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.
No comments:
Post a Comment