Some 60 ministers responsible for finance, water, sanitation and hygiene portfolios from over 30 developing countries will participate in the 2nd Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High Level Meeting on 20 April 2012 at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Together with representatives from donor countries, UN and Non-governmental Organisations, including IRC, they aim to agree on urgent action towards ensuring that access to sanitation and safe drinking water becomes a reality for the billions of people who still live without them.
Published on: 19/04/2012
Some 60 ministers responsible for finance, water, sanitation and hygiene portfolios from over 30 developing countries will participate in the 2nd Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High Level Meeting on 20 April 2012 at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Together with representatives from donor countries, UN and Non-governmental Organisations, including IRC, they aim to agree on urgent action towards ensuring that access to sanitation and safe drinking water becomes a reality for the billions of people who still live without them. On 19 April, the ministers came together for a Ministerial Dialogue on Water and Sanitation to finalise their statement for the High Level Meeting.
Although the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) overall target for access to safe drinking water has already been met in 2010, there are more than 780 million people still missing out. At the current rate of progress the MDG target for sanitation will not be met until 2026, and would still leave a quarter of the world without improved access.
The ministers meeting in Washington and the SWA partners are hoping that the 2012 meeting will build upon the success of the first High Level Meeting in 2010, which was a catalyst for increasing resources and efforts in water and sanitation at the national and international levels. Since then, nine countries have confirmed that they are meeting their commitments of increased budget allocations, and seven donors have met or exceeded the targets they set for funding.
The SWA meeting will seek to get commitments from individual governments, and the SWA partnership as a whole, to target funds for water and sanitation to where they are most needed, and ensure that national plans are developed to reach the un-served population in each country.
IRC’s involvement
IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre is an active member of SWA and has a seat in the Steering Committee. The IRC/WASHCost project participated in the national Technical Working Group (TWG), which helped draft the Ghana Compact Document, the first agreement signed by a national government and development partners supporting the objectives of SWA. Read more at: www.irc.nl/page/51747
Erma Uytewaal, IRC’s Africa Team Manager, is participating in the SWA meetings in Washington from where she will be reporting back on the latest developments and main results.
More Information and Resources
The High Level Meeting “Virtual Briefing Packs”, which include Country Statements and Sanitation and Water Profiles, are available at: www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/hlm2012virtualbriefingpack.html
Follow live comments on the High Level Meeting via the Twtter hashtag #SW4ALL
