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Driving Stronger Advocacy for Sanitation in Bangladesh and Nepal

Emptying a pit latrine in an apartment block in Nairobi, Kenya. Illustration taken from www.gatesfoundation.org.

YEAR 2018 will see bolder implementation of commitment made by UCLG ASPAC in collaboration with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Formalized in late 2017, the agreement aims at stimulating the creation of improved national strategies to reduce serious health problems caused by fecal matter, particularly in Nepal and Bangladesh. In order to achieve the abovementioned target, UCLG ASPAC will focus on the enhancement of local government capacity building focusing on three core strategies.

First is the optimization of Local Governments Association (LGA) function at national level through advocacy, capacity building activities, and technical assistance. A close cooperation will be conducted with Municipal Association of Bangladesh (MAB) and Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN) and local partners including WaterAid in Bangladesh and Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) in Nepal. This will lay foundation for stronger

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advocacy towards implementation of sanitation facilities and guarantee their sustainability.

Second, UCLG ASPAC will assist in the development of improved national policies, which will support the needs of Local Governments for improved sanitation. This step is conducted through the establishment of Task Committee which will be coordinated by designated LGAs in each country.

The Task Committee will bring together key stakeholders at national level, concerned Ministries, professional organizations, academia, practitioners, and private sectors, to develop improved policy and strategy promoting inclusivity and enforcement of local actions. The Committee will function as platform to interact in order to minimize gap between national policies on sanitation and local implementation.

Third is selection of pilot municipalities to ensure localization of national policies and strategies. To ensure its sustainability, this step will also cover support to Local Governments in identifying various schemes of municipal sanitation financing, from bilateral cooperation and development banks and gather domestic financing resources, development partners/professional organizations, development banks and private sectors through CSR programmes.

UCLG ASPAC pays a great deal of attention in this sanitation issue. Making way to the realization of the commitment, UCLG ASPAC has been setting up the supporting team in order that the three-year programme will deliver its best result to local people of Bangladesh and Nepal.