Sanitation and Water for All Partnership Meeting
There is no political leader anywhere in the developed or
developing world who does not want to provide safe drinking water, sanitation,
and hygiene (WASH) for each of his/her constituents. However, those same
political leaders are often unable to increase their support for WASH in the
face of so many equally important, competing development priorities (energy,
roads, education). The way across this divide is political will: how can we
make it possible for political leaders to do what they already want to do? How
can we strengthen political will, making it possible for those political
leaders to commit to 100% coverage of safe drinking water and sanitation in
their countries, provinces, neighborhoods?
One organization that tackles this political challenge head-on
is the Sanitation and Water
for All Partnership (SWA). I recently attended SWA’s partnership
meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting was less about the
technicalities of sanitation and water programs, and more about politics,
governance, advocacy, and Social Contract 101. I emerged from those few days
with heightened optimism about the future of SWA and a more clear vision of the
path toward universal coverage of sanitation and water.
Under the aegis of SWA, developed and developing countries
made 402
public commitments to sanitation and water challenges in their countries.
SWA offers a powerful global platform from which to hold these countries
accountable for these commitments. More importantly, SWA must track progress
made country by country, and province by province, toward each of
these commitments. Consistent, in-country progress, as highlighted in this
recent blog, is far more important than any global or even regional
actions. The international donor community can help, and WASH Advocates is
pleased that the United States has joined SWA and made its own commitments.
There remain 2.5 billion people without sanitation, and
almost one billion people without safe drinking water. We will achieve
universal coverage in a tight timeframe not through simply drilling more wells
or building more latrines, but by increasing the amount and effectiveness of
political will for sanitation and water country by country. This heightened
political will means bigger and smarter budgets for WASH, more emphasis on
sanitation and what is really killing children (diarrheal disease), and
financial resources that get to where they are needed transparently and
efficiently. SWA with all of its imperfections and growing pains is the only
platform with the mandate and ability to reach Finance Ministers (and even
Prime Ministers and Heads of State) with sanitation and water messaging. SWA
deserves not just our interest but our active engagement if we are serious when
we claim to be working toward aid independence and the ultimate goal: universal
coverage of sanitation and water.
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