Here’s the husband and wife team that’s taking Yemen’s water sector by storm.

Rowyan is the brainchild of hydrogeologist Dr Michael Klingler, who runs the Integrated Water Resources Management Project for German development organization GTZ. Dr Klinger’s team worked closely with Yemen’s National Water Resources Authority to bring the cartoon characters to life and build a comprehensive national awareness strategy, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme.

Rowyan emerged as an idea in 2006. The first images were hand-drawn by Mohammed as-Shaibani, a satirical newspaper cartoonist. Rowyan started off standing on his own two feet, wearing a traditional curved dagger favoured by the northern tribes. But his legs were abandoned in later drafts, and the jambiyya was removed as a northern symbol that might alienate residents of the south. Rowyan and his wife, Rowyana, are now drawn and designed on a computer.

“Rowyan needs to be acceptable throughout Yemeni society,” says Dr Klinger. “We wanted to create a personality who could speak for himself, and articulate a sensitive issue in a way that people would find amusing.”

Rowyan was launched on World Water Day – March 22 – in 2007. Ten life-size Rowyan puppets went wandering through the crowds and “the response was amazing,” says Danae Issa, communications officer at NWRA. “People had never seen anything like it before.”

Dr Klinger’s team are now collaborating with Danae and others at NWRA to develop the Rowyan concept. There are even proposals for Rowyan to have his own radio show.

But GTZ staff are also focusing on practical initiatives to improve drinking water supplies. They have introduced a cheap, portable water filter, based on a model used in Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch. A locally-produced ceramic pot sits on the rim of a plastic bucket – the clay is impregnated with colloidal silver, which kills water-born bacteria as it drips through the ceramic pores.

The product retails at 4,500 rials ($22) from a private entrepreneur who produces several thousand filters a month.