EWP Nepal Movement

Campaigning waves of World Toilet Day in Nepal

2010-12-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

When I joined WaterAid in Nepal just two years ago, I was sad to know that more than half of Nepalis still defecating in open areas each morning. I was astonished to hear that 10,500 children below 5 years are dying each year in this country due to preventable diseases like diarrhea and cholera. JMP Report 2010 stated that world is off track in meeting sanitation MDG targets and it is also true for Nepal. World Toilet Day has been incepted by World Toilet Organization recognizing huge contribution of toilet and sanitation towards dignified and healthy lives.

WaterAid Nepal together with partners wanted to do something differently in this day as campaigning movement. Brainstorming ideas with partners and colleagues came up with the idea of developing a concept note encompassing information like objectives, statistical information and campaign ideas to ease partners to campaign innovatively. These content were later translated and contextualized in local languages by Federation of Water and Sanitation Users Nepal (FEDWASUN).

It was early day on November 19, 2010 students from 3 different community schools were on the roads with placards of toilet and sanitation slogans in Dhading and Pyuthan. It was not only school management but wider stakeholders also supported FEDWASUN in organizing other 3 joint rallies in market areas of Dhanding, Pyuthan and Dang to spread the awareness among wider audience. These rallies were participated by around 2000 people comprising diverse groups like Chief District Officer, political leaders, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Army personnel, media stakeholders, development activists, teachers and students. Chief District Officer, Pyuthan opined “World Toilet Day campaign should be continued for achieving target of declaring Pyuthan as Open Defecation Free zone by 2013. Chief District Office will be committed to provide all the possible support to continue to the momentum”.

We were determined this time that campaigns should not be limited only in organizing rallies so we we provided several ideas to our partners to sprout their contextualized creativity. I was happy to find that FEDWASUN Makwanpur used this platform to share findings of toilet status analysis, different committees were formed to promote sanitation status, interaction programs organized to promote active engagement in sanitation sector. Baglung district chapter opted unique ways like sanitation theme based folk song competition and protest program organized by children at District Education Office(DEO) for demanding easy toilet access in schools. Similarly, Dang also organized protest program at DEO and they also handed over an appeal letter with their demand of toilets in schools to Chief District Officer.

We were delighted to hear news from Lumanti- Support Group for Shelter that they raised awareness of children on hygienic behavior in partnership with Biratnagar municipality. Children were highly eager to learn hand washing techniques to keep them clean and healthy.

We always had a tough time to monitor success of our campaigns so we forecasted success indicators to measure campaign effectiveness. Campaigning with creativity was more than anticipated in the success indicator. Presence of high profile and decision makers was more than the anticipated indicator. Media coverage of the campaign was just in the range of anticipation while the number of participants ie. 500 per district were slightly missed. We felt it was just beginning of monitoring changes and coordinating agencies should be mapping changes made in access of sanitation services as result of increased political commitment and financing in the sector.

Strength of solidarity to campaign together

2010-04-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

The dreams of sanitation campaigners were shattered by the news of sad demise of supreme national leaders. The chaos and confusion was everywhere in the country. There was a huge hope that he would not die so soon at least not before the campaign. All the dreams and hope would never come true in life that taught us to move ahead with courage.

Photo courtesy: Kantipur publications

The campaigners were relieved that they had initiated their queue in the supermarket. The volunteers were putting all their efforts to convince the customers to join the queue in thesupport of the people who were deprived of their basic right of sanitation. It was not that tough for people to convince therefore the campaigners received support from more than 10,000 customers of the supermarket. It did not mean that there were not people who were there to argue against the campaign as they believed on service delivery than campaigning. The crux of sustainable development paradigm was that there should be intermix of both service delivery and influencing for increasing the wider coverage of the development interventions.

Photo courtesy: Anita Pradhan, WAN

Solidarity brought diversity and beauty out of these differences in thinking and doing things differently. Perfectionist would prefer everything in order. The reality of success had shown that it preferred chaordic path which would be combination of chaos and order. The campaign in Nepal looked very chaos from external eyes with several things happening at a time as there were queue organized in 28 districts. The gatherings in remote areas varied in number and campaigning design but the cause was something that bound them all together in a single string as a garland of different flowers.

Photo courtesy: NEWAH

Health professional joined the campaign in organizing series of events outside and inside Kathmandu. The queue near the hospital was another form to generate support from other health stakeholders. They submitted the appeal letter demanding the right of sanitation to Local Development Officer in Kathmandu.

Photo courtesy: WAN

Main campaign event of the queue had to be postponed due to death of the supreme leader. These last minute changes did not shattered the strength of the campaigners. They were further united and came up with the alternative plan to organize series of side events on the 22 March 2010. There was strength in unity that had been proved by the success of the campaigners in organizing World Longest Toilet Queue events in 22 different parts of Kathmandu and Lalitpur only on the single day. The solidarity of the campaigners was remarkable who stood with each other and delivered their best contribution for raising supporters to make stand for sanitation and water for all.

Photo courtesy: NGOFUWS

The campaign at Nepal was different from previous years in several ways. Series of interactions and meetings with other organizations and stakeholders was immense. The meeting had been fruitful as there had been preparation of talking points followed by series of in-house meetings to ensure convincing presentation with the external audiences. It had enabled the campaigners to join hands with 24 organizations ranging from Bhatbhateni Supermarket to Patan Community Based Rehabilitation Organization.

Interactions with external agencies made the campaigners realized that the concept of inclusive campaign should be promoted where youth, children and disabled communities will not be simply invited for the campaign but also provided equal opportunity to share the campaign platform. There were photographic exhibition based on last year’s dirrhoeal epidemic and poster competition led by youth networks, children painting competition allowing children to show their sanitation expressions, wall cartoon exhibition led by Patan Community Based Rehabilitation Organization working for differently abled communities; traditional music, sanitation coverage map, sanitation theme based drama, menstrual hygiene installation art led by the group of artists were some of the events that helped to create the feeling of the inclusive campaigning.

Photo courtesy: WAN

Creativity in the campaigning was prominent in spreading campaign messages. The wall paint with the logo and message of the campaign together with hoarding boards with series of the blunt messages were the earlier messages that went to the wider audiences. These hoarding boards were talk of the town for several days. There were some articles in the media based on the campaign issues together with series of interview both in radio and television channels. The promotional materials of the event comprised of wrist band and t-shirts for volunteers for showing the solidarity for the cause with the amplifying note.

Measuring the outcomes of the campaign had always been a challenging task. Shared calendars were experimented together with the bigger wall calendars. The visualization of the campaigning process performed almost in daily basis helped to create clarity and common understanding in the process. Experimental report card had been initiated to measure the outcomes of the campaign that would still need some improvement.

Campaigning together with diverse communities definitely taught good lessons. There should have regular face to face interactions than relying on online communications that would have brought more clarity on the future directions and increase team building with sharing of responsibilities. The campaigning required more time and effort for planning so there should be adequate time and human resources to plan ahead of time to ensure effectiveness. There should have been proper documentation plan so that all these recordings, photographs and video clippings would have been shared promptly without compromising the quality.

