Last year, the World Toilet Day campaign reached 1 billion people, says World Toilet Organization (WTO) founder Jack Sim aka “Mr. Toilet”. For this year’s campaign, WTO is partnering with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). The theme is “I give a shit, do you?”
World Toilet Day is an international day of action, initiated by WTO in 2001, to break the taboo around toilets and draw attention to the global sanitation challenge.
Learning cloud gives a glimpse of the future of WASH in Asia
Which issues will sanitation and hygiene practitioners focus on in Asia? This was the question posed to the more than 50 professionals attending the 3rd Asia Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Practitioners Workshop which ends today in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Based on the above “learning cloud”, sludge management appears to be a major concern.
Mumbai, 13 October 2011, www-wsscc-global-forum.org
Chair, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and friends,
That great moral beacon of our times, Nelson Mandela, invites us to judge the importance of an issue not by how glamorous or attractive it is but by how much good it does for how many people. On that basis, sanitation is one of the most important issues in the world. As our Forum draws to a close, I would like to share with you some observations about the subject and some thoughts for the future.
This is an exciting time to be working in sanitation. Historically, sanitation and hygiene have been neglected and underfunded topics characterized by inconsistent approaches and policies, fragmentation and unclear responsibilities. In recent years this has started to change: the United Nations have formally recognized access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right, more organizations have become engaged in sanitation and hygiene, and new networks and initiatives have started. Media and political decision-makers are beginning to understand the huge benefits of improved sanitation.
Mumbai, 10 October 2011 – Shahrukh Khan, one of the world’s most popular and much-loved Bollywood personalities, is making the fight for the right to safe sanitation and good hygiene his own. The announcement was made last night at the start of the Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene, an international conference taking place this week in Mumbai.
“I am very happy to be an advocate for these important issues, because I believe in every human being’s right to live with dignity,” Shahrukh Khan said. “It is shameful and tragic that every 30 seconds a child dies from preventable diarrhoea — that’s two unnecessary child deaths per minute, almost 3,000 a day or 1 million young lives wasted each year.”
Mr. Khan said he dreams of an India and a world where poor and vulnerable people don’t have to squat in the street or in the bushes to meet Nature’s call. “It’s really quite simple. Toilets for all will make India and the world a healthier and cleaner place, particularly for poor women, girls and others at the margins of our societies,” Mr. Khan said, adding “Sanitation for all does not require huge sums of money or breakthrough scientific discoveries. Political commitment at the highest level, the need to create awareness, and meet the demand for sanitation, are all challenging issues, but doable.”
Jon Lane, executive director for the UN-hosted Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), which asked Mr. Khan to serve in the role of ambassador, says the actor’s support for the issues is greatly welcomed. “Mr. Khan is highly regarded by billions of people in South Asia and Africa, where most of the people without good sanitation and hygiene services live,” Mr. Lane said. “By extending his support to water, sanitation and hygiene issues, Mr. Khan will give a huge impetus to moving the agenda forward of ensuring there is a toilet in every home and proper hand-washing practices are followed by all in the region.”
LUSAKA, 11 August 2011 (IRIN) – Charity Muyumbana, 45, has spent her entire adult life contending with recurrent flooding, poor drainage, and a lack of toilets in Kanyama, the sprawling Lusaka township where she lives.
“Most of the people use plastic bags to relieve themselves during the night. They find it more convenient because some toilets are up to 200m away from the house,” she told IRIN.
Photo: Charles Mafa/IRIN
The situation in Kanyama represents a countrywide problem. According to a 2008 study by local NGO the Water and Sanitation Forum, only 58 percent of Zambians have access to adequate sanitation and 13 percent lack any kind of toilet.
While the government has improved water and sanitation in urban areas, this is not the case in unplanned, high density peri-urban settlements like Kanyama where residents complain that lack of space and poor soil make it difficult to construct latrines, and a haphazard road network has contributed to a serious drainage problem.
