Millions of women and children spend hours every day walking miles to collect water.
Sanitation and Water for All (SWA)
Global initiative to end the sanitation and water crisis
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People demanding change together
End Water Poverty has been campaigning since March 2007 for the establishment of 'Sanitation and Water for All: A Global Framework for Action', in order to better coordinate the sector and drive progress in the delivery of national sanitation and water plans.
In September 2010 the initiative was launched by the UK and Dutch Governments, and is now supported by a wide range of actors. It is a major achievement of the End Water Poverty campaign and the actions of wider civil society that the SWA has been established so quickly.
This webpage will hold information useful to civil society, and provide ways for you to get involved with the SWA. While we build it, please do let us know your suggestions for what you'd like to see on the page.
1.What is Sanitation and Water for All?
3.Blogs from End Water Poverty
What is Sanitation and Water for All?
The SWA is an alliance of national governments, donors, civil society organizations and other development partners working together to increase political will and improve aid-effectiveness by mobilizing and better targeting resources for water supply and sanitation.
In End Water Poverty's campaigning, we have been calling for an agreement to be made between these parties, in which:
- Developing country governments develop credible national plans to provide sanitation and water for all, and invest more in their implementation.
- Donor governments support the development of these plans, and provide the funding to ensure that no credible national plan fails for lack of finance
- International systems are developed to monitor and drive progress, including a global taskforce, an annual review and an annual high-level meeting
The newly formed Sanitation and Water for All: a Global Framework for Action secretariat (coordinated by UNICEF) has defined the purposes of the platform as to:
- Put sanitation and water firmly on the global agenda at the highest political levels.
- Enable the development and implementation of actionable national plans.
- Improve aid targeting and effectiveness through harmonisation and alignment.
- Encourage national governments to increase budget allocations for basic water and sanitation services.
- Assist in identifying outstanding financing gaps and the sources of finance to narrow those deficits.
- Mobilise additional resources by using existing resources more effectively Improve information for better decision-making.
- Promote mutual accountability between aid agencies and recipient governments, and between governments and their people.
The main mechanisms by which it will achieve these aims will be:
- An annual global monitoring report - the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment on Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS)
- An Annual High Level Meeting (HLM), attended by ministers from north and south, the first of which took place in April 2010
- Aid-effectiveness and financing modalities - to be developed over the next year
- Support to the development and implementation of national sanitation and water plans
In all the work it will seek to link national, regional and international processes, as well as build on existing initiatives. There is also an official Sanitation and Water for All website. Please visit that site here.
What does End Water Poverty bring to the partnership?
End Water Poverty aims to facilitate civil society to be involved with governments and other partners, in bringing pressure for change globally and nationally, campaigning for funding for sanitation and water, in the creation of national plans, and campaigning for effective delivery of sanitation and water services, and in monitoring their governments on whether they keep their promises. Join us in making sure really works to bring clean drinking water and safe sanitation to every home, school and clinic, everywhere.
The High-Level Meeting
The SWA's first High-Level Meeting took place in Washington DC in April 2010. Representatives from donor and developing governments, multi-laterals and civil society sat together to make commitments on the way forward in addressing the crisis. You can read our blog from the meeting here.
You can also view the commitments made at the meeting by the following representatives at the meeting:
| ADB Statement (29KB) | Mongolia statement ( 35KB) |
| AfDB Statement (34KB) | Mozambique statement (38KB) |
| Bangladesh Statement (30KB) | Nepal statement (45KB) |
| Burkina Faso statement (104KB) | North Sudan statement (62KB) |
| Chad statement (92KB) | Senegal statement ( 64KB) |
| Ethiopia Statement (42KB) | South Africa statement (60KB) |
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Statement ( 58KB) | South Sudan statement (158KB) |
| Germany Statement (42KB) | Sweden statement (66KB) |
| Ghana Statement (202KB) | Timor Leste statement (23KB) |
| Japan Statement (35KB) | Uganda statement (309KB) |
| Lesotho Statement (59KB) | UK statement (27KB) |
| Liberia Statement (184KB) | United States Statement (60KB) |
| Mauritania Statement (106KB) | Zimbabwe statement (190KB) |
SWA blogs from End Water Poverty
SWA Mission, Liberia
Yael Velleman from WaterAid was part of the SWA Mission trip to Liberia earlier in the month - read on to find about this new and important step for the SWA.
SWA Meeting, Sri Lanka
Fleur attended the latest Steering Committee meeting in Sri Lanka and provides an update.
SWA Update - March 2011
The SWA is going on a world tour in 2011! Find out the latest in the blog.
Call for female Nominations for SWA Steering Committee
Women called to nominate themselves for positions on the SWA Steering Committee. Deadline is 15th February. Find out more on the blog.
Germany join the SWA and a workplan is drafted
Steering group meetings are held and a workplan and task teams set up - read Fleur's latest blog to find out developments and ways to get involved.