GCRF Global Health and Clean Water Network

Summary
The GCRF Health, Polluted Water and Soils Network of excellence is focused on reducing health problems relating to water and soil pollution in climate-stressed, rural and deprived urban communities in Kenya, Jamaica and Grenada. We aim to achieve this by focusing on affordable and innovative technological and sociological solutions to improve access to clean water, healthy and productive soils and safe, nutritious foods. The network is based on a One Health interdisciplinary, approach, with a growing membership drawn from academic researchers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, health and environmental professionals, government officials, science policy diplomats, community leaders, and civil society and a commitment to grow. Our goal is to build a network of committed individuals, who will work together to solve problems together and will get better at getting things done.

Network members will engage in a two-year programme of innovative, interconnected activities, designed to facilitate and enrich the exchange of knowledge, ideas and praxis, build capacity, and help early and mid-career academic participants to connect with the wider community and forge long-lasting, interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships. The activities include a series "big-tent" settings including:
country-based Knowledge Networks in which entrepreneurs and business will be encouraged to bring new ideas and thinking about social enterprise and for-profit schemes into the network on how to deliver change;
Round-tables for diverse groups to "think out of my box" and develop pathways for realising solutions;
on-line Communities of Practice to enable everyone to gain a strong understanding of the issues, evidence and potential solutions through moderated conversations;
Workshops and co-laboratories, that will give members and stakeholders the opportunity to co-design innovative ways to improve health through affordable and innovative technological and sociological solutions and improved access to clean water and soils;
Demonstration activities and Outreach in local communities to heighten awareness of impacts on health from polluted water and soils and solutions;
two Global Digital Conferences which will include on-line presentations, chat groups, interactive sessions, and hackathons, to give network members the opportunity to demonstrate how different issues are being tackled;
open access e-learning courses and training webinars on key issues leading to University certification; and
an International conference to be held at the Eden Centre, UK to present the outcomes and ideas from the network, consolidate new collaborations and future actions.

Some of the measurable outcomes will include improved health in selected communities Grenada, Jamaica and Kenya through greater access to clean water, soils and safe, nutritious foods; lasting partnerships and interdisciplinary collaborations able to exploit opportunities for joint research proposals, business propositions and social enterprise; and increased skills and capacities to solve challenges linked to health, climate change and pollution through collaborative and participatory methods. The results of the network's activities will be disseminated widely through the network's website, social media and academic publications, and shared in detail with the UKRI and the Global Challenge Leaders.

The hallmarks of success will be a network that has developed its own compass for working with complexity, enjoys "big-tent settings for joined-up action", and whose membership gets better at getting things done by finding power and using it.

Who might benefit from this network?
People living in low-and middle-income countries carry a heavy burden of pollution-related illnesses and disease. At the core is a lack of access to clean water and soils. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 42 percent of the population still has no access to safe or basic services for managed drinking water, whilst in Latin America and the Caribbean, 31 percent have only basic services and 14 per cent no services at all. Most of the health problems have multi-factorial causes that go beyond simple exposure to pollutants and diseases-agents; these include malnutrition, poverty, inequality, lack of land rights, gender and a range of social stigma. To address these issues, a network of excellence will be established to bring together academic researchers from multiple disciplines and a wide diversity of stakeholders from civil society, business, government, third sector organisations, youth and under-represented, vulnerable groups from Kenya, Jamaica and Grenada, three middle income countries situated in regions where the pollution-related health problems are being exacerbated by climate change. Through the programme of activities network members will be encouraged to exchange ideas and praxis on affordable, innovative technologies and approaches for water and wastewater treatment processes, land and water management practices, basic services and access rights to help improve the health of rural and deprived urban communities.
Beneficiaries include network members and stakeholders in the three countries and UK, specifically:
Academic researchers especially women and those who are early and mid-career, coming from the fields of medicine and veterinary science, environmental science, engineering and technology and social sciences and interested in interdisciplinary research on the topic of environment and health.
Government officials and policy-makers at local and national levels
Business leaders and Entrepreneurs in the three countries and their counterparts in the UK
Third sector organisations in the three countries involved in sustainable development
Civil society, including youth, community leaders and under-represented groups where they play an important role in championing ways to improve health and environment and to input community views and those of under-represented groups into government policies and social initiatives.
Local communities in the selected locations in three countries playing an important role in articulating to officials and local leaders the issues and devising practical solutions.

How might they benefit from the network's activities?
All network members and stakeholders engaged in the programme of activities will benefit from the network by i) extending each other's knowledge of health problems relating to pollution, ii) increasing the ability to create solutions and act, and iii) building new collaborations and partnerships to work jointly on these issues in the future.
Academic researchers will especially benefit from: the Workshops and co-laboratories, Round-Tables, Communities of Practice as these will help broaden their research networks; the e-learning courses and joint training seminars; publishing joint findings and reports; participating in meetings of linked networks of academics, national academies and professional bodies; and having the opportunity to create new collaborations and partnerships for future funding openings.
Government and policy-makers, by having access to the latest policy evidence an thinking
Business, Entrepreneurs and Third Sector through the Knowledge Networks which will enhance their catalytic roles in development and social enterprise
Civil society, by gaining a "voice" in the development of solutions
Local communities through Demonstration activities and becoming showcases for solutions