History
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council - Beginnings and Mandate
WSSCC was formally created in 1990 through a United Nations General Assembly resolution (A/RES/45/181), to complete work left unfinished at the close of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990). The role of the Collaborative Council is to serve as an international coordinating body to enhance collaboration in the water supply and sanitation sector, specifically in order to attain universal coverage of water and sanitation services for poor people around the world.
Setting the Agenda - The Global Fora
Since its establishment, WSSCC has been a membership-driven organization. The members meet periodically, usually every two to three years, at global fora. Members use these meetings to discuss important sector priorities, coordinate activities, and set the Collaborative Council's operating agenda and goals. Fora have been held in Oslo, Norway (1991); Rabat, Morocco (1993); Bridgetown, Barbados (1995); Manila, The Philippines (1997); Iguaçu, Brazil (2000) and Dakar, Senegal (2004). These fora generated specialized working groups and task forces, set mandated activities and produced action plans to direct both WSSCC and key sector stakeholders.
Changing the Focus - Vision 21
Prior to 1997, the main aim of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council had been to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking, primarily among sector professionals. In 1997, WSSCC began laying the groundwork for a revolutionary new initiative in water, sanitation and hygiene: Vision 21.
Vision 21 began with a series of more than 100 local consultations in 21 countries across the globe. These meetings were guided by a Vision 21 facilitator and included participation from local NGOs and community leaders and activists. The purpose of the consultations was simple: to ask local communities to visualize how their water, sanitation and hygiene situation would look like in the next century. The community meetings were followed by community and household visits and individual meetings in order to develop recommended action programmes, including comprehensive targets, goals and implementation strategies, to present to local and national governments.
At the core of these action programmes, and indeed, at the core of Vision 21 as a whole, is the notion that the energy and initiative of local people with a stake in their local water supply and sanitation situations can generate and implement economical and sustainable solutions to the crisis of inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene.
'Vision 21 - Water for People' was formally presented at the World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference at The Hague, The Netherlands in March of 2000. Its presentation marked the beginning of a new focus of advocacy and community-focused action for the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council.
Looking to the Future - The Global WASH Campaign
The change in direction for WSSCC that began with Vision 21 was expanded later in 2001, at the Fifth Global Forum, held in Foz de Iguacu, Brazil. The Iguacu Action Programme, which resulted from this Forum, set the Collaborative Council's priorities to be:
- Advocacy and mobilisation,
- Monitoring by people themselves,
- Networking (national, regional and thematic),
- Dissemination of knowledge and best practices, and
- Working with partners.
One of the first, and certainly the most successful campaigns to come out of this new spirit of advocacy was the Global WASH Campaign. In 2004, the inaugural Global WASH Forum was held in Dakar, Senegal. The theme of the Forum was “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All – Solutions and Actions; Local and National”, and the overarching goal of the conference was to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation.
The Global WASH Forum also produced The Dakar Statement, The Dakar Statement Actions and Commitments, and the Dakar Roadmap. Taken together, these three documents provided both high-level and practical guidance for governments and sector professionals to move beyond traditional rhetoric and make tangible steps toward achieving global water and sanitation goals.
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council has made great strides in enhancing the knowledge of and about the water and sanitation sector, particularly as it pertains to global development issues. Its work, however, is far from done. In a world where 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate basic sanitation, the Collaborative Council has a significant challenge in its aim to bring water, sanitation and hygiene to all people. Current and future activities focus on maintaining WSSCC's commitment to sector knowledge and networking, expanding its advocacy activities, and implementing the Global Sanitation Fund, designed to further facilitate the implementation of practical and sustainable sanitation and hygiene initiatives throughout the world.