Status Sanitation and Water for All

Since its inception in 2009 the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership has grown to include 91 partners. Every two years, SWA organises a global High Level Meeting to address planning and institutional requirements for improving access to water and sanitation. So far SWA has organised two successful High Level Meetings, in April 2010 and April 2012. An in-country preparatory dialogue process precedes participation of developing countries before each High Level. In the second High Level Meeting of April 2012 ministers of development co-operation, finance, water and sanitation and representatives of the world’s leading water and sanitation agencies (over 80 in all), including 45 developing country governments, attended the meeting or were engaged in the dialogue process. It was probably the largest ever gathering of senior political figures to specifically discuss WASH (SWA secretariat, 2012).

The second High Level Meeting resulted in commitments to take immediate steps to speed up global access to water and sanitation. Primary commitments were made by 35 developing countries to expanded access to a total of 307 million new users of sustainable improved sanitation facilities and 224 million new users of sustainable improved water services (by a certain date). The SWA Secretariat will work with participants to monitor the implementation of the commitments on an annual basis. The Second High Level Meeting has also resulted in 32 out of 37 developing countries and 9 donors committing to maintain or increase funding for the sector, in particular for sanitation.

In addition to the primary commitments made at the SWA High Level Meeting of April 2012, sector ministers from 40 countries collectively committed to increase access to sanitation by at least 7% and access to water by at least 5% by 2014. Using data from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation, this commitment totals 101 million additional people accessing sanitation, and 72 million additional people accessing water.

The first SWA Partnership Meeting took place in South Africa in November 2012. The meeting brought together most of the present SWA partners and potential new partners, all together a  good representation of the water and sanitation sector.  In total over 120 delegates participated from developing country governments, donors, development banks, civil society, multilaterals, sector partners and research and learning institutions. The meeting was the first opportunity for many partners and potential partners to directly engage with Sanitation and Water for All and to have a dialogue on its future. The main result of the meeting was a strong message from the partners to consolidate gains and a clear-cut commitment for support to the partnership and stronger involvement in the implementation of its agenda. .

One of the current challenges of SWA is to follow up on the commitments made during the High Level Meetings. In order to turn the political commitments into achievements on the ground a strong country evidence base is needed both to identify achievable targets and in order to measure achievements (SWA secretariat, 2012). The Partnership Meeting of November (2012) partners agreed that strengthened in-country capacities for monitoring nationally agreed targets and commitments will be key for following-up on the commitments made at the High Level Meetings.  

Success of the High Level Meetings can only be measured against the progress made at country level. The first two High Level Meetings were designed around dialogue on global progress and actions to make progress in off-track countries. A small team is now tasked to develop a strategy for the next HLM in which the HLM will be designed as part of an on-going political dialogue process. The strategy will be built on the on-going- HLM Dialogue with the country processes discussions, especially around implementation of the commitments.

Sources

Sanitation and Water for All, 2012. Summary of the 2012 SWA High Level Meeting Commitments. [online] Available at: <http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/hlm2012statementscommitmentsandevidence.html [Accessed 15 October 2012].

Sanitation and Water for All, 2012. Concept Note Partnership Meeting 2012. Available at: <http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/partnershipmeeting.html> [Accessed 15 October 2012].

Sanitation and Water for All Secretariat, 2012. HLM Options Paper. Draft for discussion. Available at: <http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/partnershipmeeting.html> [Accessed 15 October 2012].

Sanitation and Water for All Secretariat, 2012. SWA Partnership Meeting brief summary. Available at: <http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/partnershipmeeting.html> [Accessed 29 November 2012].