In the nutshell, the campaign provided us several insights that we could use for our future campaigns. On the top of that, the solidarity of our campaigners was something that touched me most. I salute you all and thank you for being so cooperative we managed to cover up our challenge brought forward by the sad demise of the supreme leader.

Photo courtesy: NEPHA

WLTQ going through storm of uncertainity

2010-04-20T21:36:00.001-07:00

Nepalese sanitation for all campaigners had put large amount of thinking and energy for World's Longest Toilet Queue in Nepal to show solidarity at the global level for raising political commitment on sanitation. The campaign was formally to be launched on 20 March 2010 however Guthi and NGOFUWS had organized Soymanbhu Cleaning program, the place where we did our last candle vigil to memorize commitments made on the sector. The program was used as the means to orient volunteers on the forthcoming WLTQ campaign.

There were lots of meetings, discussions and tossing of brains. Last minute preparations were all completed. WASH Nepal, FEDWASUN and Public Health Association had taken responsibility to organize these campaigns in other nearly 30 places outside Kathmandu. Ashutosh Tiwari, CR, WaterAid in Nepal had been instrumental in bringing other stakeholders on board in the campaign. He together with Anil Thaman, another person with creative mind and logistic coordinator for the campaign had convinced Bhatbhateni Supermarket, the biggest supermarket of the country to launch the toilet queue in their premise. They had also allowed us to organize the queue in all three days for the interested customers who visit their supermarket. We were all thrilled with the crowd flowing to our queue however deep inside there was some suspicion that something bad could happen as we were given a hint, a day earlier by our CR to be mentally prepared to deal with this situation.

The queue was organized on the main entrance of the supermarket. The large plasma television was near to our queue, frequently we were surfing these news. It was around 1 pm where we received the news that Girija Prasad Koirala, supreme national leader of our country had died. Suddenly, the roller coaster of uncertainty of our campaign was there. We were sad as it was somehow affected all our energy and thinking we invested for last two months. We were numb and could not react, several calls from different partners flooded as we had also planned to organize a candle light vigil on the same evening. We were not sure what we do next?

Hope you are not bored yet reading my blogs till now, may be you should wait for my next blog to know what we did next!

Hecting planning with feeling of excitement

2010-04-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

I used to think that I am the person who is never tired with responsibilities, do you also feel the same? It has been nearly 2 months, we were planning for the World Longest Toilet Queue. It is not only me, there was all team members of WaterAid in Nepal, partner agencies as well as other stakeholders engaged in the campaigning. For me, it was first time, working so closely with variety of people and organizations, all having different working style and priorities. True, there was more need of balancing acts to deal with these diverse people and mindsets:) Sometimes you feel so excited that you forget all those tiredness and sometimes you are so frustrated that you just want to shut your mind and mouth:( All those mixed feelings were there while planning and moving ahead.

World Longest Toilet Queue is starting from tomorrow. We have finished all our planning and now the time has come to unfold those plans and dreams. The queue will be organized for all 3 days in Bhatbhateni Supermarket, the country's biggest supermarket and credit goes to Ashutosh who always had a bigger dream for the campaign as well as good contact with friends like Anil Thaman who made our dream of organizing the queue in the supermarket become a reality by convincing the owner of the supermarket. The convincing skills of these two people is a great asset to our campaign.

Another attraction for tomorrow is candle light vigil to be organized in memory of Jajarkot and adjacent districts where people died last year from diarrohoea. The vigil will be coordinated by our NGOFUWS and Guthi, our active members who had been great mobilizer of youth volunteers.

Public Health Association is another stakeholder who is organizing mini queue in front of hospital as well as lobby programs in Local Development Office. These are activities planned for Sunday. The association had also agreed to bring students with their uniform to gather in the main event at Tudikhel.

Tudikhel event is major attraction where several of other organizations like Pashim Paila organizing photo exhibition of jajarkot, Yaatra organizing poster competition and live painting, Patan CBR organizing wall comic exhibition of disabled communities, wireless space sponsored by Worldlink are some extra activities in Tudikhel. Well, there will be space for writing letters to parliamentarians demanding their urgent actions. I forgot to mention about our musical programs. There are more and more. If I go on sharing it will definitely be a long story.

We have dreamed and planned these together but let's see how it all goes. If we succeed then it will be a success story if not then it will be a good lesson so that we dare to be more ambitious next time:)

More stories and my reflections to come.......

Remembering our commitment

2010-04-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Time flies very fast, it just seems like yesterday that Monkey Temple was shined by candle vigil organized in memory of children who lost their lives due to preventable diseases and asking urgent political commitment and actions to end these preventable deaths. Nearly after an year, the same campaigners organized themselves and organized Soyambhu Cleaning Program.

Nabindra Raj Joshi, Constituent Assembly Member was present in the event organized by the campaigners on 18 March 2010. He emphasized importance of right to sanitation for people living with dignity. He reiterated his commitments for supporting the cause so that no one in Nepal is deprived from these basic requirements of life.

Ashutosh Tiwari briefed devastating deaths that can be prevented and urged for increased political commitments for ensuring sanitation for all. He shared on the series of events that are being planned for world longest toilet queue and requested people to participate in the queue that is going to be organized on 22 March at Tudikhel from 1-5 pm.

Interesting part of the campaign was to see voluntary spirit of the young people towards the cleaning program as well as for the support of the cause to ensure sanitized scenario. The blunt message of the banner stating "even today 1 crore 40 lakh Nepalis defecated openly" was another attraction. I tried to take reaction of the people who were there, some said that it is so straightforward and were just laughing and laughing. Some said it was good message and hoped these campaigns will bring change in the country, overall was the mixed feeling.

Creative mind find ways to express

2010-04-20T21:30:00.001-07:00

Photo: Anita Pradhan, WAN

Ashmina Ranjit, a well known artist in Nepal performed an installation art to show social taboos of menstruation. The artist was wearing a gown made of sanitary napkins and was carrying a pipe where blood was flowing. Women during menstrual period are treated as impure and are not allowed to enter kitchen. In some rural areas, women are prime targets of wild life as they were not allowed to sleep inside house and had to sleep outside during these periods. It will be amazing to note that some women were not allowed to eat properly. The things are worse in rural areas where young girls have to miss their school as they do not have toilet in their schools. It is believed that these women should not touch any plants. The artist with her creativity challenged these social notions.

What was tough for us as advocates to spread these social messages through creative forms like installation art? WaterAid in Nepal team especially Anita and Om had worked together with the artists to help her in the different messages that society should be knowing in terms of menstrual hygiene. The crowd gathering to enjoy and have fun will not be that conscious and serious on grasping the messages. Thinking was that there will be wider coverage in media as well as presence of high profile members in the gathering will definitely make menstruation, a political topic to be covered and discussed.

It is not so easy to have some well known artist be convinced to take forward the issue that she has been raising and incorporate issues of menstruation hygiene. Maintaining balance of spreading message of menstruation as social taboo was much easier than that of menstruation hygiene. It made me feel that may be we need to have more interactions and discussions to crystallize our thoughts and share it with her so that she can add more essence of her creativity in changing dimensions of menstruation hygiene.

