Context-specific equitable and inclusive sanitation and hygiene programmes essential
Through the Colombo Declaration South Asian countries vowed to design and deliver context-specific equitable and inclusive sanitation and hygiene programmes including better identification of the poorest and most marginalised groups in rural and urban areas, including transparent targeting of financing to programmes for those who need them most, and taking into account the challenge of protecting the environment and responding to emergencies and climate change. Click here to read The Colombo Declaration.

Increasing trend of budget allocation by the government to sanitation and hygiene sector
Nepal Country Paper presented at SACOSAN IV in Colombo states that there is an increasing trend of budget allocation by the government to sanitation and hygiene sector. The paper has also emphasized on the effective implementation of recently released Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan as a way forward in achieving country targets on sanitation and hygiene. To read Nepal Country Paper, click here.
 

Workshop on Reflexive Monitoring in Action
The coordinators of Resource Centre Networks (RCNs) from five countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Honduras, Nepal and Uganda) participated in a training workshop on ‘Reflexive Monitoring in Action (RMA)’ organized by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre from 5-7 April in The Hague. The objective of the workshop was to jointly reflect on the changes the RCNs are aiming to achieve and to develop monitoring plans using a monitoring framework called RMA.
 

• Facilitate learning and sharing between WSSCC members, sector practitioners and policymakers.
• Energize professional communities through an exclusive platform dedicated to sanitation and hygiene.
• Showcase knowledge, investment, communications, advocacy, partnership and networking approaches.
• Strengthen national, regional, South-South and global dialogue and collaboration.

Organizer: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)     

For more information: http://www.wsscc.org/node/1251

Effective coordination and information sharing among concerned stakeholders must to achieve significant improvement in WASH sector

Nepal has reported a substantial progress in providing access to basic drinking water supply and sanitation in past three decades with the official figures showing that 80.4 percent of the population has access to basic drinking water and 43 percent has access to basic sanitation by 2010. The above figure indicates that the Nepal’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets of achieving coverage of 73 percent in water supply and 53 percent in sanitation by 2015 will be met by the country. However, the given figures only account for the coverage of basic drinking water and sanitation facilities and the challenge still persists in the functional status of the systems, quality and sustainability of the services as the figures. It is important to note that, the same government report highlights that 53 percent of water supply systems are at high risk of functional failure due to poor monitoring and weak management of repairs, maintenance and rehabilitation. In this context, effective coordination and information sharing among key stakeholders including government, I/NGOs, local communities, donor agencies and civil societies is must to achieve the MDG targets and national target of providing universal access to water supply and sanitation facilities by 2017. And taking in consideration the need to provide a common platform to discuss, review and implement common strategic action plans to work in this sector, the country organized the first Joint Sector Review meeting early this year to achieve remarkable improvement in overall WASH sector in the country.

Article by: Pragati Shahi, Reporter, The Kathmandu Post
Click here to read full article.
 

Kaski to be the first district to be declared ODF
Kaski district in western region of the country is going to be named the first district to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). To read more, click here.

Sukekhola declared first ODF village in Kamalamai Municipality
On the occasion of World Water Day, celebrated on March 22, Sukekhola village located in Kamalamai Municipality in Sindhuli district was declared first Open Defecation Free village in the municipality. To read more, click here.