The 7th South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN VII) kicks off on 10 April 2018 in Islamabad, Pakistan. In recent years, SACOSAN Is a powerful agent for sanitation and hygiene progress in South Asia and in recent years has highlighted, in particular, the voices, and needs, of people in vulnerable situations.
This year, the Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), WaterAid and WSSCC supported national level consultation meetings in seven South Asian countries in advance of SACOSAN. The multi-stakeholder consultations focused on one priority vulnerable group in each country and also included government authorities who will be expected to to commit to work on ensuring access to sanitation at least for the constituency covered under the national consultation.
With the support of the partners, selected representatives from each of the constituencies will participate in sessions and discussions with Ministers at SACOSAN. One plenary session, in particular, will focus on Listening to Community Voices. That event will highlight voices from the most marginalized communities on their current status and aspirations of access to sanitation services.
To get a flavour of the consultations and these aspirations, FANSA, WaterAid and WSSCC are pleased to present these short blogs from experts in the region.
- Leave No One Behind: Sanitation is not a taboo – voices of young girls in Sri Lanka
- Leave No One Behind: Voices of the persons with disabilities in Pakistan
- Leave No One Behind: WASH challenges of sanitation workers in Maldives
- Leave No One Behind: Voices of Transpersons in India
- Leave No One Behind: Voices of people from hard-to-reach areas in rural Bhutan
- Leave No One Behind: Access to sanitation improved in Bangladesh, but still a long way to go
- Leave No One Behind: Voices of women in Afghanistan
- Leave No One Behind: In Nepal, coordination and ownership is a key to achieve sanitation