Big thanks goes to Ashmina who has agreed to take this issue of menstruation forward and helping us with breaking the silence of menstruation. Appreciations should also be given to Anita and Om who had been constantly communicating with the artists and helping with her for chalking out the messages that society should be knowing. I should not be forgetting Ashutosh sir and Rabin sir for their motivations and encouragements, we tried something new and it worked but were we successful or not we are yet to measure:)

Series of planning for transforming idea of creative campaign a reality

2010-02-15T22:18:00.001-08:00

World Longest Toilet Queue, most awaited campaign is almost near to our door steps as 20-22 March 2010 is nearly after a month. EWP Nepal, FAN Nepal and WASH Chapter in Nepal is organizing the event jointly under the banner of consolidated campaign on Sanitation and Water for All in Nepal. There has been several rounds of informal discussions and interactions that led to this principle agreement of organizing the event jointly under the consolidated campaign banner. It has been agreed that all these networks will work together but also work independently in the areas where they have better hold without duplicating efforts but complimenting each other.

February 10 brought these members together in a platform to plan more vigorously for moving forward the campaign with more compliment but ensuring vigorous coverage. It was decided that there will be a big national event in Kathmandu on March 22, 2010 but there will be several events organized in rural parts of the country so that there will be events within all three days to show national commitment to the global campaigning. The WASH team member had already initiated process of orienting rural team members and spreading the message with the network members. EWP Nepal had communicated with other donor agencies, media as well government and political representatives. FAN Nepal had prepared a plan for orienting other rural partners and network members to have a wider coverage of the event. There has been preparation of some locally relevant reference documents as well as translated version of registration sheet that can be used in rural communities who cannot read English formats.

Discussion with the campaigners emerged creative ideas that could be made operational. The ideas of bringing together celebrities from different sections of life as movies, sports, human right and media were discussed. The country had recently witnessed a disastrous diarroheal outbreak in Jajarkot and its adjacent remote districts.The campaign should be taken as an event to share tribute to these 315 life lost and solidarity to 47,000 people who were negatively affected by this disaster. The concept of candle light vigil could be organized was the voice raised in the gathering. It was strongly opined that there should be a strong component of entertainment to gather the crowd and pass the sanitation message but with fun. Media should be a strong partner in the campaign, there should be series of write ups in the newspapers and online papers, there could be a mind captivating photo of children in queue to attract people's attention. Youth are the pillars of any development and they do play pivotal role in the campaign like this so there should be proper mobilization strategy for promoting young advocates in the sector.

The preliminary discussion in the planning meeting had showed varieties of the events that could be organized in the Nepal campaign. It was realized that there should be serious thinking, can we implement all these ideas? Are we being more ambitious and do we have resources to do all these creative ideas? There are several other questions in the mind of the campaigners that are still unanswered. May be we need another series of deep thought provoking planning event?

Hurray Global Framework for Action is finally rolling out!

2010-02-15T21:15:00.000-08:00

I was thinking from last week that I should be posting something on the site as it has been a long time. There were so many things to catch up ranging from planning for World Longest Toilet Queue to Valentine Day so was finding bit difficult to pour down our engagements.

Global Framework for Action on sanitation and water has been the major call of End Water Poverty Global Campaign. The discussions for materializing the framework in the action has been initiated. There has been selection of pilot countries for implementation of Sanitation and Water for All (SWA): Global Framework for Action (GF4A). It has been planned that first high level meeting on sanitation and water will be organized during April 23, 2010 and it will be hosted by UNICEF. The preliminary discussions have been initiated in all these respective countries and region. Nepal has also been selected as one of the pilot countries therefore the consultation process in the country has to be initiated.

Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MPPW) organized a national consultation on 5 February 2010. Piers Cross facilitated the gathering representing UNICEF New York SWA secretariat. It was great experience to act as master of ceremony for the opening session. The gathering was enriched by wider participation of government, donor and civil society organizations. The platform has been utilized as the means for reiterating government's commitment to achieve universal access to water and sanitation by 2017.

SWA: GF4A was regarded as the fast growing partnership that is essential for combating global crisis of sanitation and water. It was anticipated that the framework would support in ensuring national capacity to address the sectoral blockages. It was realized that there should be several rounds of discussion among national stakeholders so that there would be a strong participation of the country in the forthcoming high level meeting.

The consultation was participated by all concerned stakeholders except representatives from Ministry of Finance. Therefore, it was discussed that the next step would be convincing and bringing in board the representative of the Ministry who would also be joining the high level meeting.

What role could campaign like ours could play? We had campaigned all together and really it is something on plate of our country. It is something that we all should be proud of. Still there is a long way to go as it is still in the inception phase and we should be raising our voice so that concerned stakeholder will be responsive to fulfill their commitment. It is the reason why we should again be joining our hands and brain together so that we all gather larger masses around World Longest Toilet Queue during 20-22 March 2010, shouldn't we?

Continued momentum for ensuring sanitation and water as constitutional right in Nepal

2009-12-18T00:59:00.000-08:00

Capacity Building of Stakeholders for Right to Water and Sanitation was organized jointly by Freshwater Action Network Nepal, End Water Poverty Campaign Nepal, WASH Nepal, UN Habitat, WaterAid and NGO Forum for Urban water and sanitation. The event was coordinated by NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation on December 14, 2009. Constituent Assembly Members Hishila Yami, Buddha Ratna Sayami and Nabindra Raj Joshi were present in the event together with other stakeholders representing civil society and media.

Hishila Yami committed for her support in establishing sanitation and water as constitutional right. She expressed that there should not be any doubts and debates to incorporate these agenda in the constitution. Scarcity of water and sanitation negatively influence women and children. The young girls are deprived from education merely because there is no toilet facility that is a must during menstrual period. She urged media stakeholders for increasing coverage for highlighting the concerns and other stakeholders to promote campaigning initiatives so that there is an increased political attention.

Nabindra Raj Joshi appreciated continued effort of civil society organizations in endorsing sanitation and water as constitutional right. He reiterated his commitment to continue as the champion for lobbying so that this agenda is not missed in the people’s constitution. He emphasized that civil society and state should work together to translate these rights into reality for changing sanitation and water coverage. He opined that civil society should recognize support of political leaders in establishing the right so that they are encouraged to raise people’s concerns in future.

Buddha Ratna Sayami shared that the concern of sanitation and water is concern of all human beings. He raised the concern of depleting water sources and its negative hazards to human beings and environment. He shared that there should be development of federal states with equal opportunities of education and employment. The concern of sanitation and water should be considered in each and every development endeavor. Concrete suggestions from civil society organizations will be very helpful to political leaders so that they are informed more about people’s concerns and solutions to address these problems.

Rabin Lal Shrestha, WaterAid stated that “We want right and we fight for right”. He expressed that ensuring sanitation and water as constitutional right will support in making government and state accountable to combat challenges of sanitation and water. He shared that the guarantee of right will also ensure restructuring of financial incentives so that adequate funding is allocated for the sector. He shared that there have some initiatives of capacity of policy makers so that they are more responsive towards people and their challenges.

