The voice of civil society was heard at the South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) 2008 in Delhi, after WSSCC, FAN South Asia and WaterAid co-hosted a pre-meeting for community-based and civil society organisations. These grassroots NGOs produced a Civil Society Declaration that provided formal input into the conference deliberations and final declaration. The declaration called for:

• improved monitoring of health impacts to improve the effectiveness of sanitation programmes and to convince policy makers of the need to invest;
• sanitation programmes focusing particularly on the urban poor;
• improved sanitation facilities to ensure 100% girls enrolment in schools;
• improved sector capacity to ensure the best use of resources.

One moving highlight was the silent candlelight vigil dedicated to all who have died in the region from diarrhoea, the leading cause of child deaths in South Asia.

A silent candelight vigil, Photo; WSSCC

Their advocacy paid off, as South Asian governments recognised sanitation as a basic right and the official SACOSAN declaration addressed the civil society themes. It was a historic moment. Now comes the immense task of translating commitments into action.

For more information on SACOSAN III and the civil society pre-meeting contact Ms. Carolien van der Voorden, WSSCC Programme Officer Networking and Knowledge Management, vandervoordenc@who.int.

Tags: advocacy, gender, governance, sanitation, south asia