The WSSCC Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) programme in Malawi continues to move forward strongly with the signing of sub-grantees following the first funding round. The agreements that have been entered into are for between 2 and 4 years, and total nearly USD 2 million (38% of the total GSF grant).
The following four organizations and one consortium were selected for funding:
These organizations will work across all 6 of the GSF’s focus districts: Chikhwawa, Balaka, Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Phalombe, and Rumphi. Two of the grants are focused in two districts and the other three in just one district. The GSF programme design in Malawi emphasizes collaborative working modalities at the District level, in order to better coordinate interventions and leverage skills and resources. As a result, GSF’s sub-grantees will be working closely to support the plans and contribute towards the sanitation and hygiene targets of Local Government bodies, as well as engage with other development partners at the district level to enhance synergies.
Plan Malawi, GSF’s Executing Agency, will support these organizations commence their work on the ground. In the coming months, Plan Malawi will also be putting out a further Request for Proposals to look for additional sub-grantees to complement the initial grants and contribute further towards the objectives and targets of the GSF programme in Malawi.
For more information, visit http://www.wsscc.org/resources/resource-news-archive/malawi-signs-first-global-sanitation-fund-sub-grantee-contracts
UN-Habitat, the Executing Agency for the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council’s (WSSCC) Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) programme in Nepal, is now seeking expressions of interest for potential sub-grantees to carry out GSF work on the ground in the country.
UN-Habitat will implement the hygiene and sanitation programme in five districts: Arghakhanchi, Bajura, Bardiya, Sindhupalchowk and Sunsari, and in the municipalities of Dharan, Gularia, Inaruwa, Itahari and Tikapur.
Sub-grantees can be Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), private firms and local government bodies.
Deadline: 28 January 2011
For more details read the full Call for Expression of Interest (EOI)
Related web site: WSSCC – Global Sanitation Fund
Please do not send EOIs or requests for information to Sanitation Updates
This three-day workshop aims to identify proven good practices in the sanitation and hygiene sector, as well as drawing lessons from failures to enter into the policy dialogue. It focuses on urban sanitation with an emphasis on learning and innovation in the sector.
Organised by: UNICEF, GTZ, WSSCC, WaterAid and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, and hosted by the Rwandan Ministry of Health.
Programme: the first two days of the workshop will focus on sharing and discussing proven good practices whilst the last day will be used for the discussion on key lessons learnt and follow up activities such as, the initiation of policy dialogues, advocacy messaging or linking with existing programmes.
Outputs: all papers will be published on the IRC web site. A short, select list of policy messages will be formulated for advocacy opportunities. Possible follow-up activities will be identified.
Deadline for abstracts for either a case study or photoessay: 10 December 2010
No registration fee
For full information:
Coordinated action worked for H1N1: time for the same approach to diarrhoea
Press Release, Geneva 19 August 2010 – A week after the World Health Organization announced the welcome news that the H1N1 flu has ended its pandemic phase, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) reminds the world’s decision-makers that deaths from diarrhoea remain extremely high. These deaths are closely linked to inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene practices, and are mainly among children under 5 years old in the world’s poorest countries.
WSSCC will take this reminder to two major global gatherings next month, an international meeting of leading water experts in Stockholm and the UN Summit of world leaders called for by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly.
“H1N1 was rightly seen as a threat to global health, and coordinated international attention has been successful in reducing the risk. Significant levels of resources, both time and money, were directed to addressing the issue. There was also considerable public debate, including extended coverage in the media,” said Jon Lane, WSSCC’s Executive Director.
“By these standards, diarrhoea has been neglected. The H1N1 virus has killed at least 18,3003 people to date. During the same time, diarrhoea has killed about 2 million people. We would love to be able to announce that we are overcoming the threat of diarrhoea, but sadly, that is not the case. Yet we know that some simple measures, including access to toilets and hand washing at key moments, could make a huge difference. It’s time the international community put significant time and money into this issue, and treated it with the urgency it deserves.”
SuSanA Duncan Mara’s Sanitation Blog SuSanA Forum
