Source - Asia and Pacific
Bangladesh: WaterAid gets Swiss and Swedish grants for WASH projects
27 Dec 11
WaterAid has signed funding agreements with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for two WASH projects in Bangladesh.
Asia: Accelerated and sustainable progress in sanitation and hygiene is within our reach
20 Sep 11
Accelerated and sustainable progress in sanitation and hygiene is within reach in Asia, as long as we aim at district-wide coverage and build a broad alliance under leadership of local governments. This is the main conclusion of sanitation and hygiene experts from five countries (Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) participating in a workshop on governance on water, sanitation and hygiene organized by the Nepal government together with SNV Netherlands development organization and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre from 13 to 17 September 2011.
India, Kerala: “Green Army” school hygiene cartoons
12 Aug 11
An Indian e-toilet manufacturer has partnered with a local animation institute to create hygiene promotion cartoons for schools. Eram Scientific Solutions with Toonz Academy has created the “Green Army” cartoon characters to make students aware of cleanliness and hygiene.
Fiji: US bottled water exporter finally pays up
15 Jul 11
A US bottled water exporter that had enjoyed a de facto tax free status in the Pacific island nation of Fiji since 1995, has finally been forced to pay up. Once dubbed as “bottled insanity” by environmentalists, FIJI Water has been linked to tax evasion, political intrigue, and greenwashing.
Indonesia: Dubai Cares launches hygiene promotion program for 90,000 school children
15 Jul 11
UAE-based charity Dubai Care has launched a program to improve hygiene education activities in 450 schools in the Indonesian provinces of Nusa Tenggara Timor, Papua, West Papua and South Sulawesi. In total, 90,000 schoolchildren in Indonesia will benefit from the program, which is a collaborative initiative of Dubai Cares with the Government of Indonesia, UNICEF, Care International and Save the Children.
India, West Bengal: safe water for all villages by 2020
15 Jul 11
The state government of West Bengal has announced a scheme to supply 70 litres of safe drinking water daily to each household in rural areas by 2020. Dubbed “Vision 2020”, the US$ 244 million project aims to supply safe water from a source not more than 50 metres from a household.
Asia: Brisbane WASH Conference 2011 presentations online
14 Jul 11
Some 224 conference delegates from over 100 organisations in 40 countries came to Brisbane, Australia for the WASH Conference 2011. Powerpoints and audiofiles of the presentations, focusing on institutional, environmental, social and financial sustainability, are available online.
India, New Delhi: using Facebook and SMS to keep the city clean
20 Apr 11
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) launched its Facebook page in January 2011 and an integrated SMS service in March 2011 to enable public monitoring of garbage collection sites and public urinals/toilets in areas under its jurisdiction. In the first month of operation 99 per cent of the complaints had been addressed and the response time was less than 24 hours.
South Asia: Ministers vow to tackle “biggest sanitation challenge in the world”
12 Apr 11
South Asian ministers have vowed to tackle the “biggest sanitation challenge in the world”. In the Colombo Declaration released on 7 April 2011 at the 4th South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV), they promise to set up a national body in each country to “coordinate sanitation and hygiene, involving all stakeholders”. The aim of these bodies would be to enable access to sanitation to the 700 million south Asians who still defecate in the open. In addition governments would “develop time-bound plans and to allocate and mobilise resources for delivering on all the previous SACOSAN commitments.”
India : launch of school sanitation campaign
16 Feb 11
Senior Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has joined hands with NDTV and Coca Cola to improve sanitation in rural India through the “Support My School” campaign which was launched in India at the end of January 2011.
