The Best of Sanitation:
Synthesis and Outcomes of the Regional Sanitation Conferences

Tuesday 19 August
Morning Seminar

Convenors: UN-Water Taskforce on Sanitation (United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, World Health Organization, WHO, Water and Sanitation Program, WSP, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, WSSCC) and United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, UNSGAB

Event Summary and Conclusions

A highlight in the run up to, and during 2008, the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), was a prominent series of well-attended meetings held in regions seeking to improve sanitation access to meet the Millennium Development Goals.  These included:
•      Sacosan (2006) (and planned for November 2008) – South Asia
•      LatinoSan (November 2007) – Latin America
•      EaSan (December 2007) – East Asia
•      AfricaSan (February 2008) - Africa
The meetings were hosted by Governments in the regions and/or regional political bodies and supported by many international agencies.  The meetings uniquely brought together ministers in charge of sanitation, sanitation experts from the public and private sectors, civil society, external support agencies and research institutions, as well as leading representatives from health, education, finance and local government.  They generated a dialogue on how to achieve large scale sanitation and hygiene programs, and on how to raise the political profile of sanitation. 

The “Best in Sanitation” seminar in Stockholm WWW 2008 presented a synthesis of the main outcomes from the regional sanitation meetings and hosted a discussion on the follow-up to the regional meetings.  The main conclusions to the Stockholm seminar were:

• The regional SAN meetings have become a remarkably successful vehicle for enabling sanitation stakeholders to learn from experience on the ground and to build momentum in a much neglected sector.  The mix of political and technical streams is recommended to continue.  The meeting outcomes varied, ranging from creating awareness and exchange of best practices, to signed political declarations committing countries to measurable outcomes.  Many countries have followed up with specific country actions, though a mechanism has not been fully put in place to monitor and record these outcomes.  Regions are encouraged to put this capacity in place for future meetings to focus on binding commitments with measurable outcomes.

• Key country actions needed to build large scale sanitation and hygiene programs are: (1) Develop a specific national sanitation and hygiene strategy; (2) Create a clear and accountable national leadership for sanitation and hygiene; (3) Ministers of Finance to establish and provide increased resources to a specific budget lines for sanitation and hygiene; (4) Place emphasis on demand-led sanitation policies, supporting mass behaviour change programs, whilst encouraging supply side-institutions to respond to the increased service demand; and (5) Clarify and strengthen information systems.

• Significant advances in achieving large-scale sanitation and hygiene programs were noted through the following approaches: (1) Better understanding the economic impact of neglecting sanitation;  (2) Developing national sanitation-specific strategies; (3) Community-led Total Sanitation Approaches; (4) Condominial sewerage approaches as a significant part of the solution of service provision to the urban poor; and (5) Public-private handwashing partnerships.

Seminar Programme             09:00-12:00, Room K2

Chair: Clarissa Brocklehurst, Coordinator, Chair UN-Water Task Force on WSS and Chief WES, UNICEF, Canada
Co-Chairs: Jon Lane, Executive Director, WSSCC and Jaeyang So, Program Manager, WSP, Korea

Presentation from the event

Please scroll down and find the link from the programme