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Strengthening the Foundation for Impactful Advocacy and Sanitation Betterment in South Asia
Project Team (from left to right): Pramod Aryal, Budhha Bajracharya, Rajeev Munankami, Kalanidhi Devkota, Gunjan Barua, Asih Budiati, Rafiul Islam, Parimal Dev, Bipin Dangol, Muskan Shrestha.
UCLG ASPAC, through Municipalities Network Advocacy on Sanitation in South Asia Project Team has envisioned that, at the end of project term, municipalities in Bangladesh and Nepal will gain much better capital for setting up more established sanitation system: strengthened capacity, enhanced knowledge, and expanded funding network. Embracing the spirit, the Project Team, translated it through intensive discussion in their 2nd Project Coordination Meeting in Dhulikhel, Nepal on 10-12 July 2018, involving representatives of SNV and ENPHO. In addition to discussion on the four key objectives of the Project to ensure their relevancy, the committed team also discussed the selection of pilot municipalities. At the end of the three-day workshop, each country managed to deliver relevant detailed activities as well as suitable criteria for selecting pilot municipalities in accordance with local content and country requirements. In Bangladesh, for example, one of the specific criteria for selecting pilot municipalities is a mandatory pre-requisite confirmation of land availability in the municipality; while in Nepal, one of the criteria is that municipality must represent unique or specific clustered town. In general, both countries agreed that strong leadership, confirmation for funding, and initial initiative for realisation of citizens’ needs for Faecal Sludge Management are the common key criteria that municipality must have to be eligible for selected.
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The results of the meeting that identify uniqueness of each country make the project even more interesting as each team member could understand and learn from one another. The next coordination meeting is planned to be organised in Manila, Philippines in December 2018. Here, the entire Project Team member for the first time will meet with the Programme Officer of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, funding supporter of this project. At the meeting, the project objectives will again be revisited, discussion on outputs, potential risks and challenges will get more intensive, and each participant may expect to learn more exciting lessons at the same time. With the full commitment and dedication, Project Team of Municipalities Network Advocacy on Sanitation in South Asia, under close coordination of UCLG ASPAC may expect to see the contribution positively impact urban sanitation in municipalities of Nepal and Bangladesh.