November, 2011

Sanitation financing models for the urban poor – new IRC thematic overview paper released
The Thematic Overview Paper authored by Christine van Wijk attempts to search for pro-poor financing models that can facilitate the urban poor’s access to complete sanitation services. It catalogues existing financing models and examines each based on an analytical framework that comprises six criteria: applicability, simplicity, sustainability, scalability, pro-poor, and equity. It offers a recommendation for mixing financing mechanisms to meet the urban poor’s needs, and makes a plea for developing poor-specific and full-cycle specific plans for sanitation. To read more, click here.

UN ESCAP launched Delhi Sub-regional Office for South and South-West Asia (SRO-SSWA)
 As part of the United Nations attempt to support member countries in formulating and implementing inclusive and sustainable development policies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the region, the Bangkok-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) opened a sub-regional office for South and South-West Asia (SRO-SSWA) in Delhi on 15th December 2011.

The sub-regional office will cover the 10 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey. The Delhi office joins ESCAP sub-regional offices in Suva, Incheon and Almaty, covering, respectively, the Pacific, East and North-East Asia, and North and Central Asia. The South-East Asian sub-region is covered by ESCAP headquarters. More information on ESCAP is available at: www.unescap.org.

WASH-RCNN formally registered
 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-Resource Centre Network Nepal (WASH-RCNN) has been formally registered at the District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu in December 2011. WASH-RCNN would like to thank all individuals and organisations who provided assistance in materializing WASH-RCNN’s formal registration process. The network hopes to receive continued support and cooperation from all concerned for effective knowledge management in the WASH sector of Nepal.

 Training Workshop on Information Management
 The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-Resource Centre Network Nepal (WASH-RCNN) in association with Nepal Library Association (NLA) organised a training workshop on Information Management for decentralised WASH Resource Centres from 25-27 December 2011. Eleven participants responsible for managing decentralised WASH Resource Centres participated in the training. To read more, click here.

'Learning question’
Do you think decentralisation of WASH resource centres (e.g. Regional WASH Resource Centre in Surkhet) will contribute to better learning and sharing in the WASH sector of Nepal? Please click here to send in your feedback!


6th World Water Forum
 12-17 March 2012, Marseille, France

 Every three years since 1997, the World Water Forum mobilises creativity, innovation, competence and know-how in favour of water. It gathers all stakeholders around today’s local, regional and global issues that cannot be undertaken without all stakeholders into a common framework of goals and concrete targets to reach.

There are several ways to contribute and participate in the 6th World Water Forum. Follow this link to learn more: http://www.worldwaterforum6.org/en/the-forum/contribute-participate/

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"Happy New Year 2012!"

Promote gender-friendly toilets to reduce drop-out in schools
While the efforts are underway to improve the country’s literacy rate to meet the education Millennium Development Goal (MDG) by 2015, the high rate of girl students’ dropout in schools due to lack of separate toilets for proper sanitation and hygiene facilities is affecting the drive towards attaining the education goal.

Construction of toilet in school is as important as the construction of school building itself and construction of girl-friendly toilets will not only decrease the dropout rate of the girl students but also increase enrollment of girl students in school. More toilets need to be built across the country and even at the existing community schools to encourage the girls who have the high dropout rate in schools compared to boys to attend the class regularly.

It’s the investment on toilets that gets less priority, and this has to be changed if we are collectively serious about meeting water, sanitation and hygiene goals for all by 2017.

 Article by: Pragati Shahi, Reporter, The Kathmandu Post
 E-mail: pragati.journo@gmail.com

Click here to read full article.
Valley’s sanitation woes: Inadequate restrooms abet open defecation
 It seems that Nepal has still a long way to go to achieve the national goal of access to safe drinking water and sanitation thanks to crowded chowks of its Capital that are often used as comfort stations. The failure on the part of stakeholders to increase the number of restrooms in proportion to the city’s population has been its apparent cause. It is a startling fact that there are only 18 public toilets in Kathmandu city, which has a population of around 2 million. To read the full article, please, click here.
Finnish minister inspects Drinking Water and Sanitation Project in Tanahun
Minister for International Development of Finland, Heidi Hautala along with two dozen officials from Finland and Nepal visited the Makaimro Lift Drinking Water and Sanitation Project in Thaprek VDC in Tanahun district early December, 2011 to inspect the ongoing construction works. To read more, click here.

Dang school uses toilet as classroom
It is a toilet complete with urinals for the boys. But the primary school in Dang district's Shantinagar VDC-5, for which the District Education Office (DEO) built the outhouse, has been using it to hold classes for the past two years. To read more, click here.

Lumbini to introduce portable toilets for its visitors
Lumbini Development Trust is planning to introduce two mobile toilets inside the premise of the famous Lumbini, birth place of Gautam Buddha soon. The decision comes in a wake of the problems faced by the majority of visitors in lack of toilets to go for the nature’s call, according to the LDT officials. To read more, click here. 


Select your top 3 Source Bulletin features to be revisited in 2012
Looking back at the Source Bulletin work since 1998 and especially articles published since 2005, Dick de Jong, Chief Editor of the bulletin began to wonder what happened AFTER some of the stories were written. Did the good practice last – were some of the problems overcome? What if we could get a local journalist to revisit the story and report in 2012 what happened since the date of publishing?

Follow this link to read the shortlisted stories and vote for the top three out of this list to select the ones that are worth a follow up.
Music for life: Belgian radio programme to fundraise for WASH projects in Nepal
 As a part of the Christmas fundraiser programme, Studio Brussel, a Belgian radio station is partnering with the Red Cross to raise money for WASH projects in Nepal this year. Traditionally, the radio station’s annual “Music for Life” Christmas fundraiser focuses on a “silent disaster”. The theme for 2011 is diarrhoea, together with pneumonia, the leading cause of death for children under the age of five.
The Flemish Red Cross produced their own Water for Life video (in Dutch) with pictures from their projects in Nepal. You can see a typical CLTS scene with schoolchildren planting yellow flags to mark spots where open defecation takes place, not only by humans but also by goats!

To view the video, follow the link: http://www.stubru.be/musicforlife.
Published by : Water, Sanitation and Hygiene - Resource Centre Network Nepal (WASH-RCNN) Secretariat
WASH-RCNN is an informal network of NGOs and INGOs involved in water and sanitation sector, which intends to facilitate the sharing of information and promote the use thereof to improve the performance of the sector as a whole.

www.nepal.watsan.net
Editor : Rabin Bastola
Assistant Editor : Pragati Shahi
Designer : Babukaji Ale Magar

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