Lajana Manandhar, FAN Nepal expressed the need for reinforcing the agenda of sanitation and water in the constitution of Nepal. She shared that these are the voices of civil society with strong back up from rural and marginalized communities. She demanded that the state should be responsible for reinstate right of people to ensure their dignified lives. Solidarity of the civil society will be continued for raising the concern of the people so that policy makers could hear them loud and clear.

Basant Prasad Adhikari, Advocate shared on water and sanitation right in preliminary constitution. Right to sanitation and water is not an unique feature, it has been recognized in several countries including Uruguay, South Africa, Bangladesh, Honduras, Bolivia, Algeria, Kenya, Iran, Colombia, etc. Establishment of the right will support in claiming right with entitlement. It will add advocacy value so that the campaigners could influence policy makers in stronger manner. He emphasized on need of separate right to sanitation as it will not dilute efforts for the sector. He also shared CA procedure of decision, timeline and potential advocacy initiative that could be carried by civil society.

Planning and learning together

2009-12-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

A long awaited planning meeting of End Water Poverty Campaign was organized on December 8-11, 2009 at beautiful location of Accra, Ghana. It was a long journey for me as I had to change three flights with long transit hours and took me nearly 2 days to reach the venue. All the tiredness disappeared when I got the opportunity to meet these campaigners from different parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. Some were people I met last year in the previous planning meeting and some were new faces who had joined to strengthen the campaign.

Learning of EWP campaign from Nepal, Bangladesh, Ghana, UK together with EVERY ONE campaign of Save the Children were shared. Success factors included clarity in focus, periodic planning & review, lobbying for increasing political commitment, private sector mobilization and networking. The strength and weakness of EWP campaign both at national and global level were discussed.

The gathering decided that the campaign should provide continuity in focusing on sanitation. Therefore, the proposed aim was "Universal access to safe sanitation and clean water for all". The participants also chalked out objectives, allies and path for influence. The campaign would focus on High Level Meeting, UN Summit on MDG +10, Global Framework for Action National process and Regional processes.

A field visit to rural part of Ghana was an incredible experience. I was comparing the rural communities of Nepal and Ghana. There were some similarities as there was a leader who coordinated the development process and activities of rural area, children playing freely and proud women sharing their toilet. Women seemed to be the one who were taking care of children as well as maintaining these facilities. It was slightly different in a way that there was very good road network that definitely something not common in rural areas of Nepal.

The planning meeting had provided an immense opportunity to broaden our linkage with other like minded organizations and individuals. It had helped participants to expand their horizon and contribute in the process of planning in more participatory manner. The big appreciation should be given to Steve and Serena who worked very hard in ensuring systematic flow of the event. Last but not the least Fleur was a great facilitator who added more energy to the process.

Inspirations from Global EWP campaign: Cater support from Nepalese medical professionals

2009-11-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

End Water Poverty Global Campaign has received support from European doctors to spread the pledge of increased commitment to combat global sanitation crisis on World Toilet Day 2009. These inspirational support from the doctors ignited the idea of approaching medical communities in Nepal. There was a hurray moment for all of us when Nepal Health Association (NEPHA) circulated World Toilet Day messages to all NEPHA members (~1,000 members) in Nepal and Public Appeal to all.

The appeal emphasized that toilet is basic requirement for ensuring dignified lives and minimizing number of deaths from these sanitation deprivations including annual death of 10,500 children below 5 years of age. It appreciated increasing support from medical leaders across Europe as investment in safe sanitation is one of the most important actions in slashing child mortality rates allowing our economies to prosper. It requested support in raising voices for ensuring basic toilet access to all and celebrate World Toilet Day to raise awareness for tackling this moral crisis so that no child die because they are denied their most basic of rights.

Good linkage of WaterAid Nepal team member Mr. Om Prasad Gautam has helped in getting linkage with the medical professionals. The support from Ms. Anita Pradhan in preparing information package was also noteworthy.

Motivations to dream big for SACOSAN and sanitation

2009-11-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

CSO Consultation to the SACOSAN III was inaugurated by lightening candles from guests and South Asian delegates. Sri Lankan government representatives present in the inaugural session expressed their openness in engaging civil society in forthcoming SACOSAN. They hoped that the CSO consultation would provide inputs in designing SACOSAN IV as well as clarify number and mode of CSO participation in the SACOSAN.

Background scenario of Delhi pre meeting and SACOSAN III revealed that engagement with government did not ignite in SACOSAN but prior to the regional conference in respective countries. The official delegation from Nepal was very receptive to CSO opinion as they were well in advance consulted and convinced by CSOs in Nepal.

Inter country working group (ICWG) could be taken as the platform for influence. There were good decisions made in the ICWG meeting. There should be proper follow up mechanism for ensuring effective implementation of these decisions. The clarity in mandate of ICWG could yield in increasing effectiveness.

Media engagement should be pro-active for raising people’s concerns and pressurizing government to be accountable towards SACOSAN commitments. The media networks at national level could be culminated to the regional level to ensure bottom up approach of networking. Creativity in engaging media should be ensured; writing articles in media is not enough. True media campaign should ensure increased policy and public discourses.

True representation of grass roots representatives in the consultation should be ensured. Preparatory consultations at the local level both before and after SACOSAN would be supportive in raising people’s concerns and mobilizing local community for pressurizing government representatives in materializing their commitments.

Global framework for action (GF4A) is essential for responding financial and political failure of combating the global crisis of sanitation. GF4A regional meeting in Asia and South Asia is planned for November/ December 2009. The Annual High Level Meeting is planned for 22-23 April 2010 at Washington DC. SACOSAN IV could shape global high level meeting to be held in spring 2011.

FAN focus more on capacity building, grassroots voices and knowledge sharing. EWP emphasize on campaigning and global framework for action. WaterAid contribute more on research and capacity building of partners. WASH support multi-stakeholder and individual linkage building. These strength should be capitalized, whilst standing in solidarity with others, it should increase the effectiveness of own advocacy initiatives.

Rights based approach essentially focuses on change in power relationship. Right to water and sanitation can be both Rights based approach and Need based approach based on process and community engagement.

Madurankuliya and Nikarvaratiya field trip showed the success of any project initiatives depend on the level of community engagement. There should be no mistrust, no egoism and working with full transparency smoothened the sailing of these community initiatives.

Country program shared their tentative plan of action. Nepal plan of action incorporated following aspects:
• Review existing plan and strategies on SACOSAN
• Potential actions and procedures
o Share outcomes of CSO SACOSAN and status of SACOSAN progress
o Consultations for proper coordination
o Integrate with existing campaigning initiatives
o Review SACOSAN progress status
o Lobbying meetings
o Media campaigning
o Process documentation and knowledge management

The experiences of Sri Lanka showed that meeting the last mile of total sanitation coverage was more challenging than earlier phases. It indicated need for more conscious and strategic efforts in other countries of the region to plan more vigorously for reaching these final targets of sanitation.

CSO should dream and envision SACOSAN IV scheduled for February 21-25, 2011. The visionary concept should be the baseline for identifying roles of the concerned agencies. The influencing roles of CSOs should be made pretty clear so that there can be uniformity and synergy both at national and regional level. The consultation meeting encouraged CSO stakeholders to dream big so that no one in South Asia will be deprived from basic sanitation services.

