Dear WG4 members

First of all, thank you Elisabeth for your patience, I am aware that our reply was long in coming... A bit of coordination was needed between the leads and “new” co-leads of the WG to jump-start the activities.

After deliberation, we came to the conclusion that the name change for the WG4 from “Sanitation systems, hygiene and health” to “Sanitation Systems and Technology Options” would indeed increase the clarity of the WG focus. We will suggest the new name in the next SuSanA meeting (August 27th, 2017) in Stockholm.

As suggested by Elisabeth, we would like to start a discussion regarding the objectives of the working group. The WG leads came up with an overall aim and a list of specific objectives for the WG4. This list need to be discussed and agreed upon with you (the members of the WG4). We want to take the opportunity of the next SuSanA meeting to decide on a final version that we could officially present to the core group. Because of the time constraints, we would kindly request your feedback and comments on the new WG name, the proposed aim and objectives of the WG4 by August 24th, 2017.

At the moment there is no WG4 meeting planned during the SWWW 2017, however if some of you who will be attending the conference are interested, I believe we can still try to arrange for a more or less official gathering, depending on the logistic involved.

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback.
The WG4 leads

Aim
Deliver adequate information on all sustainability criteria of different sanitation systems and technologies including possible sanitation technology configurations, to facilitate informed decision making, implementation and operation.


Objectives
1. Knowledge management and sharing
Compile and share information and resources related to sanitation systems, technologies and technology configurations. This includes publications and scientific papers, toolboxes, case studies, factsheets, technical drawings and standards, Bill of Quantities (BoQ), Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and best practices

2. Capacity development and learning
Provide information on capacity development activities and share any learning material that can help practitioners to develop their skills and competences in terms of informed decision-making, implementation and operation of sanitation systems and technologies. This includes workshops, training material, e-learning courses, training programs and webinars

3. Networking, collaboration and partnership
- Promote networking, exchange and help people to connect
- Develop/strengthen partnership and collaboration within the sector
- Organise and encourage active participation in events (off line and on line)
- Provide links to other networks and community of practices

4. Policy and advocacy
- Use practical evidences (tried and tested concept) to influence technical regulations, standards and guidelines
- Raise awareness and advocate for a more holistic approach to sanitation

Dear Working Group 4 members and leads,

Firstly, welcome to Alexandra and Sudhir for being new working group co-leads! (their introduction was here: forum.susana.org/57-wg-4-sanitation-syst...s-hygiene-and-health)

This Working Group 4 is the biggest of all of SuSanA's working groups with currently 5200 members. Interesting, and encouraging to see, that so many of our members have signed up for this topic.

I am wondering if now would be a good time to discuss with the leads and members a possible name change. The current name is "Sanitation systems, hygiene and health". I am proposing:
Sanitation Systems and Technology Options
i.e. to drop the "hygiene and health" part from the title and to focus on technologies. Hygiene is more likely to be covered now in Working Group 13 on behavior change.
What do you all think of this suggestion?

We should perhaps also discuss the objectives of this working group. This earlier thread where we discussed the objectives of all of SuSanA's working groups could be useful for that:
forum.susana.org/69-relevant-for-all-wor...susana-working-group

Is there going to be a Working Group 4 meeting at the Stockholm World Water Week in August? Please also keep those in the loop that cannot make it to Stockholm (including myself). Thanks.

Regards,
Elisabeth