Earth Water People consultants have a unique range of skills and experience in Australia and the Pacific, combining scientific technical expertise with skills and experience in communication for social change and development, community engagement and social impact as well as training. 

EWP consultants have worked in water supply and sustainable water management as well as communication for development and social change across many different levels- from working with international agencies and national government on climate change adaptation, to working with the national water utility on urban water supply, working with international NGOs and government on rural water supply projects.

EWP works closely with partners and communities to deliver projects that suit the local context. We work to strengthen and build upon existing knowledge, skills and expertise, ensuring that projects and programs can be socially and environmentally sustainable. 

Current projects

FISH4ACP project promoting job opportunities in sustainable fisheries to women and youth in the Marshall Islands

Earth Water People are working with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on their project Fish4ACP. Dr Samantha Kies-Ryan is currently leading the Marshall Islands communications campaign for FISH4ACP, which involves creating communications materials such as films, posters and flyers, as well as participatory events for youth and industry. FISH4ACP aims to tackle some of the underlying challenges in building sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. These include low economic performance, limited market access and poor social and environmental sustainability.

Research Innovation and Collaboration Exchange

Dr Samantha Kies-Ryan is currently a Research Fellow at the East West Center, in Honolulu, USA. This is focussed on creative and innovative approaches to working with communities to address water security in the Pacific. This will result in a research and innovation symposium in 2024 and publication in Asia Pacific Issues.

PAST PROJECTS

Marshall Islands National Focal Point, Pacific Resilience Meeting

We worked with Pacific Islands Forum, Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Greenhouse Studios to organise the Marshall Islands event for the Pacific Resilience Meeting for the Pacific Islands Forum to be held from 11-13 October. We hosted and organised the Marshall Islands event for the Pacific Resilience Meeting for the Pacific Islands Forum to be held in person and online from 11-13 October.

Communication Strategy and Advocacy Advisor on the UNDP Deep Dive climate change adaptation project

We advised UNDP’s Deep Dive project in the Marshall Islands on their communication and visibility strategy to raise awareness at the community level of regional and national efforts to combat climate change in the Marshall Islands, while also raising visibility around program efforts and impact at the broader level.

Water for Women Innovation & Impact Research Project

Earth Water People is partnering with Plan International to deliver their research project, Community-to-catchment planning for inclusive, climate-resilient WASH systems in Solomon Islands. Samantha was the Technical Lead in-country, working with International Water Centre, Solomon Islands and Live and Learn to apply some of the dialogical processes that came out of her Doctoral participatory action research project at QUT.

Klin Wata Helti Laef (Clean Water, Healthy Life) women’s social enterprise

Earth Water People is partnering with Mere Care Pty Ltd, a Solomon Islands company working in women’s preventative health, to undertake a Technology Applicability Study to assess the feasibility of a women’s social enterprise venture in the Solomon Islands. This social enterprise seeks to engage grassroots women entrepreneurs (women who already make and sell products in the community) to make, sell, repair and maintain household water filtration systems, empowering women to take charge of water quality and hygiene in their home, which is particularly important as Honiara city faces the challenges of COVID 19. The Technology Applicability Study has been undertaken to understand the suitability of this WASH technology in the Solomon Islands context, and its ability to scale.

Less Container Load (LCL) Export Market Access Project

Earth Water People is partnering with Uenisu'unu Agribusiness Group and Common Code to undertake the communication and social impact side of the Less Container Load (LCL) Export Market Access Project in the Solomon Islands. This includes the development of a technological platform solution to enable small to medium cacao farmers and consolidators in Guadalcanal to share space and logistics costs to export to international markets. EWP developed the Monitoring Learning and Evaluation framework and is undertaking the evaluation for the project to communicate social impact for this innovative pilot initiative.

Enhancing water-food security and climate resilience in volcanic island countries of the Pacific 

Earth Water People are working with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) on the United Nations Global Environment Fund project proposal for the Enhancing water-food security and climate resilience in volcanic island countries of the Pacific. This includes stakeholder engagement and consultation to inform the project design and GESI Action Plan for the broader multi-year regional scale project. This project seeks to enhance water and food security and climate resilience, sustain ecosystem services, and relieve pressure on over-exploited coastal aquifers by expanding and assessing the role of volcanic aquifers and by introducing sound groundwater governance frameworks in selected volcanic island states of the Pacific.

Urban Groundwater Monitoring and Assessments in Honiara

40% of Honiara’s groundwater comes from groundwater bores, with plans to increase the coverage of population being supplied by groundwater from 60% to 90% by 2050. EWP worked with the national water utility, Solomon Water, to institute a groundwater monitoring program to assess current groundwater yields and capacity and to undertake groundwater assessment of potential bore sites to supply current and future water demands for the city. This has included training of staff on ongoing water monitoring and maintenance. 

An on-ramp to the new digital economy in the Solomon Islands

EWP partnered with Hitnet, Field Ready and Further Arts on this project to deliver two wifi media kiosks to two sites in the Solomon Islands. Earth Water People is working on the Content Development, Community Engagement and Social Impact for this project. Two project sites have been chosen for this pilot- Barana, Guadalcanal at the Barana Community Nature and Heritage Park and Honiara, Guadalcanal at the Panatina campus at the Distance and Flexible Learning Unit of the Solomon Islands National University.

Technical WASH Adviser in Malaita and Guadalcanal

Working with Caritas Australia in the Solomon Islands, we undertook specific short-term water supply projects between 2016 and 2018.  We designed water supplies for two schools with groundwater bore sources in Malaita and Guadalcanal. This included planning and supervising the installation of a 63 m deep pump – the first of its kind for Solomon Islands. We worked on strategies to improve engagement and participation of school staff and students in the construction and ongoing management of the two water supply systems. We also conducted field training with Caritas staff and others around WASH project management and technical water supply assessment methods and provided technical advice to Caritas management on future direction of their national WASH program.

Water Resource Assessments for Climate Change Adaptation

As part of the Solomon Islands Water Sector Adaptation Project (SIWSAP), EWP worked with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Solomon Islands Government to undertake water resource assessments in 6 sites across the Solomon Islands, from major tourist towns to small coral atolls. These assessments were used to inform climate change vulnerability assessments and to plan and implement climate change adaptation measures in these communities. These actions aimed to protect the communities’ water sources in the face of possible climate change impacts such as droughts, sea level rise and variable rain patterns now and into the future. This project included training of Government staff in groundwater resource assessment methodologies.