Sri Lanka to host the SACOSAN regional summit

Sri Lanka’s Regional Sanitation Centre (RSC) is organising the South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) to be held from 21 to 23 February.

The three day conference aims to inspire grassroots level activists and strengthen political commitment in narrowing the sanitation gap in the region.

Sanitation has become a challenging priority in the South Asian region. Globally, one in three households lack proper sanitation.

Therefore, the first SACOSAN was held in Bangladesh in 2003 with the hope of resolving sanitation issues in South Asia.

Over the years, the biennial conference has been able to mobilise political will, donor support and the commitment of all stakeholders to address the issue of sanitation.

SACOSAN has been a platform for governments, regional partners, support agencies, practitioners and professional agencies to engage in constructive dialogue, and its influence has spread to other regions of the world, resulting in the establishment of similar movements in East Asia, Africa and South America.

The RSC of Sri Lanka was established by the Ministry of City Planning, Water Supply and Higher Education to fulfil the national SACOSAN commitments, and strengthen knowledge sharing and coordination with its regional counterparts.

SACOSAN 2018 will witness sanitation experts, practitioners and government representatives of the South Asian region sharing their knowledge on key thematic areas including improving sector governance through policy and programme monitoring, reporting and accountability instruments, scalable faucal sludge and septage management solutions, environmentally sustainable and climate resilient sanitation solutions, and building blocks for achieving inclusive and equitable sanitation.

The conference is expected to provide insights on scalable sanitation solutions and best practices from the various national governments in the region.

It will be attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and the Maldives.