Access to water and sanitation is a human right. But saying this isn’t enough to get a commitment from governments. To achieve SDG 6, we need to engage and influence government officials who are likely to have limited funding and competing priorities. If we understand the positions and challenges of these officials, however, we’ll be better able to engage them. Then we can influence governments at the local, provincial and national levels to give higher priority to sanitation services.

To learn how to do this register below to participate in the Webinar “How to Influence and Engage Government in Sanitation.” On May 17 at 1400 BST SuSanA will be facilitating a panel discussion with leaders of three organisations that have been successful in persuading decision makers on the key role of sanitation in development.

The World Toilet Organisation (WTO) has been working to influence and incentivise governments since its inception in 2001. They successfully advocated to establish World Toilet Day (WTD) as an official event on the UN calendar in 2014. Since then, they have used WTD to persuade governments around the world to invest in toilet systems..

WaterAid have worked with other organisations to make available user-friendly guidance aimed at local government officials. Their materials help officials better understand access to sanitation as a human right and to prioritise sanitation investment. You can read more about it here.

BRAC is the world’s largest development organisation and operates across 11 countries. They have achieved massive improvements in WASH in Bangladesh by encouraging the government to understand the importance of investing in sanitation.

The panel discussion in the webinar will help us to understand the successful practices of these three organisations in influencing government to prioritise sanitation. Presenters will address questions from SuSanA members on this topic. Please post your questions in the forum here.

The panel discussion will take place on 17th May at 1400 BST (London time). You can register here . We are inviting SuSanA members to post their questions to the panel below, we will also be sharing short biographies of the panellists in the days leading up to the discussion.

Please dont hesitate to ask your questions below!

Hi Esther,
That sounds like a really interesting webinar. And I like the idea of collecting questions beforehand on the Forum.
To get things rolling, I have these questions:

1. Which level of government will you focus on in the panel debate. I am assuming local government, right? (although the WTO contribution might be more looking at national governments?)
2. How does a sector player, like an NGO, get an opportunity to "engage" with local government? For example, how did BRAC get into the "ear" of local government officials? I can imagine it's easier for larger NGOs like WaterAid who might come with some money (e.g. to pay per diems for attending workshops). But smaller NGOs or private sector companies - how can they even get time together with elected government officials? Are those WASH cluster meetings a suitable avenue for that? I assume that government officials have little time available and will also chose carefully which meetings they attend and who they spend time with and listen to.

It might be interesting to browse through previous discussions we had about this topic of engaging government here on the Forum:
forum.susana.org/142-government-as-a-driver

(after the webinar took place, I suggest to move this thread into that sub-category as well)

I liked in particular this previous discussion where Roland Werchota (GIZ Kenya) made some excellent points:
Where is the local government involvement in faecal sludge management and sanitation for the urban poor?
forum.susana.org/142-government-as-a-dri...n-for-the-urban-poor

Regards,
Elisabeth

It's great to see this panel discussion on how to influence and engage governments on sanitation taking shape. Thanks, Elisabeth for highlighting the broad scope of the issue and the various sub-topics that the discussion may entail. Here's where people can sign up for the free webinar on May 17th. www.susana.org/en/webinar-registration

Esther has succeeded in bringing together a fine group of experts - Jack Sim of the World Toilet Organization, Akramul Islam of BRAC, and Louisa Gosling of WaterAid. I assume that each will have an opportunity to make an opening statement, that each has a good idea of what they want to convey.

To make this forum resonate with listeners, it might be good to get not only questions but to establish a framework for the conversation. In speaking about best practices in influencing governments, I don't think it matters whether speakers focus on the local, provincial, or national level.

It might be helpful to the audience for each of them to take a specific case and answer questions such as these:

What was the situation?
Who were the players?
What were the challenges?
Which strategies, approaches and messages were most effective in influencing change?
What conclusions can be drawn?
Any examples of other situations where this strategy/approach/message has been or can be applied?

Since best practice often emerges after failure, an additional option would be this question:

What did you try that did NOT work?