CSO Consultation on Status of Sanitation and Strategic Steps

2009-11-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Sanitation is still a neglected sector despite of the fact that more than half the population of Nepal (i.e. 14.2 million people) is deprived from access to safe sanitation services. Annually across Nepal 10,500 children below the age of five loose their lives because of diarrhoea, which is mainly caused due to lack of sanitation and safe drinking water. The recent cholera outbreak in Western districts of Nepal killed more than 305 people and adversely affected more than 46,000 people.

SACOSAN III declaration has been a remarkable achievement for sanitation campaigners, wherein the right for sanitation and water has been recognized as a basic right. It has also provided more momentum to gain increased political commitment to ensure sanitation and water as a constitutional right.

There has been establishment of consolidated campaigning approach incorporating three campaigns and networks namely End Water Poverty Campaign in Nepal, Freshwater Action Network in Nepal and WASH Nepal in order to ensure synergized efforts in ensuring sanitation and water for all. The consolidated campaign on Sanitation and Water for all organized the civil society consultation on Sanitation Status and Strategic Steps on October 30, 2009 at World Trade Center. The consultation was participated by nearly 50 participants including WASH civil society agencies, media stakeholders and some development activists.

Mr. Umesh Pandey, WASH Nepal Coordinator welcomed all the participants on behalf of the organizing campaigns. He expressed need of synergy and consolidated approach in creating larger positive impact on sanitation. Mr. Rajendra Aryal, Chairperson, FEDWASUN presented on the sanitation status in Nepal where 1,50,12,000 people are still openly defecating. Mr. Rabin Lal Shrestha, Research and Advocacy Manager, WAN shared on positioning of Nepal on Sanitation Chase Matrix developed in order to analyze achievements and challenges in the sanitation sector. Mr. Prakash Amatya, Executive Director, NGOFUWS facilitated the session on strategic steps based on four themes of ensuring constitutional right, Sanitation as national priority; One plan, one coordination and one monitoring & Mainstreaming sanitation across sectors.

Ms. Lajana Manandhar, FAN Nepal, National Convener thanked for active participation of all the participants that had helped in developing common understanding. Ms. Shikha Shrestha, End Water Poverty Campaign Nepal, Coordinator appreciated valuable strategic directions provided by the participation to enroll the path of ensuring sanitation to all. She thanked all the campaign members as well as the individuals who directly and indirectly supported in organizing the consultation process.

Synergized effort of EWP, FAN and WASH

2009-07-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

End Water Poverty Campaign Planning meeting organized on July 9-10, 2009 emerged as the platform for consolidating efforts of End Water Poverty (EWP), Freshwater Action Network (FAN) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) network in the common agenda of ensuring water and sanitation as constitutional right, materializing SACOSAN commitment and increasing and ensuring effective utilization of budget in the sector.

The planning meeting participated by 21 participants in Mirabel Resort, Dhulikhel reviewed achievements and challenges of the EWP journey using world cafe methodology. In a way, it was fun method of reviewing the challenges of the campaigning process without threatening any individual organization responsible for coordination. Briefing presentations of FAN and WASH was useful in creating understanding of these networks and their efforts in the sector. These presentations and reflections helped in the process of identifying common agenda for future course of synergized efforts.

The effort of creating a common campaign for raising these similar agenda could be considered as the major outcome of the planning meeting. There was development of task force for developing further details and working modalities of the consolidated campaign. Participants expressed that the road of synergy would not be smooth but if there could be collaboration and support coupled with commitment then it could be an exemplary effort in the sector.

Meeting with Honorable Binda Pandey, Chairperson, Fundamental Right & Guiding Principle Committee

2009-07-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

WASH chapter in Nepal coordinated a meeting with Honorable Binda Pandey, Chairperson, Fundamental Right & Guiding Principle Committee, Constituent Assembly Committee on July 2, 2009. The lobbying interaction handed over the appeal letter signed jointly by WASH, FAN and EWP Nepal chapters demanding establishment of water and sanitation as constitutional right.

The chairperson was positive and concerned about the right of water. She expressed that these aspirations of the people will be included in the constitution. The campaigners were showering facts and reasons for demanding separate right for sanitation and water. It was expected that the meeting would help in bringing the focus of sanitation in the minds of policy makers.

The chairperson also shared that the draft content will be shared after a month and Civil Society can provide direct written recommendations to CA to meet the concerns of the society. It indicated need for alertness as well as joint initiatives of different campaign for ensuring concerns of sanitation and water in the constitution of the country.

Recognizng commitment of Mr. Umakant Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning & Works (MPPW)

2009-07-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Campaigners can also appreciate sincere efforts shown towards combating development challenges. The handing over of appreciation letter to Mr. Umakant Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning Works (MPPW), Nepal jointly by End Water Poverty (EWP) and WaterAid Nepal is an exemplary effort of recognizing his commitment towards ensuring water and sanitation as constitutional right. Mr. Sanjay Adhikary, Country Representative, WaterAid Nepal handed over the appreciation letter to the secretary on June 19,2009. EWP campaigners together Mr. Suman Sharma, Joint Secretary, MPPW; and Mr. Han, Regional Advisor, WHO were present in the meeting.

Mr. Umakant Jha had strongly urged for establishing water and sanitation as constitutional right in an inauguration program of National Sanitation Action Week organized on 5 June 2009. He shared that these appreciations would be motivational for engrossing more energy in the sector. He suggested that Rainwater harvesting workshop can be tapped as an opportunity for sharing these agenda of water and sanitation as constitutional right. He also opined that consultative interactions with selected parliamentarians could be organized to discuss the agenda of ensuring water and sanitation as constitutional right to develop common understanding among the CA members.

Children water race for ending water and sanitation deprivations

2009-06-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

EWP campaign yet again, was able to organise a Children Water Race on 29th May 2009 at the heart spot of Kathmandu, Mahabaudha. The event was jointly organised by NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation, Nepal Red Cross Society, Guthi, Annapurna Higher Secondary School and EWP Campaign in Nepal.On the occasion of Sithi Nakha (a festival for cleaning traditional water sources), this event aimed to raise awareness of the people on conserving the traditional water sources.

The race was glorified by the presence of Honourable Constitution Assembly Member Mr. Nabindra Raj Joshi. The Honourable CA Member expressed his solidarity in the campaign for assuring safe drinking water to citizens of the country. He handed over the certificate of appreciation to all the children who participated in the race. He shared need for conservation of water sources for combating water crisis. He committed that he would raise the voice at the Constitution Assembly and other relevant political platforms for converting this moral issue into a political concern.

The race was inaugurated by Ms. Ceridwen Johnson, Communications Manager, Freshwater Action Network (FAN). The gathering of campaigners in the spot encouraged children to perform better and together with Nepalese crowd there was also presence of Mr. Gabbita Mruthyunjaya Sastry, FAN South Asia (FANSA) Coordinator and Mr. Yakub Hossain, FANSA Coordinator Bangladesh to globalize the encouraging crowd.

The representative shared that the festival to be celebrated as National Sanitation and Water Conservation Day. Children are the most acute sufferers from poor sanitation and inadequate water. Therefore, they could be the best advocate to ensure for the quality water and proper sanitation for all.

