CarlHensman wrote:

Marijn Zandee wrote: Dear Carl,

Great, I hope the BMFG will indeed create a public platform and I sincerely hope the discussions on the platform will be as constructive (and friendly critical) as the ones on this forum. At current people working in sanitation are quite frequently asked opinions on the re-invent the toilet challenge, they will be much easier to answer if there is more information available on the technologies under development.

Regards

Marijn

Just to tantalize you.

We're finalizing grant agreement details with a partner who we believe has exactly what we need to support sanitation science and technology in a open and constructive manner.

Should there be no unforseen issues, you'll know by the end of the year, if not sooner.

Carl

Marijin et al:

Sometimes it's frustrating having discussions about something when you really want to say what's going on, but can't. Sometimes it's just downright fun.

There will be an official press release posted by SuSanA staff, but I'd like to tell you personally that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a grant to the Stockholm Environmental Institute that will facilitate the transfer of the existing private Gates 'Sanitation Network' into the public ecosystem of SuSanA.org.

The grant is for an initial 15 months and will not only include the transfer and opening up of the Sanitation Network, but will also include the beginning of a library where at a minimum, new final grant reports from the WSH Science and Technology Program will be uploaded and indexed for search capability. I will let the SuSanA staff educate everyone on the details.

For all of you who were telling the SuSanA staff, on the side, that they should be talking to us about hosting this venture, thank you for caring deeply about this community and being interested in the work at the Gates Foundation. Just so you know, SuSanA was talking to us about this in May this year.

As for the WSH Team at the Gates Foundation, we are excited by the opportunity to actively promote contributions to the SuSanA network.

Carl


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Edit by moderator (EvM): This thread is now closed but the conversation continued in this forum thread:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/139-gr...ion-phase-2-approved

Marijn Zandee wrote: Dear Carl,

Great, I hope the BMFG will indeed create a public platform and I sincerely hope the discussions on the platform will be as constructive (and friendly critical) as the ones on this forum. At current people working in sanitation are quite frequently asked opinions on the re-invent the toilet challenge, they will be much easier to answer if there is more information available on the technologies under development.

Regards

Marijn

Just to tantalize you.

We're finalizing grant agreement details with a partner who we believe has exactly what we need to support sanitation science and technology in a open and constructive manner.

Should there be no unforseen issues, you'll know by the end of the year, if not sooner.

Carl

Dear Carl,

Great, I hope the BMFG will indeed create a public platform and I sincerely hope the discussions on the platform will be as constructive (and friendly critical) as the ones on this forum. At current people working in sanitation are quite frequently asked opinions on the re-invent the toilet challenge, they will be much easier to answer if there is more information available on the technologies under development.

Regards

Marijn

Carl, thx for the update! I am glad the BGMF WSH Team wants to have a more public platform on its work.

>The goal is a public forum<
Please contact the SuSanA secretariat (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) if the SuSanA can be of any help regarding this. I am sure we could also have an extra section on this forum for the BMGF initiative (only). The bonus for BMGF would be the professional community already found on this forum and we wouldn't need to reinvent the wheel (no pun :-).

Note by moderator: I have moved this into a new thread as it had in the meantime deviated from the original topic of call for proposals (EvM)


Juergen, Marijn:

The WSH Team of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF WSH Team) is currently discussing the movement of our internal science and technology grantee forum, to highly qualified international partners. The goal is a public forum. Additionally, the platform would be used to disseminate BMGF WSH Team final reports on the Reinvent the Toilet program to the public.

In the meantime, 40 of our grantees in the area of sanitation science and technology, will be giving technical presentations at the Fecal Sludge Management Conference (FSM2) in Durban, SA, at the end of this month. (www.pid.co.za/).

Cheers

Carl Hensman
Program Officer, WSH Team, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
(and Manager of the Reinvent the Toilet grant portfolio)