Sanitation: update on global funds

Updated - Saturday 22 March 2008

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launched the Global Sanitation Fund on 14 March 2008 [1]. A month earlier in Durban, Carolien van der Voorden of the WSSCC said that the first roll out would be in at least 7 countries, including Uganda, Madagascar and Nepal [2]. WSSCC Executive Director Jon Lane said in a radio interview that he hopes the fund will operate with US$ 100 million [EUR 64.8 million] a year [3]. The Netherlands have kick-started the fund with US$ 44 million [EUR 28.5 million], Dutch media reports [4].

In an open letter calling for increased Canadian investment in sanitation, the Sanitation & Water Action Network (SWAN) Canada urged the Canadian Minister of International Cooperation to support the Global Sanitation Fund [5]

A separate initiative, the World Sanitation Fund Project, was announced in 2007 by the World Toilet Organization (WTO) and Ashoka - Innovators for the Public [6]. This fund aims to leverage public and private sources of capital to fund new projects, policies or action plans to be implemented within three to five years. More will be made known at the World Sanitation Fund Forum (WSFF), which will be held together with the World Toilet Summit and Expo from 4-6 November 2008 in Macau [7].

[1] WSSCC - Global Sanitation Fund. Contact: wsscc@who.int

[2] 5th SuSanA steering group meeting in Durban, South Africa, February 2008. Minutes [PDF]

[3] WRS, 12 Mar 2008

[4] NRC [in Dutch], 21 Mar 2008

[5] SWAN Canada, 20 Mar 2008. Contact: info@swancanada.org

[6] The World Sanitation Fund Project
Contact: Amanda C. Fox, Social Financial Services, Ashoka, USA, afox@ashoka.org ; WTO, Singapore, info@worldtoilet.org

[7] World Sanitation Fund Forum