Resources / Speech by Barry Jackson upon commissioning the first sub-grantees that will implement the GSF programme in Madagascar

Summary

It is a tragedy and a scandal that, in the 21st century, 2,6 billion people in the world lack something as basic as a toilet.

The goal of the Global Sanitation Fund programme in Madagascar is to cover the entire nation as soon as possible. It has a strategy of expansion starting by targetting a few regions with both large and small grants. The regions represented here today are the first group of regions to be targeted. They are in proximity to each other in order to reinforce programme messages and to create a ripple effect to other regions.

Full text

Madame la Secrétaire-Générale, Members of the Programme Coordinating Mechanism, Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow sanitation and hygiene activists,

It is a tragedy and a scandal that, in the 21st century, 2,6 billion people in the world lack something as basic as a toilet. They do not have the privacy and the dignity, or the safety and the improved health that come with a safe and clean toilet designed to serve their every day human needs.

As a result of lacking good sanitation and safe hygiene practices, many people get sick; they cannot go to work or to school, and they lose out on time spent in productive activities that could contribute to their own welfare and that of their country. Indeed, economists have shown that one dollar spent on improving sanitation and hygiene can generate nine dollars of benefits to the national economy.

It is difficult to imagine any investor passing up the chance to get a 9-to-1 return on investment – yet that is just what is happening today in so many countries. Investing in promoting sanitation and hygiene brings massive savings in health care costs and averting sickness and death; it improves school attendance and enables teenage girls to stay at school and finish their education; it improves productivity of workers; it improves prospects for attracting more tourists; and it creates jobs in the provision of sanitation services.

Recognising the immense needs and the lack of resources to address them, the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council set up the Global Sanitation Fund to help developing countries gain the many benefits that I have just mentioned. And Madagascar is the first country to receive a grant from the GSF. The grant is for a programme designed by Malgaches for Malgaches; and here I must thank members of the Programme Coordinating Mechanism for all their hard work in designing the programme that is known here as the FAA, Fonds d’Appui pour l’Assainissement. The designers of the FAA are visionaries, and the GSF is proud to support them to attain their vision and goal.

The goal of the FAA is to cover the entire nation as soon as possible. The FAA has a strategy of expansion starting by targetting a few regions with both large and small grants. The regions represented here today are the first group of regions to be targeted. They are in proximity to each other in order to reinforce programme messages and to create a ripple effect to other regions.

The large grants are intended to run for up to four years and to address eight complete regions. They have three main objectives. These are: that by the end of the four years: all communes in the region will be designated Open Defecation-Free; all communes will have a budget to support sanitation activities and sufficient human resources to promote hygiene behavior; and every commune will have private sector entrepreneurs that promote improved sanitation facilities in response to people’s expectations and ability to pay. Small grants in neighbouring regions will be used to start in small areas with a view to encouraging a regional approach later on.

A key feature of the large grants is the necessity for all actors in the region to collaborate. We believe that the promotion of improved sanitation and hygiene is best done when everyone is doing it; from the Governor down to the village chief; from the Bishop to the local priest; from the regional radio to the village nurse; from the local soccer star to the nursery school teacher. All should be repeating the same health messages and projecting the same ambition: a region where everyone owns and uses a toilet and lives hygienically.

My observations in other countries lead me to the conclusion that the biggest single factor in the success or failure of such programmes is the quality and commitment of local leaders: political, administrative, traditional and religious. If such people will stand together and become champions, for the sake of their people, then success is possible. So, we are calling for champions to step forward, to mobilize everyone in their commune, district and region. We want them to become so successful that people in neighbouring districts will say: “We want what they have.”

Another important aspect of the FAA is the way in which sanitation will be promoted. International experience has shown that the approach with lasting effects on people’s attitudes and behavior is Community-Led Total Sanitation – CLTS – implemented without any subsidy for construction of toilets. The FAA has adopted this strategy and invites other donor-funded or charity-funded programmes to do the same. It is just not practical to have subsidized and non-subsidised programmes operating side by side.
 
I suggest that that any agency with grant funds for construction should concentrate on schools, clinics and markets, and encourage households to build their own toilets without a hardware subsidy. In this way we can reduce donor dependence among ordinary citizens, give them a sense of ownership of their toilets and encourage them to invest in their toilets whenever they can. In this way we will do much more than just sponsoring a hand-washing campaign or a toilet building project; we must aim to change people’s lifestyle: for every adult, for every child, for every household, for each newly formed household - forever.

The Sub-Grantee organizations here today are the very first to be funded by the GSF. And I wish to impress on you that the GSF and its donors are eager to see some good results very soon – by the end of this year. This is not just about donor relations, but we believe that the best form of advocacy – with politicians and officials, with traditional leaders and other influential people – is to show results. Make sure you invite others to CLTS triggering events. You should of course invite leaders from neighbouring villages so that they invite you to trigger their village, but remember to invite other decision-makers. Attending a triggering event can be life-changing experience and might achieve more than half a dozen workshops.

Finally, I would like to thank the Diorano-WASH Coalition for all the work they have done to bring the WSSCC and GSF to Madagascar, and again thanks to the hard-working volunteer members of the Programme Coordinating Mechanism, and now to the teams from MCDI the Executing Agency and FTHM, the Country Programme Monitor. You have already demonstrated how working together can produce an excellent programme design. Now, together with the newly-appointed sub-grantees, let us all collaborate make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people in Madagascar.