Dear Forum Users,

An overview about this conference with all speeches, presentations and links to media attention can now be found on the SuSanA website:

www.susana.org/en/events/past-event-pages/details/8


[posted by Sebastian Klos]

Speeches from conference

Overview of Sanitation and Hygiene in Uganda by JULIAN KYOMUHANGI ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER Ministry of Health, Uganda
Speech from Minister of Health Uganda

World Café presentations from the Unclogging the blockages conference

Water and Sanitation East Africa by Acumen
Unclogging Sanitation SME Financing by Angels Hub
Human Centred Design by IDE Uganda
Accelerating WASH Markets at the Base of the Pyramid by water.org
5 Myths About the Business of Sanitation by Jemima Sy, WSP
Tapping the Market – Scaling Up Rural Sanitation in Uganda by Sam Mutono & Chris D. Nsubuga-Mugga, WSP
WSUP Enterprises Intro by WSUP
Introduction to Clean Team by WSUP

Presentations made at the Unclogging Blockages in Sanitation Conference in Kampala from February 18-20 2014.
This list includes presentations from
- Subsidizing Sanitation Financing Shrewdly - A Case of TEECS Sanitation MFI, Malawi by Louis, Jalakasi, TEECS
- Pyxera Global Overview Presentation by Jailan Adly, MBAs Without Borders
- Donor Perspectives - by William Lin, Johnson & Johnson
- THE CITY TRANSFROMATION PROCESS: SOME EXPERIENCES AND CHALLENGES IN IMPROVING SANITATIONBY NAJIB LUKOOYA BATEGANYADIRECTORATE OF PUBLIC HEALTH ANDENVIRONMENT, Kampala City Council Authority
- THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SECTOR IN SANITATION BUSINESS by Eyura Martins, SOROTI DISTRICT - Uganda
- Lessons from Nkhotakota Sanitation Village Savings and Loan Banks – Malawi By Roy Khonyongwa, Hygiene Village Project
 

The main banner also included SuSanA.

To add, we have a small preview picture of the banner from the meeting!



(Posted by Roslyn)

Hi all

if you want to read some more about what happened during the Unclogging the Blockages meeting, have a look at the blog that was put together on it: unclogit.blogspot.de/

Thanks, John for your post and update, we look forward to putting the reports and material up on the meeting page on SuSanA when it is ready:
www.susana.org/en/events/past-event-pages/details/8

Rgds
Trevor

Hi all,

I'll have an update report on the Uganda meeting soon to share with you.

All those I've spoken with have conveyed it was a success. My sense is that it helped position sanitation as a business and market based approaches firmly in the sanitation mindset among the participants and helped many learn some very concrete steps and approaches for taking that forward in their own organizations.

A few highlights:

* Very high level Government of Uganda participation, Dr. Ruhukana Rugunda, Minister of Health and Honorable Betty Bigombe, Minister of State for Water

* Strong interest and participation ranged from around 130-170 participants with 21 countries represented over the three days

* Fairly consistent agreement amongst the participant about how to move forward; some key ideas emerging for how to Unclog the Blockages in the areas of technology development, finance, and business models

We are currently compiling the programmatic outcomes and recommendations and will share those over the next few weeks.

Thank you again, to the SuSanA community for your support.

Best,

John

On that day (it was 5:30pm) not too much, but I brought it up the next day in some group discussions again. Didn't seem like a topic many people wanted to get involved in, I guess because of the "political" implications and the conference's focus on "sanitation as a business".

However when talking about the business side of things, there need to be actual customers with money to spend. In the case of Kampala (and I think many other cities in developing countries) you will never get the tenants to invest into sanitation facilities on their plot (little money, other priorities and short rental periods), thus the most feasible way is to get the landlords to do it.

I don't even think it is all that difficult, and many are probably willing to do it if there is a good value for money (after all the property value increases), but there are also the "black sheep" that probably need some enforcement by the state.

Hi Krishan
did you bring up your opinion in the meeting? How was the reaction?
Christoph

I am currently attending this meeting: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/21-eve...-february-17-20-2014

And on day one (late in the afternoon, when many people were tired or had left already, so discussion was not the greatest) a session was held on public sector involvement and sanitation governance.

However, other than being mentioned as a "complex" issues, the entire question of landownership in urban areas is actually the elephant in the room that no-one talks about.

Ok, it is mentioned sometimes as a reason why people are unwilling to invest in sanitation facilities and why a cheap "mobile" solution could see a higher take-up...

But what about the other side of things? Here in Kampala there isn't so much a problem of "informal" e.g. illegal settlements, but rather that large parts of the low income housing areas are in the hands of a few (often very rich and well connected) landlords that do noting but collect rent (more or less). At the very most they install simple facilities to justify a massive rent increase, and cases have happened where this was even the case after facilities were installed with public or donor funds.

In addition to that there is as far as I know even a law in Uganda that requires rented properties to have adequate sanitation facilities, but as so many regulations this one is not enforced at all it seems.

Last but not least, with the land property value shooting through the roof in Kampala, is it really justified that property upgrades related to water and sanitation are paid for with public or donor funds?

I my opinion those exploitive landlord should be held accountable for installing sanitation facilities at their plots (without significantly increasing rent), and if not fined heavily or the land even expropriated for public slum upgrading and social housing projects.

Calling all those interested in making faster and better impacts on sustainable sanitation in Southern and Eastern Africa.

It is a seminal time for sanitation professionals to explore how to achieve better and faster results of public and private sector sanitation service delivery. Part of this is learning what others are doing and what they see and understand are the major barriers to move forward. Part is also seeing how is it possible to work better together in innovative ways that integrates community and market approaches and that branch across sectors and organizations. Does you believe we can think bigger and do more to achieve sanitation results? Then please join us!

Please see the full invitation here: www.susana.org/lang-en/news/events?view=...peitem&type=1&id=212

This invitation is a call for sponsors, experts, and participants. Current sponsors of Unclogging the Blockages are IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, PSI, WSUP Enterprises, and Water For People. We have committed support to rent the conference facility, but we are asking others to support sending staff and experts to this meeting. If you would like to become a sponsor or lead a session please contact John Sauer, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This event is free to attend but you must provide your own transport and accommodation to Uganda. To register please visit: www.susana.org/registration-unclogging-meeting.