Togo

Members of the WASH Coalition

Togo has been a member of the WSSCC family since the 1990s, and was one of the countries that contributed to Vision 21. In September 2007 a Togo WASH Coalition was launched, composed of members from civil society (FONGTO, CREPA Togo), Ministerial departments (Finance, Hydraulics, Health, Communication), private sector, and financial partners (UNICEF, WHO, Plan Togo, Red Cross).  

The Togo WASH Coalition aims to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals through the promotion of access to water supply, sanitation and hygiene for the Togo population. Ensuring full understanding of the WASH concept and challenges amongst the coalition members and amongst journalists, and to work with the media to raise general awareness are cornerstones of their work.

The priorities are to firstly encourage village communities to improve their environment, and to, secondly, support organisations working in the sector to put in place integrated water supply, sanitation and hygiene projects.

Main activities

In 2008 the programme of action included 4 major projects:

• Village communities who have benefited from a WASH related project were encouraged to better maintain their environment through a 'Healthy Village Competition'.
• Sector organisations were encouraged to carry out integrated WASH programmes/projects through an award for the best integrated project and a 'Friend of WASH' certification.
• Awareness raising activities for journalists of various media on WASH issues conducted in order for them to support sensitisation and conduct a national WASH Media Award competition.
• Make use of events and national days of water and environment to carry out awareness raising activities for behaviour change on especially hygiene.

Achievements and outlook

• Through making sanitation and hygiene the focus of the Healthy Village Competition, awareness was created in the population and among the evaluators.
• The celebration of World Water Day, the International Year of Sanitation and other water related events in the presence of the Ministers of Environment, Water and Health and other dignitaries and coalition members brought official attention to the issue.

For 2009, some activities are foreseen that will help the coalition members as well as media partners to develop a more in-depth understanding of the WASH concept and challenges, through a series of training exercises.