Latin American Sustainable Sanitation Network

The Latin American Sustainable Sanitation Network was formed at the end of the Sustainable Sanitation Knowledge Nodes and organizations workshop held in Lima, Peru on October 16 -17, 2010.

By 2020 Latin American countries show a conscious demand of sustainable sanitation products and services and have incorporated the sustainable sanitation approach in their public policies, and institutional and organizational cultures; improving the universal access to the services, the living conditions of the people and the environmental conditions”. This was the mission of the Latin American Sustainable Sanitation Network formed at the end of the Sustainable Sanitation Knowledge Nodes and organizations workshop held in Lima, Peru on October 16 -17, 2010.

Participants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina reached the consensus on the urgent need to achieve more equity in access to the sanitation services, and ensure better quality of the services and environmental sustainability. Participants from the Sustainable knowledge nodes from Centro America and Bolivia and organisations working in sustainable sanitation in Latin America shared experiences and the national sanitation status in their countries in order to define a common strategy for promoting and implementing sustainable sanitation projects in the region. The regional sustainable sanitation panorama discussed during the workshop highlighted capacity building, raising awareness and policy development needs as big challenges to be addressed in order to improve the sanitation conditions in Latin America, so those needs would be much more easily undertaken if a network of professionals and practitioners are able to bring together their collective experience and knowledge to build on sustainable sanitation skills in the region. For that reason the Latin American Sustainable Sanitation Network was formed with three strategic working lines: knowledge Management, advocacy and organizational development.

At the end of the workshop, a Sustainable Sanitation Forum was held on October 18, where the conclusions and recommendations of the workshop participants were presented to representatives of the Peruvian government, local organisations and civil society. The regional workshop was organised by the Sustainable Sanitation Network of Peru and the Urban Development Institute (CENCA), in coordination with the Centro American and Bolivian Sustainable Sanitation Knowledge Nodes and with the technical and financial support from SEI, UN-HABITAT and Water for People.

The short report of the happenings can be downloaded <<here>>.

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