SuSanA News November 2021   

SuSanA Change Management

Updates on the new concept paper

The Change Management Task Force (CMTF), with support from organisational development consultants, has finalised a Concept Note that describes the proposed new organisational structure for SuSanA.

The new structure includes a clear governance model that aims for representation from all members through an election process organised by regions. Organisational members will also have representation in a governing Steering Committee, also through elections. In addition to ensuring representation of members, the new structure will also allow SuSanA to be more effective by empowering members and regions to pursue activities, providing a clear entity for receiving donations and grants, and encouraging the network to flourish. The Concept Note has been through several rounds of discussion and consultation with the SuSanA Core Group, Secretariat, and Members, including at the last SuSanA meeting in September 2021.

The CMTF is now finalising a transition plan that will define the process of changing over to the new structure. The goal is to complete this plan, including the handover to an Interim Steering Committee by December 2021. The Concept Note and Transition Plan, once finalised, will be shared widely with the SuSanA membership.

The CMTF hopes for your support as we go through this transition period, as we work to make a SuSanA network that best meets the challenge of SDG6 and ensure sustainable sanitation for all.

31st SuSanA Meeting

Presentations and recordings now available !

The 31st SuSanA meeting took place from August 16th to August 20th, 2021 online for the second time. It was organised by the SuSanA Secretariat with support and contributions from SuSanA Partners, Members, Working Groups and Regional Chapters.

The meeting was divided into 14 sessions with more than 1,000 participants all over the world.
Prior to the SuSanA Meeting, the Regional Chapters hosted stepping-stone sessions that reflected on specific sanitation related topics or challenges from the regions.

The collection of meeting materials including presentations and recordings can be found in the link below.

A Sanitation Journey: from Latrines to Inclusive Sanitation

SuSanA WTD webinar

The publication "A Sanitation Journey - Principles, Approaches and Tools for Urban Sanitation" provides an orientation to the sector’s current status and future directions, aimed at both sanitation professionals and those outside the sector. The publication describes the historical background of how urban sanitation in the Global South has developed and how the international discourse about strategies to improve urban sanitation have evolved over the past decades. It also presents a set of proven approaches and implementation tools currently in demand to achieve progress in urban sanitation and hygiene.

During this webinar, few of the authors and reviewers of this work, and other sanitation experts will join a panel to discuss aspects of the book. An audience question round will follow.

Date: 19 November 2021
Time: 12:00 CET

One Health and the Power of WASH

SuSanA WTD webinar

Save the Date!
On this year’s World Toilet Day (19th November) SuSanA is hosting a webinar on “One Health and the Power of WASH”. The Webinar will take place from 13.00-14.15 PM CET. Beside a keynote by Prof. Dr. Jakob Zinsstag of the Swiss Tropical Medicine and Public Health Institute, invited speakers from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, UNEP, WHO, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (all tbc), among others, will explore common threats at the interface of human, animal and environment speres. The role of adequate WASH infrastructure, services, policies and practices will be highlighted by all panelists together with examples of how to use WASH to address some of the most pressing challenges to One Health. Don’t miss this interesting exchange and register via the link below.

SuSanA Thematic Discussion

The power of images

Images are a big part of communication, today more so than ever. Not only do we consume more visual media than ever through social media and streaming sites. More and more we use images to communicate with each other, e.g gifs and memes.
Yet the way we read and understand an image is influenced by a number of factors including historical and cultural context or background, age as well as race and gender.
Through the upcoming discussions, we want to create an environment that encourages discussions on the topic of culturally sensitive communication and encourages mindfulness in the way we communicate information with each other in the SuSanA Network, in our SuSanA publications, and other ways of communication within the SuSanA universe and beyond.

A group of experts in art curation, gender-and postcolonial art discourse, and communication have been leading the discussion.

We welcome you to contribute to the TD and hope the results will be a welcomed orientation for many SuSanA members and partners.

Updates from SuSanA Regional Chapters

SuSanA Latinoamérica and India

SuSanA Latin America
In October, the Latin America Chapter supported the regional forums on water and sanitation through COLSAR and REDBIOLAC. The forums were held in Spanish.


SuSanA India Chapter
In August-September the SuSanA India Chapter conducted a webinar and thematic discussion on 'Convergent Actions needed to Enhance WASH and Nutrition'. This discussion attempted to understand linkages between the preventive and curative aspects of health and WASH and tease out what prevented them.

SuSanA Working Groups

Leads and Co-leads wanted

The SuSanA are looking for (Co-)/Leads for the following Working Groups. If you are interested to represent your organisation or as an individual, we welcome you to send your applications to the Secretariat.

Leads:
WG 8 - Emergency & reconstruction situations
WG 12 - WASH and nutrition

Co-leads:
WG - 9 Public awareness, advocacy and civil society engagement
WG 10 - Operation, maintenance and sustainable services
WG 12 - WASH and nutrition

Safe Reopening of Schools - COVID - 19

Updates from different countries

Considering that schools are reopening in many parts of the world, the WASH in Schools (WinS) Network as a partner of SuSanA, held a number of virtual events to strengthening the network and share knowledge. The events were an important exchange of experiences and lessons learned from Ministries of Education and partners around the world on safe school reopening. If you missed them, the recordings are available to watch online!
Within the 31st SuSanA Meeting, held from 16th to 20th August, the WG 7 together with the WinS Network and the Fit for School Africa Initiative hosted a session on Safe Reopening of Schools. You can watch the full session here.
A similar event was the stocktaking webinar, organized in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Technical Working Group on School Health, Nutrition and Wellbeing. 98 participants from different countries discussed lessons learned and remaining challenges. To watch the session follow this link, or download the documents of the webinar here.

