Krishnanagar Union in Satkhira district, Bangladesh, has always been surrounded by water, but water is no longer a friendly neighbor. Satkhira district, located in the southwest of the country, is close to the Bay of Bengal and hosts part of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.

Gender equality is a sustainable development goal, a fundamental human right, and often a pillar of international development. Why then, do we see inconsistency in what it means to design and implement programmes that have gendered elements? 

As SIWI World Water Week 2024 kicks off in Stockholm this week, we are reminded of the profound importance of water and sanitation cooperation in fostering peace and security across the globe. This year's theme, "Bridging Borders: Water for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future," reminds us of the intricate interconnections between and across communities and nations and emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts to secure a better future for all. Ensuring that sanitation systems are robust and adaptable to climate challenges is not only essential for safeguarding public health but for promoting regional stability and sustainable development. The Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition (CRSC) of more than 30 leading organizations that work at this intersection recognizes the significance of climate-resilient sanitation (CRS) in building a peaceful, secure, and sustainable future.

We're nearly 10 years into the SDGs, and unfortunately, we have to call the sector out. Many people still don't understand what safely managed sanitation is. This lack of clarity is hampering authorities to take action to prevent millions of people being exposed to harmful pathogens. We need to resolve this fast because every day, almost 4,000 people are dying from diseases attributable to poor water, sanitation and hygiene, nearly 1,000 of them children under five. 

El Taller de Diálogos SIRWASH en políticas públicas para la asequibilidad de los servicios rurales de agua y saneamiento en el contexto de los países Latinoamericanos y del Caribe estuvo organizado gracias a la colaboración entre la Agencia Suiza para el Desarrollo y la Cooperación (COSUDE) Y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) en alianza con la Fundación Nacional de Salud Brasil (FUNASA). 

English Version below. 

In September 2021, Hurricane Ida dropped more than six inches of rain on New York City in a matter of hours. Roughly half of that rainfall, 3.15 inches, fell within the first hour—nearly twice the rate the city’s infrastructure was designed to handle. 

At 11am that day, I got a call from my daughter’s school in the outskirts of the NYC metropolitan area asking me to collect my daughter ASAP. The school basement was filling with water … fast. By the end of the day, the school was shuttered, and the surrounding community evacuated. Meanwhile, outside my front door in suburban New York, neighbours were piling the contents of their basements onto the sidewalk. ‘The neighbourhood’s shit is in my basement!’ one exclaimed. Social media was filled with discordant images of flooded streets and Teslas floating through them.

Kiritimati Island is a unique place. Situated within the Line Islands group of the Republic of Kiribati, an island country spanning almost 3.5 million km2 of ocean, it isn’t easy to find on a map. The closest international airport (other than its own) is in Honolulu – more than 2,000 km away. The capital of its own country is even farther away. Despite being  the largest coral atoll in the world, as of 2020 only 7,369 people live there.