A brief history

Mar del Plata 1977

Global advocacy for water and sanitation has been attempted since the UN Water Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1977. This contributed to the launch of the UN International Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990) under the slogan 'Water and Sanitation for All by 1990'. The number of people served in the Decade was impressive, but the number of unserved hardly decreased. During the Decade the basic provision of a handpump and latrine had become four times cheaper, which can only partly be contributed to advocacy work. In fact, during the Decade funding for water and sanitation actually decreased.

Two quotes 1990

Two quotes at the end of the Decade illustrate how little progress was made in advocacy for water. In 1990 the Working Group on Information recommended to Collaborative Council (1990) that it should:

"Resolve to collaborate in the preparation of a coordinated public information strategy for the water supply and sanitation sector in the 1990's and commit resources for a sustained public information campaign at national and international level".

Jack Ling in Water - a vital wellspring for human development (1990), said:

"With the close of the Water Decade it cannot be assumed that public interest and financial support will continue, without a planned programme of communication. It is axiomatic that a public information and promotion programme should be designed to support national efforts in the developing countries."

The Global Consultation for Safe Water 2000 in New Delhi in September 1990 drew lessons from the Decade, resulting in the New Delhi Statement: "Some for all rather than more for some". The 1992 International Conference on Water and Environment and Development in Dublin put integrated water management on the political agenda and was the bridge to the Earth Summit - UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. There, world leaders endorsed Agenda 21's Chapter 18 on the protection of freshwater resources.

Noordwijk Conference 1994

To help convert the professional and political consensus into action, the Netherlands Government convened a Ministerial Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation in Noordwijk in March 1994. One of the recommendations from Noordwijk showed how small the progress had been on advocating key messages in the first four years of the 1990s:

"Governments should develop programmes, both at national and international levels, presenting priorities for the water and environmental sanitation sector and develop coordinated action programmes to advocate for the sector at all levels- political, public, technical, and financial".