Since the webinar is an hour and a half, it allows time for speakers to have their say, perhaps in the initial 45 - 60 minutes. As for listeners, they can engage throughout (with comments and questions in the chat) and dialogue with panelists (after they have stated their case). I guess provision for panelists to ask one another questions should also be made.

In any event, I'm eager to see what you and others have in mind.

Carol

Dear all,

I may not be able to attend the panel discussion but I am very interested in this topic and especially at the words "influencing" and "engaging".
Governments are sovereign and the traditional way for NGOs is to consult them, inform them and to advocate for specific approaches in sanitation in order to obtain their engagement (which I understand to be their implication).
Experience shows that this is positive but often not enough as progress in sanitation and sustainability needs governement's commitment, at national and local level. Commitment means policy, regulatory and financial commitment.

Is it ethical to adopt a "power struggle" approach and to clearly state from the begining of the project, that local government's financial commitment is a prerequisite for the NGO to roll out their program in a municipality of the other? Financial commitment can of course be comensurate to the capacity of the municipality / the national government but it seems the impact is likely to be very important as it is a sign for the users, the private sector and has a multiplier effect.

Hence, for me the most important question is: how to obtain government's commitment in sanitation?

Best regards,

Cécile

Hello,

I would like to introduce our first panel member for the live discussion with a Q and A session, Louise Gosling works for WaterAid and has been part of the team that has carried out work that identifies and supports local heroes within government to drive progress on sanitation on the ground.

Louisa Gosling works in WaterAid’s International Programmes Department, in a team of sector specialists providing support to country programmes. In particular she has been collaborating with others to promote awareness of the critical importance of access to WASH in realizing the human rights of people who are marginalized, and with practitioners to develop inclusive and rights based approaches that are designed to overcome discrimination and exclusion.. She has worked in international development for over 20 years, and joined WaterAid in 2008.

Recent work has focused on how the human rights to water and sanitation can be used at local government level to help clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. She has worked on a collaborative project involving WaterAid, the Rural Water Supply Network, WASH United, UNICEF, UTS:ISF, and End Water Poverty to produce guidance on human rights specifically for local government officials. This was based on audience analysis to understand the constraints within which people are working to ensure the guidance is relevant and constructive. The discussions generated around the materials are producing useful insights about how development partners can support the supply and demand for water and sanitation services at local government level.

You can read her blog post on the project here .

You can register for the panel discussion here .

Please post your questions for Louisa below.

Regards
Esther

Hello!

The next panellist to introduce is Mr. Akramul Islam who is the director of BRAC’s Communicable Diseases and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes. He is an adjunct professor of James P. Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University. Dr Islam completed his Masters on Primary Health Care Management at the Mahidol University of Thailand and his PhD on International Community Health at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Dr Islam joined BRAC in 1993 and served in different capacities.

Dr Islam has contributed over 40 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and is a co-author of Making Tuberculosis History: community based solution for millions and Fighting Malaria: a community based approach in Bangladesh. He also wrote a chapter in From one to Many: Scaling up Health Programs in Low Income Countries. In 2009-2010, he served as a technical consultant of the International Union against TB and Lung Disease for South East Asia Region.

BRAC have been working on improving WASH services with governments for over 40 years, what to find out how? Ask Mr Akramul, in our live panel discussion at 1400 GMT 17th May, post your questions here.

Hope to see you there

Esther

Hello,

Its only 2 days until our live panel discussion about influencing and engaging government for sanitation.

Our final panellist is Jack Sim widely known as Mr. Toilet, Jack broke the global taboo of toilet and sanitation by bringing the agenda to global media centre-stage with his unique mix of humour and serious facts since 2001. After attaining financial independence by founding 16 businesses at the age of 40, he decided to devote the rest of his life to social work.

He has created the World Toilet Organisation (WTO) as a global network and service platform for toilet associations to promote sound sanitation and public health policies and launched the World Toilet Summit series which has been hosted in a number of countries since it started in 2001. The WTO was one of the key actors in establishing World Toilet Day as an official UN recognised event.

