - 12.30:
part1 PEM2013
Lunch included
09.00 - 12.30:
part3 PEM2013
Lunch included
13.00 - 17.30:
part2 PEM2013
13.00 - 17.30:
part4 PEM2013
Evening: free
(dinner own choice and expenses)
Evening: free
(dinner own choice and expenses)
December 12, 2013
@Polderdak
@Pakhuis de Zwijger
09.00 - 13.30:
excursion
13.30 - 19.00:
free/no programme
19.00 - 22.00:
Environmental Sustainability Event
22.00 – 01.00: RAIN 10 year party

3. Participants
#
country
organisation
keywords
Who
Position
web
1 Burkina
Faso
VDS
Abdouramane Diallo
Program
Manager
http://vds-burkina.net
2 Nepal
BSP Nepal
/RHCC
Indira Shakya
3 Kenya
SASOL
Food security. RWH.
Natural resource
management.
Lobby, RWH policy
development, knowledge
exchange. RWH and
biogas. RWH and
microfinance.
Sand dams
Board
www.bspnepalrhcc.org
Member BSP
Nepal;
Program
Manager RHCC
CEO
www.sasolfoundation.co.ke
4 Uganda
JESE
5 Ethiopia
Ripple
6 Mali
8 Somalia
Helvetas SI
Mali/ RHCC
ICRAF/
Searnet
RAAS
9 Burkina
Faso
iDE Burkina
Faso
10 Ethiopia
HoA-REC&N
11 Senegal
Caritas
Kaolack
12 India
Akvo Asia
Hub
13 India
Rainwater
Club
14 Nepal
Helvetas SI
Nepal
7 Kenya
1521
NL
RAIN
Mutinda Munguti
Sustainable agriculture
Teddy Twine
and natural resource
management.
Knowledge management, Deres Abdulkadir
research and capacity
development in WASH and
food security
Program
Manager
www.jese.org
CEO
www.rippleethiopia.org
WASH, RWH.
Yacouba Diallo
RWH linking and learning.
Maimbo Malesu
Rainwater harvesting
capacity development,
lobby and implementation
Enterprise development in
WASH and food security.
Rural marketing. MUS.
Regreening, landscape
restoration
Programme management
RWH, RAINCap project,
innovation
WASH Wiki. Openaid.
Mobile phone based FLOW
field monitoring. Really
Simple Reporting.
India, RWH, knowledge
sharing, innovation and
sustainability
Water Use Master Plan
and 3R.
Food security.
rainwater harvesting
Ahmed Mohamed
Abdi
Program
Manager
Programme
Coordinator
CEO
http://worldagroforestry.org/proj
ects/searnet/
www.gharainwater.org/somaliaraas/
Laurent Stravato
Country
Director
www.ideorg.org
Almaz Tadesse
Programme
Coordinator
Program
Manager
www.hoarec.org
Amitangshu Acharya
Program
Manager
www.akvo.org
Srikantaiah
Viswanath
CEO
www.rainwaterclub.org
Juerg Merz
Country
Director
http://nepal.helvetas.org
entire team
www.rainfoundation.org;
www.rain4food.net
Gilbert Sene
www.caritas-senegal.org