The winners and participants of the race were felicitated by the prizes and appreciation for their effort. There were altogether 70 school children who participated in the Water Race. The event encouraged for the continuous efforts to gain the success. Thus, the campaigners were also inspired for their utmost attempt to end water and sanitation deprivations.

Moving End Water Poverty Campaign Beyond Kathmandu

2009-05-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

End Water Poverty Campaign recently organized series of campaigns targeted in urban centers and global audience. It has been realized that there should be further initiatives focused to rural communities. We were highly enthusiastic to support an interaction organized at Bajrabarahi village. The Water and Sanitation Interaction was organized in occasion of Sithi Nakha "National Sanitation and Water Conservation Day" by Bajrabarahi Youth Club and Ethnological Study Group (ESG) in support of NGO Forum, Guthi and EWP Nepal on May 22, 2009 at Bajrabarahi Village Development Committee (VDC) office premise. The event focused on current water and sanitation scenario and potential community actions for sustaining the water sources and maintaining clean environment of the beautiful village situated in Tistung. It was very hard not to be mesmerized by the natural beauty of the village.

Photo 1: Overwhelming beauty of village (Photo credit: Suraj S, WAN)

The event was very encouraging as Mr. Kedar Bahadur Joshi, Bajrabarahi VDC Secretary appreciated support of the organizations to organize the event focusing on water and sanitation. He expressed his commitment to provide necessary assistance in the cleaning campaign as well as in awareness campaigns for preventing diseases from improper water and sanitation services. He indicated that VDC can provide economic assistance to these initiatives if there is a higher participation of the villagers.

The campaigners were more motivated when Mr. Megh Raj Balami, Chief, Sub Health Post, Bajrabarahi also appreciated the support and committed to support in organizing other awareness campaigns for providing information to villagers on safe water, clean environment and preventable diseases. He committed that his institution can support in providing technical and other assistance to the villagers in water treatment so that villagers can benefit from clean water access.

Photo 2: Sharing appreciations and commitments (Photo credit: Suraj S, WAN)

It was observed that most of the villagers were based on agriculture and the water scarcity was not seen as the problem as there were some abundant sources of water. However, Mr. Sambhu Shankar Bartaula, Headmaster, Bajrabarahi Higher Secondary School raised concerns of water scarcity in schools of the villages. He added that youth and volunteers can be mobilized for raising awareness on safe water and hygiene behaviour to prevent from different diseases. Similar opinion was also shared by Mr. Pramod Joshi, Chairperson, Bajrabarahi Youth Club and Ms. Mina Maharjan, Chairperson, ESG.

EWP campaigner Mr. Anil Sthapit, Director, Guthi urged that water and sanitation concerns should be addressed before the community faces impact of unsafe water and sanitation scenario. He also discussed rainwater harvesting and water recharge schemes for sustain groundwater level.

EWP campaigner Mr. Tri Ratna Manadhar, NGO Forum expressed that urban water issues were more critical than rural ones. He shared his organization's experiences on conservation of traditional water sources. He also appealed the community members to support for celebration of the Sithi Nakha.

EWP Campaigner Ms. Shikha Shrestha shared adverse water and sanitation scenario of the country. She discussed briefly on approaches of End Water Poverty campaign and requested the community to join their hands for ensuring the scenario where water and sanitation would be accessed by all.

Photo 3: Sharing EWP Approaches (Photo credit: Suraj S, WAN)

Group exercise on water and sanitation scenario facilitated by Mr. Anil Sthapit revealed that the community was yet to experience acuteness of water and sanitation concerns. However, they shared that they were slowly facing the water scarcity issues and pollution caused by plastic materials. Potential actions covered areas of traditional water conservation, rainwater harvesting, awareness camps, cleaning campaigns, water treatment and waste management.

Photo 4: Lively Group discussions (Photo credit: Suraj S, WAN)

The campaigners visited Bajrabarahi Higher Secondary School. They interacted with some children and briefed on water and sanitation concerns. The EWP campaign materials especially EWP school name tags were also distributed to raise awareness of these children.

Photo 5: Children with old monument in their own classroom (Photo credit: Suraj S, WAN)

These events can be regarded as an initial step for spreading the EWP approaches in rural communities of the Tistung. The follow up of the campaigners together with the community strength would definitely create a good case of moving the campaign beyond Kathmandu.

Photo 6: EWP Campaigners in rural areas (Photo credit: Suraj S, WAN)

Italy receiving vibes of global framework for action from Nepal

2009-05-20T05:21:00.001-07:00

End Water Poverty (EWP) Campaigners in Nepal on May 20, 2009 called upon Mr. Ravi Bhakta Shrestha, Honorary Consul, Consulate of Italy, Kathmandu urging him to recommend the Italian Government for endorsement of global framework for action in forthcoming G8 meeting to be hosted by the Italian Government during July 8-10,2009. The Honorary Consul receiving global call of EWP from Ms. Lajana Manandhar committed that he will forward the concerns of campaigners to the Italian Government with personal comment to emphasize translation of global framework for action principles into action. He emphasized on the realization of the concerns by the national government and urge donor countries for the support with more priority in the water and sanitation. He opined that the global campaigning targeted to donor countries together with national campaigning focused on national development agenda would support to combat global crisis of water and sanitation.

Photo 1: EWP campaigner, handing over calls to Honorary Italian consular in Nepal [photo credit Prakash Amatya]

Contextualizing the meeting, Mr. Sanjaya Adhikary, Country Representative, WaterAid in Nepal shared that global development agenda do not incorporate crisis of water and sanitation that globally kills 4000 children per day. It is a moral responsible for annual loss of 10,500 children in Nepal due to diseases related to lack of safe drinking water and sanitation. He expressed that it is a high time, for Italian government to show its strategic leadership to endorse the Global Framework for Action (GF4A) on water and sanitation during the forthcoming G8 meeting being held in Italy to conquer the moral crisis.

Photo 2: EWP campaigners in Nepal called upon his Honorary Consul, Consulate of Italy
[photo credit Anil Sthapit]

Mr. Rabin Lal Shrestha, Research and Advocacy Manager, WaterAid in Nepal appreciated leadership of Italy where the global framework for action on water and sanitation has been expanded from Africa to other continents including Asia. He also briefed about inception of the campaign in Nepal as well as sector beyond approach for wider repercussions of the campaign. Ms. Lajana Manandhar, Executive Director, Lumanti handed over the call to the Honorary Consul and briefed on the global calls of EWP campaign.The handing over of the call was supported by the presence of campaigners representing FEDWASUN, Guthi, Lumanti, NEWAH, NGO Forum, Radio Sagarmatha and WaterAid in Nepal.

Amplifying Voices for Effective and Sustainable WASH services: Added momentum of EWP Campaign in Nepal

2009-04-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

End Water Poverty Campaign in Nepal embarked on another phase titled “Amplifying voices for effective and sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services” with audiences granted by Mr. Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, Minister, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Mr. Ganesh Shah, Minister, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology and Constitution Assembly Member Mr. Nabindra Raj Joshi and Sanitation brand Ambassador- Kolly Wood Actress Ms. Jharna Thapa. The programme was witnessed by Ms. Barbara Frost, Chief Executive Officer of WaterAid UK, Ms. Margarett Batty – Director of Policy and Campaign Department WaterAid UK along with Mr. Tom Palakudiyal – Asia Regional Manager, WaterAid.

