National WASH Coalition
The Jamaica WASH Coalition was formed after a WASH conference in 2005. WASH programmes are being carried out by a coalition of ten community-based organizations, two NGOs, three public sector agencies and two development agencies.
Focus
The Jamaica WASH programme acts as a catalyst for the formation of partnerships between communities and civil society bodies, government and intergovernmental organizations and international development agencies.
With the support of the coalition’s member organizations, communities are now interpreting the water and sanitation MDGs within their local settings and are working to address them alongside livelihood issues.
Milestones and achievements
In recent years, the coalition has mainly been involved in developing working papers on gender in WASH policices, producing popular publications and running training workshops on behaviour change, gender and community sensitization. Working in the community, it has trained WASH promoters and also undertaken action research through the Women’s Resource & Outreach Center (WROC).
Partners have worked together to develop a national sanitation policy, released in 2009.
News
CaribSan (the Caribbean Workshop on Sanitation) in April 2008 brought together over 100 participants from 11 countries from the Caribbean region to establish a framework for regional collaboration around agreed priorities in sanitation. The Kingston Declaration calls for real commitment on establishing and implementing national policies on sanitation.
