Sanitation – Global bodies hail Colombo Declaration Your Diet Guide

Sanitation – Global bodies hail Colombo Declaration

Posted by Taylah Degotardi 13 Apr, 2011

KARACHI – The Freshwater Action Network South Asia , WaterAid and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council have jointly welcomed the Colombo Declaration, which outlines ministerial commitments made in the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation held recently in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In a press statement, FANSA Regional Convener R Murli expressed his pleasure to see that the declaration reflects much of the declaration of the Pre-SACOSAN-IV Consultation Meeting of CSOs, which was held before SACOSAN. “This demonstrates the value of our intensive work up to and during SACOSAN-IV and we hope that the commitments of our governments in South Asia will generate the required momentum for accelerated progress on sanitation and hygiene,” said Murli. He said that for more than a year, many members of the above three coalition partners have been heavily engaged in gathering real peoples’ thoughts, hopes and dreams, forming the basis for developing solid evidence-based material in the form of a peoples’ perceptions report on sanitation and an accompanying film which gave voice to ordinary people from the region. “Both of these were shared at the CSO pre-meeting and the SACOSAN-IV,” said Murli. He said that through wide-ranging consultations, a traffic lights paper was developed which reflects our assessment of progress on previous SACOSAN commitments. WaterAid and the WSSCC, together with UNICEF, also prepared a synthesis on equity and inclusion in sanitation and hygiene in South Asia, highlighting the current state of marginalization of many population groups but also pointing towards many positive examples and experiences. “Our serious and systematic engagement was appreciated and recognised by the organisers of SACOSAN-IV. Three thematic sessions and the plenary session on grassroots voices convened by the coalition provided us with an excellent opportunity to share the problems and solutions from a diverse, well informed perspective,” said Murli, adding that the key commitments of SACOSAN-IV that reflect the ‘asks’ from the CSO statement included working towards progressive realisation of the right to water and sanitation and to eventually bring it into legislation ; time bound plans and allocation of resources to deliver on previous SACOSAN commitments; delivering context specific equitable and inclusive sanitation and hygiene programmes; and developing strong monitoring and accountability mechanisms and adoption of “participation, inclusion and social accountability” mechanisms at all stages of sanitation and hygiene programming, particularly for programmes concerning the marginalized and vulnerable sections of our societies. The Colombo Declaration is a progressive step forward and good follow-up is essential to ensure that National Governments and all other sector players in the region “walk the talk”. “We, the coalition partners, are committed to monitoring commitments and will begin by widely disseminating and informing the people, community leaders, local bodies and other stakeholders about the conference outcome,” said Murli.

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