Hon. Minister, Mr. Gachhadar kindly offered to receive national EWP Call from a school girl of squatter community Ms. Rina Parajuli. The chief guest Mr. Gachhadar addressed the floor with his political commitment towards due priority of water and sanitation sector. He also recalled his memory of participation in SACOSAN-III and expressed his commitment to fulfil the commitments made in the declaration. He urged all political parties and civil societies to come above the political ideologies and work together to solve the problems of water and sanitation.

Hon. Minister Mr. Ganesh Shah, Minister, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology expressed his happiness that call for right to water and sanitation has brought into the important gathering. He also informed the house that he will continue his engagement on fighting for water and sanitation right in new constitution of Nepal until it is finally included. He also highlighted on importance of climate change and its adaptation measure and need of WASH to look into this perspective as well.

Constitution Assembly Member Mr. Nabindra Raj Joshi informed the house that water and sanitation right is now included in the first draft of the new constitution after consultation with major political parties. He also questioned the house whether water and sanitation rights to be written separately or a combined statement will be enough. As CA member, he is in consultation on this agenda. He also informed the audience that he had submitted sankalpa prastab (Vote of Oath – one of the highest power a parliamentarian have had in the parliament of Nepal) to tackle water and sanitation crisis in Nepal. Appreciating international calls on Global Framework for Action, he appealed to G8 countries to listen to voices of people from around the world and urged to include WASH agenda in the forthcoming G8 meeting in Rome.

Ms. Barbara Frost, CEO, WaterAid UK briefing global End Water Poverty campaign expressed a need for a collective action to deal with the concerns that affects all human beings. She shared her experiences of trip to Nepal where people are suffering and attempts made by government and non government agencies to curtail these pains. She hoped for consolidated efforts at the country that would bring sparkle of collective initiatives at the global level. It would ultimately ensure inclusion of people's agenda in the global policies.

The international call was supposed to be received by representative from Italian Consul, however, sadly the representative met and accident and could not attend the event. The audience was informed of message from Italian consul that the international calls will be forwarded for formal processing. Expressing soon recovery of her health, the call was received by a campaigner Ms. Lajana Manandhar.

A warm welcome from Mr. Sanjaya Adhikary, Country Representative, WaterAid in Nepal emphasized on the need of consolidating efforts to address this moral issue where people of Nepal are going through deprivations and sufferings including annual death of 10,500 children below 5 years due to water borne diseases. Despite being consistently cited as top priorities in poor communities by themselves, sanitation and water have been overlooked in the global development agenda. He also linked importance of EWP with WASH improved governance.

To give insight of EWP momentum to the audience, Ms. Shikha Shrestha, EWP Campaign Coordinator presented “Trajectory of EWP Campaign in Nepal”—history from 2006 to March 2009 and forthcoming programme for the year 2009-10.

Recent EWP National call urge for integrating special sanitation needs of women including menstrual hygiene management in planning, implementation, monitoring and measure of WASH program outcomes. Thus in the event, Menstrual hygiene report was also launched on this occasion followed by findings dissemination by Mr. Om Prashad Gautam - Social Development Advisor of WaterAid in Nepal.

The occasion was made lively by cultural events –rhythm opening and WASH drama closing as beginning and ending of the program provide the long lasting impression of the events people attend.

A melodious rhythm of Jalatarang - literally meaning water waves was a symbol of initiation of a gathering where people participated to explore potentialities of creating synergy for dealing with the concerns of water, sanitation and hygiene. The musical beginning created a silence that let people forget their worries and enjoy the beauty of water rhythm played by Mr. Maila Dangol and Mr. Prem Chandra Ojhaiya.

There was a drama presented by Shilpee, a group of young theater artists who are well known for raising awareness in the social issues. They performed the drama depicting issues of inadequate sanitation and water. It highlighted need for ensuring water and sanitation as constitutional right and relevance of raising the concerns in forthcoming G8 meeting to be held at Italy during July 8-10,2009. They concluded drama showing need for joining hands together for ensuring water and sanitation for all thereby would support in promoting dignified lives of people.

Can lights of candles save thousands of children dying each year?

2009-03-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

Every 15 seconds, a child dies in this world from a water-related disease, isn't it a serious humanitarian concern that denies child right to live? The case is not different in Nepal where more than 10,000 children die only from diarrhoeal diseases. If we add death caused due to other water borne diseases then the number will be increased even higher. It is very pathetic that 42 districts of this country full of water resources have sanitation coverage less than national coverage of 46%. It provided ample of reasons for End Water Poverty Campaigners to mobilize masses on World Water Day to advocate for "water and sanitation for all".

Soyambhu well known as a symbol of peace worldwide was the best venue for the campaigners to lighten the candle in memory of these children who lost their lives simply because of lack of improved safe drinking water and sanitation services to the people dwelling in this country. The mass of more than 3000 people from different parts of Kathmandu as well as activists from different parts of Asia gathered in Soyambhu on March 25, 2009 at 5:30 pm to light vigil together demanding quick action for saving lives of these children and suffering of tragic death in these thousands of families each year.

Mr. Subash Nemwang, Chairperson, Constitution Assembly in his message to the campaign, urged all the political leaders to join their hands to end this sanitation and drinking water crisis. Mr. Nabindra Raj Joshi, Honourable Member of Constitution Assembly who was the chief guest of the campaign, publicly declared his political commitment for endorsement of drinking water and sanitation as constitutional right in the parliament session. Sanitation brand Ambassador and Kollywood actress Ms. Jharana Thapa demanded that the government should be proactive in materializing the government commitments made during South Asian Conference on Sanitation. In course of thanks giving, FEDWASUN (Federation of Water and Sanitation Users, Nepal reiterated demand of water and sanitation as right and if not user group will go for mass protest.

Jockin Araputham, International Chairperson, Slum Dweller International committed to raise these concerns of inadequate drinking water and sanitation services to UN discussions to influence global policies. He emphasized the right of children to live a dignified life should be ensured. Ms. Bharati Singh, Deputy Mayor, Bhuwaneswore, India expressed her solidarity to support the campaign. Let's hope that these rays of candles remind people to materialize these commitments to save these lives of children who deserve to live a prosperous and happy life in this world.

Learn from mistakes

2009-03-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

Media is regarded as the fourth sector in the development world. There are several media interactions organized by our alliance members and we were taking each and every opportunity to spread this words of EWP. NEWAH coordinated this media interaction and the event was organized in the banner of WASH, NEWAH and EWP on March 24. There was a session on EWP and I was prepared with the intention that there will be young crowd of media as the orientation was intended for young media professionals. Oh my gush! there is a crowd of matured media:) hmmm.... I was wondering now what will happen next as I had prepared my presentation with the different connotation. Again, next change there was a presentation done by a person from government who covered all the contexts of the sector. Okay it was another surprise, however, with a big courage, I did my presentation on the campaign with the hope that I can survive it. Later, we received comments that there was huge repetition in the presentations and the serious concerns were raised if it is really a global concern or not? I was just wondering what every children dying in 15 seconds does not prove that is a global problem?? Anyway, I convinced myself saying that I should have been more proactive in rearranging my presentation was the learning from the day. Again, I also sympathesized myself saying that at least this event helped us to provide platform for sharing about our campaign and mass action happening next day.

