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Bridging Borders: The Role of Climate-Resilient Sanitation in Global Peace and Sustainability
2. September 2024 496
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.
Nature Calls – why sanitation is the logical starting point for fighting climate change
11. June 2024 3032
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.
Let’s get wild: Water, sanitation and hygiene at the human-wildlife interface
26. March 2024 2498
One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, non-human animals and ecosystems. It recognizes that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and inter-dependent.
Toilets Making the Grade® school competition – A Competition where all Participants are Winners
1. February 2024 2143
Schools around the globe struggle to provide good and well-maintained school sanitation facilities. The Toilets Making the Grade® school competition helps improve just that in a creative and fun way that will benefit schools, as well as local authorities, donors and NGOs. Improving sanitation can often start with simple and creative steps, which is why the competition is so motivating. After all, who wouldn't be motivated to improve school toilets if there was something to win?
Getting sanitation back on the (global) agenda
28. November 2023 1892
Despite the proven impact and interrelationship between sanitation and climate change, sanitation is still not part of the climate conversation. It must be, not only to ensure the resilience of the infrastructure, communities and the ecosystems which we depend on in the face of a global climate emergency, but also to harness effective and under-utilised greenhouse gas mitigation possibilities.
Menstrual Health and Environmental Intersection: Towards a Holistic Approach
16. November 2023 1489
Recently, I gave a presentation focusing on the complex connection between menstrual health and environmental issues. Within the presentation, I explored various crucial facets of this relationship, including the challenges surrounding access and use of reusable menstrual products, the environmental consequences of climate change on menstrual health practices, and the pressing issues related to resource scarcity and access to essential water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, which are essential for ensuring dignified menstruation. Additionally, I touched upon the significance of menstrual waste and its effects on our water and soil.
Making the Sum of All (WASH) Knowledge Freely Accessible: An interview with Elisabeth Von Muench
15. November 2023 1084
Elisabeth von Muench, former moderator of the SuSanA discussion forum, is a dedicated Wikipedia editor. With over nine years of editing experience and nearly 50,000 edits to her name, she ranks among the top 2,000 editors globally for the English Wikipedia. Through volunteer work and paid assignments, she has improved and written numerous Wikipedia articles on WASH, climate change, and SDGs. In this interview with Paresh Chhajed-Picha, Elisabeth explains her motivation, the need for wider participation in editing Wikipedia articles, and the challenges in doing so.
The Business Case for Sanitation
13. November 2023 1041
I am in favour of market-based solutions. Viva con Agua’s aims to expand its work related to social water and sanitation enterprise development. Sustainably designed business models can help ensure that human rights can be fully realised. However, a recent evening in Berlin led to some thoughts and inspired this blog.
Belinda Abraham, Viva con Agua Institutional Fundraising.
Berlin, Germany
World Toilet Day Interview with Jack Sim
10. October 2023 366
On this special occasion of World Toilet Day, we are honoured to have Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organisation, join us for an enlightening conversation. After founding 16 companies and gaining financial independence at 40, Prof Jack Sim retired from business to devote the rest of his life to social development. He founded the World Toilet Organization in 2001, made the 19th November the official UN World Toilet Day approved by all 193 countries at the UN General Assembly, and broke the taboo on Sanitation globally. He is fondly known as Mr Toilet by the global media and is a founding member of SuSanA since 2008. In this interview, Mr Sim shares his insights on a range of critical issues, from his pioneering efforts to shift global media attention from water to sanitation, to the profound impact of the lack of toilets and proper sanitation on women. He also sheds light on the urgent need to break the taboo surrounding toilets and sanitation, and the steps needed to ensure that sanitation takes its rightful place on the global agenda.
9 tips on how to survive World Water Week in Stockholm
18. September 2023 308
Would you like to take part at the World Water Week in Stockholm next year but don´t know what will await you there? We got you, dive with us into some helpful tips that will make your time in Stockholm something you will never forget! Every year the World Water Week brings together an impressive range of water and sanitation professionals, policymakers, and stakeholders that all have a common goal, to push sustainable and just water policies and reach the goals of SDG6 in regards of the Agenda2030. Together, the participants engage in meaningful discussions to address the most pressing global water challenges of our time.
Stronger Together - Connecting Female Water- and Sanitation Professionals and strengthening Women’s Networks in the Water and Sanitation Sector
18. September 2023 429
Why do women’s networks matter for the achievement of SDG 6? A lot, and this is why: Achieving SDG 6 by 2030 is becoming increasingly unlikely, it would need a quadrupling of current rates of progress in safely managed drinking water services, safely managed sanitation services and basic hygiene services for hitting the finish line. The water and sanitation sector is facing many challenges, one is the massive capacity gap and gender gap in the water and sanitation workforce.
SuSanA at the #WorldWaterWeek 2023 in Stockholm: recap and key takeaways
7. September 2023 531
Two weeks ago, the SuSanA Secretariat together with the SuSanA Global Steering Committee (GSC), SuSanA members and key partners from around the world attended the Stockholm World Water Week and were able to speak on behalf of the Sanitation Community. But before the World Water Week even started, the Secretariat and the GSC spent several days planning for the future of SuSanA, discussing important topics such as the institutional change process, funding, upcoming topics and trends, the regional chapters or cooperation with other networks. These days have been very intense, but also, we feel that we now are more aligned with what the next steps for SuSanA are!
SuSanA at the #UN2023WaterConference in New-York: recap and takeaways
17. July 2023 236
What a great week it has been!! The SuSanA Secretariat together with SuSanA members and key partners from around the world attended the conference and were able to speak on behalf of the Sanitation Community. Thanks to the efforts of many individuals, SuSanA was able to advocate for the inclusion of sanitation and hygiene as a prerequisite for access to safe and clean water
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