You can register for the panel discussion http://www.susana.org/en/resources/webinar-series/581-webinar-11] .

Please post your questions for Jack below.

Regards
Esther

Hi everybody,

There's a great introduction to Jack Sim, one of the three experts on the May 17th Webinar panel. Meet Mr. Toilet is an award winning short film by Jessica Yu. You can watch it here. vimeo.com/34792993

The film is only 3 minutes long but Jack gives great examples of effective messages to influence people and how to get the messages across.

in addition to being a well-loved celebrity speaker, Jack has also been a SuSanA volunteer for many years. He serves as co-lead of Working Group 9 - Public Awareness, Advocacy and Civil Society Engagement.

I'm looking forward to seeing you and meeting all three experts at the Webinar on May 17th. See you in the video chat room at at 1400 GMT.

Carol

Hello,

The panel discussion is happening today!

Schedule: The discussion will last approximately 1.5 hours with three panellists introducing how they have succeeded in influencing and engaging government on sanitation followed by an open forum with participants able to ask questions to the panellists. We will also open the session 30 minutes beforehand so you can test your video or microphone and meet other participants.

Time:
New Delhi, India Wed, 17 May 2017 at 18:30 IST
New York, USA Wed, 17 May 2017 at 09:00 EST
Nairobi, Kenya Wed, 17 May 2017 at 16:00 EAT
Hanoi, Vietnam Wed, 17 May 2017 at 20:00 ICT
Stockholm, Sweeden Wed, 17 May 2017 at 15:00 CET

Here are the details for logging into the room:

1. To join the meeting please follow this link:  seint.adobeconnect.com/seiwebinar/  
2. Choose to enter as a guest 
3. For those wanting to use a webcam and microphone you will need a speed around 4-5mbit/s plus a headset or earbuds. You can enter the webinar up to 30 minutes in advance to check your audio settings. 
4. It is recommended you close skype before starting the Adobe Connect platform to avoid issues with sound or microphone use. 

I look forward to seeing you later
Regards
Esther

Question to any panel:
One way to influence local and national government to work with them triggering achievable target which requires sustainable capacity of the local government. SDG requires multi-sectoral development as SDG goals are interlinked. Multi-sectoral works need more resources which are major concerns of many developing countries. Again, capacity need assessment of developing countries is pre-requisite which is yet to be done aligning SDG. Many countries (like Bangladesh) have sector development plan by the government, but is that enough to reach SDG (even SDG6 only) target where multi-sectoral development is required for achieving success in sanitation sector? If not, what would be better way to influence the government as multiple wings of the government are involved to achieve success in sanitation sector?

Thanks for the great question. the discussion starts in one hour so I shall put it to the panel then!

Esther

Hello,

A big thank you to our panellists from yesterday for the interesting and insightful discussion, I also want to thank our participants who put some good questions to the panel. Due to time and technical issues we couldn't get inputs from the participants so I wanted to ask some of the questions to our SuSanA members here and invite any examples, feedback or discussion.

The first question is from Ceclie: 'what leverage do we have to support local government to commit financially when they have limited resources? Push for governmental transfers?'

I think this is a great question and I would really like to hear some examples, there was one given by BRAC are there any others? Has in-kind support been given instead and how has that worked? What hasn't worked? Its useful to know where it hasn't gone to plan so we don't make the same mistakes in the future.

I will post another question tomorrow so keep following and contributing, remember all our SuSAnA members have a wealth of information to share, I look forward to seeing it!

Regards
Esther

[Note: if you would like to share information anonymously please message me and I will share it on your behalf]

---

Some of the links from the discussion:
Meet Mr toilet:
The project materials Louisa mentioned are avalible here: www.wateraid.org/fromwilltoaction , and here www.righttowater.info/making-rights-real
WaterAid's healthy start programme: www.wateraid.org/policy-practice-and-advocacy/healthy-start
Driving change - Piloting a Human Rights Based WASH project in Bangladesh: rwsnforum7.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/f...3_mirza_shahrukh.pdf