Building Resilience Field Manual

This field manual offers a practical, condensed guide to coordinating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services with health and nutrition interventions during humanitarian emergencies. Designed for use in the field, it distills the core coordination frameworks from the full guidelines into an accessible, action-oriented resource for frontline practitioners and local officials. Structured around four interconnected domains, stakeholder coordination, emergency WASH actions, resilience actions, and monitoring and evaluation, the manual provides clear, step-by-step guidance for integrating WASH with health and nutrition responses at both national and community levels. It prioritises institutional leadership from humanitarian actors, ministry staff, and local teams with the tools they need to act quickly and effectively. The manual covers the critical window from immediate life-saving actions through to early resilience-building measures, helping teams move seamlessly from rapid response to sustainable outcomes. Practical tools, checklists, and real-world examples make it easy to apply in fast-moving, complex crisis contexts, including those shaped by climate change, conflict, and disease outbreaks. Compact and easy to use in the field, this manual is an essential resource for WASH, health, and nutrition stakeholders, as well as other practitioners under pressure to deliver coordinated, effective emergency responses. Also available from Practical Action Publishing: The full comprehensive guide - Ideal for policymakers, program designers, and coordination leads.

Nikolas Sorensen is the lead consultant for Initiative Six with the WASH Road Map. He has over 10 years of experience in WASH, humanitarian response, and global health programming, with a focus on resilience-building, sustainability, and innovative integration. He holds an MA in international Development studies from George Washington University and an MBA from Utah State University.

Dr. Marielle Snel is currently the Head of WASH with Solidarités International in Aden, Yemen, bringing more than 25 years of experience in humanitarian and development WASH work, with a focus on climate-resilient programming, public health, and coordination across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She holds a PhD from the University of Sussex and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford.

James Ray is a global WASH practitioner with more than 20 years of experience providing strategic leadership in complex public health and humanitarian emergencies. He is a seasoned professional with a distinguished record in the design, implementation, and monitoring of emergency response and disaster‑relief programs. James holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in civil engineering, specializing in water and wastewater treatment.

Syed Yasir Ahmad is a Global WASH practitioner who has led emergency responses and public health programmes in some of the world’s most complex crises. With over two decades of field and leadership experience across 30+ countries, he focuses on translating strategy into practical, on-the-ground impact. He holds an MSc in Water and Waste Engineering from Loughborough University.