Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) provides the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector with a new platform for engagement. Recognising that countries and organisations around the world can achieve more by working together, Sanitation and Water for All provides a framework for coordinated and joint efforts to address the main bottlenecks for improved sector performance and to overcome fragmentation in the sector.
Published on: 25/10/2012
Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) provides the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector with a new platform for engagement. Recognising that countries and organisations around the world can achieve more by working together, Sanitation and Water for All provides a framework for coordinated and joint efforts to address the main bottlenecks for improved sector performance and to overcome fragmentation in the sector. The SWA membership involves a large proportion of the actors active in the WASH sector and increasingly functions as forum for high level policy dialogue. The second SWA High Level Meeting of April 2012 was probably the largest gathering of senior political figures to specifically discuss WASH (SWA secretariat, 2012).
Political leadership at the global level is important for progress on aid effectiveness as it steps away from developing policies based on bilateral interests towards full commitment to international water and sanitation goals through the most effective aid strategies (OECD-DAC, 2008; 2009). The biannual SWA High Level Meetings are an important platform for improving mutual accountability between donors and developing countries for delivery on sector commitments.
Through platforms such as the annual UN‐Water GLAAS Report, SWA contributes to improving information on the sector to assist evidence‐based decision‐making. Another SWA initiative, the National Planning for Results Initiative (NPRI), will provide additional support to developing countries, through coordinated and harmonised technical assistance, for strengthening national planning capacities in fragile states (Verhoeven et. all, 2011, page 31).
The SWA High Level Meeting of April 2012 provided strong incentive for renewed high-level political engagement on sanitation and water. Some donors committed to significantly increase aid and to turn the human rights to sanitation and water into reality while developing countries committed to increase domestic funding and to prioritize sanitation and water in their national development plans.
Verhoeven, J., Uytewaal, E. and de la Harpe, J., 2011. Aid effectiveness in the water and sanitation sector: policies, practices and perspectives. (Thematic Overview Paper 26) [online] The Hague: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (Published December 2011). Available at: <http://www.irc.nl/top26> [Accessed 15 October 2012].
OECD – DAC, 2008. Effective aid management: Twelve lessons from DAC peer reviews. [online] Paris: Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development/ Development Assistance Committee. Available at: <http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/0/40720533.pdf> [Accessed 8 December 2011].
Sanitation and Water for All Secretariat, 2012. HLM Options Paper. Draft for discussion. Available at: <http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/partnershipmeeting.html> [Accessed 15 October 2012].