Updates from Sanitation & Hygiene Fund (SHF)

SHF welcomes its first Board Chair

The Sanitation & Hygiene Fund (SHF) proudly welcomes Cecilia Akintomide as its first Board Chair. She is a seasoned expert in Development Finance, Corporate Governance, and Law. She was Vice President Secretary General of the African Development Bank and served as Head of Public and Private Sector Projects and Policy in the General Counsel and Legal Services Department of the Bank. Cecilia practiced law in Lagos, Washington D.C., and New York, with a focus on Business Reorganizations, Corporate Law and Commercial Law and is admitted to the Nigerian Bar and the New York State Bar. She is a member of numerous Boards and has earned many accolades in her distinguished career. Cecilia is an ardent champion of girls and women’s economic empowerment, and is passionate about corporate governance, sustainable development, as well as innovation and entrepreneurship.
Upon her appointment, Cecilia said, ‘The latest global data on sanitation and hygiene can only be described as shocking. At a time when the COVID pandemic still looms large, nearly half the world’s population lacks safely managed sanitation. This situation requires our urgent, concerted and effective efforts.’
Cecelia brings a wealth of professional experience and a vast network to the SHF Board, as it mobilizes efforts to reverse this trend.

Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation

SuSanA webinar

Sanitation, though an underrepresented topic in the global climate change agenda, is nevertheless the key to healthier, more sustainable and resilient cities. In a joint online session the GIZ Sector Programme Sustainable Sanitation (SV NaSa), the Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities), Aguaconsult and the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) launched and presented the current thinking on the subject as emerging from the recent study: Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation: Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action. This was also emphasised during the online session’s panel discussion with Martin Gambrill (World Bank), John Matthews (Alliance for Global Water Adaptation - AGWA) and Kate Medlicott (WHO) as well as Katrin Brübach (R-Cities) and Arne Panesar (GIZ SV NaSa).

UNC Water & Health Conference

“With the reach of millions of children across Southeast Asia and beyond, Fit for School is a shining example for integrated collaboration of different sectors to address major global health and public health challenges.” With this greeting message, Birgit Pickel, Director for Global Health, Pandemic Prevention, One Health at BMZ, addressed all participants at the 13th UNC Water and Health conference which took place from 4th to 8th October.

German Development Cooperation through GIZ and the WinS Network, was one of the headline sponsors of the conference. The WinS Network hosted the session “Updates and lessons learned on WASH in Schools and safe reopening during COVID-19”. The session focused on key global guidance documents and examples of good practice in school reopening. GIZ offered a lunch session on “Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation” presenting lessons learnt from the recently published study “Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation: Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action”. For participants from different time zones GIZ co-hosted two Late Early Shows: one for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and one for Africa. Here panelists reflected on the topics and discussions of the conference with a regional focus. If you were not able to attend this year’s UNC conference, we have good news for you: all sessions are recorded and available on the conference platform or on YouTube.

Sanitation Workers Forum

29th November - 3rd December 2021

Join the 'Sanitation Workers Forum 2021: Linking Research, Policy and Practice' taking place online over 3-4 days between 29th November - 3rd December 2021.
This forum aims to address some of these critical knowledge gaps by raising the visibility of sanitation workers and fostering discussion and collaboration between activism, research, policy and practice.

The forum objectives are to

1. Share knowledge and good practices about sanitation workers globally.
2. Build a community of practice around the topic which includes sanitation workers representatives, activists, policymakers, practitioners, students and academics.
3. Discuss and prioritise future areas of research, policy and practice.

Sanitation Workers Initiative

Contribute to a published research agenda

Sanitation workers provide essential services often at the cost of their health and dignity. Little research has been done, and there’s an urgent need for evidence for policy and programs.

Help WHO develop a published research agenda by contributing your ideas on research needed to transform sanitation workers’ lives by answering a survey (link below) and grow the workforce to achieve safely managed sanitation (SDG6.2).
Photo: WaterAid

Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers

SuSanA session at the WOPs Congress

SuSanA along with FSMA and the Sanitation Workers Initiative (WHO, WaterAid, SNV, WorldBank and ILO) organised a session at the Global WOPs Congress.
The session presented some of the efforts, studies, and initiatives carried out by different organizations to improve the health, safety and dignity of sanitation operators and workers. All speakers talked about existing challenges that sanitation workers, particularly in LMICs, are exposed to, including various safety and occupational hazards at work, which are often ignored or overlooked in legal, policy and technical frameworks. The session highlighted different occupational health and safety (OHS) instruments and best practices, such as the FSM world emptying challenge, awareness campaigns and the engagement of Self-Help Groups, all of which can positively change working practices along the sanitation chain. Speakers agreed that achieving SGDs requires legal recognition, protection, training, and adequate equipment for sanitation workers.

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