Country Activity Reports
The WSSCC's vision of stimulating action, collaboration and political will to further WASH issues on a regional and national level, is realised through National Coordinators (NCs) who play an essential role in taking the agenda of global sustainable development forward. Working voluntarily through coalitions, the NCs translate the WASH vision into realities on the ground through the four P's - Partnerships (Networking & Coalition building), Progress (Monitoring & Evaluation), Promotion (Advocacy), Profile (Communication) - and work with governments, civil society, the private sector, NGOs, International Organisations, the media and grassroots communities to achieve these results on multiple levels.
The common strength of the coalitions originates from their dynamic and adaptable operational structures. Building on existing networks avoids duplication as a precondition, and ensures appropriate action. Some highlights from 2008 come from the Philippines, Benin and Nigeria influencing national strategic planning and policy making, Madagascar with major achievements in awareness raising through established health centres and committees, Nepal and Ethiopia having established sustainable media cooperation as well as Burkina Faso with a well recognised journalist network. In Bangladesh, grassroots consultations and involvement were an important part of the annual activities and in Colombia the production of a bulletin for community service providers on water and sanitation was given priority.
The International Year of Sanitation influenced most countries and put sanitation much higher on the agenda than before. Many activities connected to the IYS celebration received vast publicity and high recognition and were therefore established to be continued annually. Many coalitions carried out hygiene promotion e.g. in cooperation with schools. Using schools as an entry point for behaviour change has proven to be a good strategy to achieve positive long term impact on health by establishing a fundament for good hygiene practices at an early age. Awareness creation - with journalists, through media, in events and exhibitions - is another of the most important ways to induce change reaching large layers of the population. Follow up on the achievements towards reaching the MDG's in water and sanitation is conducted through joint monitoring and evaluation while working together with CSOs to strengthen their capacities and produce training and advocacy materials in a local language are further high rated activities. Through media cooperation and production of inputs into radio and TV programmes as well as newspaper articles, visibility of the coalitions' work improved. Some national coalitions established sub-national (provincial) coalitions which are able to act more quickly and are adapted to local settings. Almost all coalitions engaged in celebration of the World Water Day, Toilet Day and Handwashing Day organising exhibitions, making speeches and dramas to draw attention to water and sanitation related issues. WSSCC advocacy materials and education toolkits were used in many coalitions.
Most coalitions do not have systems in place that measure progress and impact of the planned coalition activities. Such monitoring systems need to improve in order to ensure long term impact and value of the WASH coalitions. The main lessons learned in 2008 concerned the benefit of involving various sector actors in planning processes, especially in strategic planning. Lobbying of government actors has in some cases shown to ultimately influence the budget positively and impacted on the inclusion of WASH related issues critical for pro-poor development. Frequent, but short meetings with the coalition members have proven most effective and are appreciated by all, facilitating efficient experience exchange. For most operations, unbureaucratic and open government departments ease collaboration and in combination with active CSOs this creates able coalitions. The WASH coalitions thereby contribute to improved cooperation between concerned ministries, active CSOs and responsive private companies. In combination with activities that encourage people/users to demand appropriate services and to take responsibility, this creates a positive dynamic towards sustainable well-being for all, thanks to improved provision of water and sanitation.
On the picture: members of the Tanzanian WASH Coalition during an advocacy workshop in November 2008.