Transforming women’s lives: WaterAid video for International Women’s Day

“Men never come to collect water as it is a woman’s responsibility to provide water and prepare food”. Shanti Devi (35), Gopalpur Mushari, India

March 8th is International Women’s Day. WaterAid has launched a new promotional video “Transforming women’s lives” to highlight the impact their work has on women.

For more resources on women see WaterAid’s publications on Equity and Inclusion, the list of resources from the SHARE programme (search on women), the WSSCC thematic page on Gender and WASH and the latest publications on gender in the IRC WASH Library.

1st International Conference on Terra Preta Sanitation, Hamburg, Germany, 29-30 August 2013

Terra Preta soil. Photo: TUHH

This conference brings together experts from different sectors – water/sanitation, agriculture, soil, energy and health – to share experiences in the new field of Terra Preta Sanitation (TPS). TPS is being promoted as integrated sustainable solution to address poor sanitation, food insecurity, and soil degradation. It is inspired by the discovery of the anthropogenic ancient soils in the Amazon called Terra Preta.

SACOSAN-V – South Asian Conference on Sanitation, 11-13 November 2013, Kathmandu, Nepal

Heads of delegation from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will join other delegates from government, UN agencies, civil society and private sector to once again discuss the “biggest sanitation challenge in the world”.

There are around 700 million South Asians who still defecate in the open. At SACOSAN-IV held in April 2011 in Sri Lanka, South Asian ministers promised to set up a national body in each country to “coordinate sanitation and hygiene, involving all stakeholders”.

SACOSAN-V is being organised by the Nepal Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS).

The SACOSAN-V theme is: ”Sanitation for All : All for Sanitation”.

Programme outline: Public Opening (10 November), Meeting of Ministers, Technical focus sessions, Plenaries, Public sessions, Panel discussions, Declarations, Exhibitions, Field visits (14 November).

Session topics (Download Concept Paper):

Topic	Lead Country	Partner involved
Sanitation and Health	Afghanistan	UNICEF
Community Wide Sanitation and Sustainability	Bangladesh	WSP
School Sanitation	Bhutan	WHO
Reaching the Unreached	India	FANSA
Sanitation Technology and Marketing	Maldives	WHO
Media Advocacy and Sanitation	Nepal	WaterAid
Urban Sanitation	Pakistan	WaterAid
Knowledge Management and Networking	Sri Lanka	UNICEF

For more information go to: www.sacosanv.gov.np

Save Lives: Clean Your Hands – 5 May 2013

Photo: WHO

This annual global campaign on 5 May supports the World Health Organization’s (WHO) effort to improve hand hygiene in health care and thus prevent often life threatening healthcare-associated infections (HAI).

It was launched in 2009 as a follow-up to WHO’s First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care work.

Act Now! Let’s get handwashing and WASH into the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals plan

From Katie Carroll of the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing

Many of you are aware that the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be ending in 2015. Over the past two years, the United Nations and its partners have started a process to develop a post-2015 development plan. The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW) encourages you to take a few simple steps in January and February to advocate for handwashing and hygiene, along with broader WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) goals to be included in this post-2015 plan.

What You Can Do Today

The UN has set up a process called The World We Want ( to allow people all over the world to contribute their input into the post-2015 development plan. The consultative process includes the creation of a High Level Panel, over 50 national and thematic consultations, community-based discussions and a Global Online Conversation, all of which will contribute to a vision for The World We Want beyond 2015. The UN has organized the online consultations into 11 thematic areas:

• Inequalities
• Governance
• Health
• Education
• Growth and Employment
• Conflict and Fragility
• Food Security and Nutrition, Energy
• Water – http://www.worldwewant2015.org/water
• Environmental Sustainability
• Population Dynamics

36th WEDC International Conference, July 1-5, 2013, Nakuru, Kenya

Delivering Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services in an Uncertain Environment

• Dates: 1-5 July 2013,
• Location: co-hosted at Egerton University, Nakuru, Kenya

CALL FOR PAPERS AND OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

The WEDC International Conference is a comprehensive learning event, which provides continued professional development for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector professionals. 