Youth adding more value to the campaign

2009-03-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Guthi, an active partner in EWP organized an Youth Leaders' Training on EWP campaign on March 20,2009. It was great to see more than 30 youth who were eager to pour their energy in this campaign. Mr. Rabin Lal Shrestha initiated the program with the fun quiz assessing their knowledge on water and sanitation coverage. It was great fun and was helpful also to test our IQs on the sector. He also briefed on the context of the emergence of the campaign to deal with the global concern and provide the global voice for the issue. Mr. Prakash Amatya, NGO Forum shared on the past achievements of the campaign with his picture full presentations. He shared that the formulation of Master Plan on Sanitaiton, Urban Policy on Water and Sanitaiton as well as increased budget on the sector with the separate budget on sanitaiton was major achievements of the campaign. Thereafter, was the presentation on Way Forward on the EWP campaign where I explained on major 5 actions of the campaign. I also shared about the mass action on March 25 and requested for their support. It was realized that these are the young advocates who can bring change in the society and their commitments definitely add value to this campaign.

Lively interview in Image FM Channel

2009-02-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

In the morning while coming to office received a call from the media person who wanted to talk with me for knowing more about EWP campaign. I was very excited as it was another good opportunity to share about the campaign and our calls. I inquired what are they looking for and came to know that they were more interested in knowing about our campaign and its historical background. I was thrilled and bit nervous thinking if I can articulate well or not. I wished if I was provided more time to prepare for the interview, but it is life you do not get all you want and you have to be happy with what you have and make best use of it!

I collected all the reports, sent mail to Jennean and Steve and searched EWP websites so that I can provide them all the historical background. I was not hungry even at lunch thinking that I have to prepare so that I can face the media well and give justice to their program. In the mean time, I also have to prepare para for our MPB that provided more opportunity to articulate about what is EWP in a concise form. I was all set for the interview.

There was a phone call that I was waiting since morning. They inquired about the water and sanitation status of the country. I shared that the government record shows that there is water coverage of 77% and sanitation coverage of 46%. I emphasized that 42 districts out of 75 districts of the country are below national coverage. WAN study showed that 56% of the schemes are waiting for the rehabilitation. More than 10,000 children are dying because of poor water and sanitation services. There is increased budget but we need to emphasize on equitable and effective implementation of the allocated budget.

It is a global problem and the global commitment is required to improve the status of water and sanitation that gave rise to EWP global campaign activated by around 90 organizations demanding for global framework for action. The campaign was formally launched from March 2007 at global level and June 2007 in Nepal. The major achievements at the national level was the initiative of government in developing Master Plan of Sanitation, Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Policy and increased budget in the sector. There should be moving beyond the sector for wider campaign for the concern. The glamorous figure of Kollywood celebrity Jharana Thapa has been well mobilized. All these efforts resulted in the SACOSAN III Declaration where water and sanitation are regarded as human right.

The radio program has been a useful media for sharing our future work. I shared that there can be some mass action on World Water Day in Kathmandu and the districts where our alliance members are working. I also briefed about other key activities of our campaign. They raised the question on the selection of the districts and shared that the districts are selected on the basis of low coverage.

They wanted to inquire about the pace of government in these water and sanitation in meeting the targets. I shared that the country need to develop 14,000 toilets (10,000 in rural and 4,000 in urban) to meet MDG target. We can reach the target if we slightly increase our pace and join our hands together. I shared more on the need for the consolidated and coordinated efforts for increased impact. While I was talking about MDG Target, there was an electricity cut off and the line was disconnected. Fortunately, it was nearly at the end and later the broadcaster called me to thank me for the interview and told me that he will anchor whole SACOSAN III declaration for reminding government not to forget to implement these commitments after putting their signature!

Facing media to campaign together

2009-02-16T10:15:00.000-08:00

Together we can make success was the ending phrase we departed from EWP Campaign Planning Meeting. We received call from one of our member organization Guthi that they are organizing a media interaction program on water and sanitation on February 15,2009. We were given a space for sharing EWP Campaign for promoting water and sanitation services in Nepal.

The interaction was initiated with powerful presentation of UN Habitat representative who shared difficult circumstances of the country in the arena of water and sanitaiton. He also shared some of the best practices like Community Led Sanitation and School Led Sanitation becoming success cases in the communities. The presenation from the goverment focused on the need for proper coordination and avoiding duplication of the efforts. Then came our turn for sharing the EWP!

Staring eyes of media was there and they were eager to hear what EWP is all about? I made them clear that we will not focusing more on what we did as other presenters but focus more on what we will be doing in future. I presented them on the scenario where 14 million people have no access to sanitation and 7 million people have no acess to basic water supply. I shared the contexts where a sister adviced her younger sister not to drink water because there was no toilet in school. I emphasized that there was a radical change in the political scenario where 13,000 people were killed in a decade but why the political parties were silent when there is almost equal number of killings of children each year due to water borne diseases was the concern I highlighted most. I also shared the international calls of global framework for action together with our overaching calls of establishing water and sanitaiton as constitutional right and ensuring commitment of SACOSAN III declaration. I briefed on the specific demands of the year where we highlighted more on sustaining budget growth, ensuring gender friendly sanitation services, providing hygine focal units in concerned ministries and endorsement of Master Plan of Sanitation and Urban Water and Sanitation Policy. I requested to join hand together for our campaign and that was also reiterated by Anil Staphit from Guthi who coordinated the program. There was participation of all WAN Advocacy and Research Team as well as communication with Steve and Jennean gave me more strength to face the media.

I always think what could have been better? I felt that meeting the media with our concrete action plans would have been easier to face the media. We were still in the process of finalizing our action plans so could not speak more on our way forward in terms of actions. May be it could be the agenda for next media meet?

EWP Nepal Campaign Planning Together for Success

2009-01-31T02:42:00.000-08:00

EWP Campaign Planning meeting was organized with great energy and enthusiasm during January 29-30,2009 at Kathmandu. There were smiles and proud feeling spread all over the room while the people discussed about their achievements of Master Plan of Sanitation and Urban Water and Sanitation Policy in the process of endorsement as well as increased budget in the sector. The SACOSAN III declaration had resumed water and sanitation as human right that was also another positive effect in the sector.

Participants were sharing their challenges of proper coordination. People were not busy in blaming each other but were providing constructive criticism. There was the feeling that the comments were provided for our own improvement. It showed the commitment and ownership of the alliance members in the campaigning process. The same level of energy was seen while developing calls and designating roles for future campaigning. The global calls were geared up on the global framework for action on water and sanitation covering three aspects: Southern Governments develop credible master plan, Donor government ensures that no credible plan fails simply because of financing and one coordinated approach for the sector.

The recreation time after the meeting was full of music and dance. These were the moments that really brought the communities together. It helped in binding communities in a single thread and this feeling of cooperation and collaboration would definitely lead to successful campaign.