A three-day conference programme initially facilitates the sharing of current knowledge and experiences, through presentations and debate of peer-reviewed content.

This is followed by a two-day capacity development programme, comprising quality-assured workshops designed to develop skills and knowledge in hot topic areas, which have been jointly identified with sector stakeholders.

For full details visit: http://www.wedcconference.co.uk

Download the Call for Papers here:
http://www.wedcconference.co.uk/docs/36th_Conference_Call.pdf

Submit your paper or poster through My WEDC.
https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/

IFC Announces Partnership to Increase Access to Affordable Sanitation in East Africa

Nairobi, Kenya, December 18, 2012—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to catalyze the market for improved sanitation and accelerate access to more affordable sanitation solutions for low-income households in East Africa.

The Selling Sanitation initiative, a joint project of IFC and the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, will support regional manufacturing firms to deliver low-cost sanitation products to consumer markets, with a pilot program in Kenya.

This initiative will lower market barriers, attract private investment and spur innovation by helping firms better understand consumer needs at the base of the pyramid. It will provide support to manufacturing firms to design new products, strengthen rural distribution mechanisms, and actively promote sanitation to consumers currently without access. The initiative will work closely with regional government counterparts, including the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, to create the right enabling conditions for the sanitation market.

Q&A: Making Toilets Fashionable

Q&A: Making Toilets Fashionable | Source: IPS News, Dec 10, 2012 |
Fatima Asmal-Motala interviews JACK SIM, founder of the World Toilet Organisation

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 10 2012 (IPS) – When the founder of the World Toilet Organisation Jack Sim turned 40, he literally began counting how many more days he had to live and felt a sense of urgency to do meaningful things with the remainder of his life.

Founder of the World Toilet Organisation Jack Sim says that on the African continent there has been some progress in terms of the community-led total sanitation approach. Courtesy: Meropa Communications

“Can you imagine a person coming into this world and spending his life only helping himself? When this person dies, his life has had no meaning, so why did he bother coming here?” he asks.

A successful businessman, Sim turned his attention to an area which he felt was severely neglected.

Webinar: WASH in Schools, 13 December 2012

Webinar: WASH in Schools

National Policy Changed by WASH in Schools Research

Date: Thursday 13 December 2012

Time: 14:30 – 15:30 CET (Central European Time)
19:00 – 20:00 New Delhi
16:30 – 17:30 Nairobi
08:30 – 09:30 New York

Presenters:

Mamita Bora Thakkar, UNICEF India
Brooks Keene and Jason Oyugi, CARE

Whether you like it or not, governments have a role to play in effective implementation of WASH in Schools programmes. This webinar will explore how national policy is influenced by the work of UNICEF in India and SWASH+ in Kenya.

Combining experiences in Kenya and India, the webinar aims to do three things:

• examine how UNICEF India supports the Indian government in identifying and overcoming obstacles that prevent the achievement of sustainable WASH in Schools
• explore how the SWASH+ research helped change the national policy on school WASH in Kenya
  
• provide insights into how best to track progress and results.

Register here: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/428349031

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Space is limited so please reserve your Webinar seat on time if you want to participate.

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Contact organisers

Ingeborg Krukkert, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre
Krukkert@irc.nl

Malaika Cheney-Choker, CARE USA
mcheneycoker@care.org

WASHing with Sesame Street Webinar, December 11

WASHing with Sesame Street Webinar, December 11 | Source: WASHfunders.org

Global Water Challenge and Sesame Workshop invite you to an hour-long webinar, “WASHing with Sesame Street,” to learn about an innovative opportunity to join a coalition of partners for a targeted WASH multimedia effort. 

The two organizations will be developing a global campaign to deliver key messages about WASH to millions of parents, children, and caregivers around the world.

• Tuesday, December 11^th (10AM – 11AM EST)

To join the webinar, rsvp to GlobalWaterChallenge@gmail.com by December 7^th. For more information, click here.