We were very lucky to have a small but active group join us at the WANA chapter meeting in Stockholm.
The discussion ran for 1.5 hours majorly discussing how the WANA chapter can benefit their organizations, what the WANA chapter should focus on and moreso how SFDs can benefit the region.

Different stakeholders were present which included; UNDP, IUCN, GIZ, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education in Jordan and BORDA.

Major key points discussed:

- Much emphasis was made on increasing and raising awareness about the bad sanitation situation in the region (to politicians and the community)
o In order to increase trust and awareness and change in behavior
o Exchange visits nationally and regionally to see positive models
o Better data from the field to help in SFDs
o Exchange knowledge about FSM/sludge and sanitation

- Make sure that linkages are established with all stakeholders (even land use and urban land users)
- Study and connect energy with waste and water (nexus approach)
- Issues to focus on :
o Sanitation in schools (WASH) nationally and regionally (SDG4 and SDG6)
o Sludge treatment solutions – more practical ones needed (and more socially applicable)
o SDG6 monitoring and baselines (take Jordans positive model of SDG6 monitoring report being published this year)
o Water integrity in the sector (should be integrated in future initiatives and projects)



please feel free to contact us if you have any additional comments or suggestions.
thank you

Hi Lara,

I have no opinion on MENA versus WANA. If you say it ought to be WANA then I believe you. Do you have any references to back this up (e.g. a UN type document that is using WANA as a term, and says why), or is it more like a general "consensus" of people living in that country? I strongly believe that a good way of changing people's knowledge is by making sure that what they read on Wikipedia is correct. So I am more than happy to help you edit that Wikipedia article. Just tell me how the wording should be changed and provide some references to go with it. Wwe can also take this offline to e-mail if you prefer. Let's get Wikipedia right!

That's a pity that you are not allowing remote participation. If you have WiFi in the room then all you might need is someone to open up a "skype for business" connection on their laptop or even mobile phone. But never mind.

Is there an agenda for the meeting? You could also collect comments upfront here in this thread by those who are not travelling to Stockholm but have an interest in the WANA chapter. (personally I think that every face to face meeting should double up as allowing some form of participation online - to make the most out of it and to reach also people who can't afford the time or money to travel to Stockholm each year (I haven't been there for years))).

Good luck with your meeting!

Regards,
Elisabeth

hey,

so it may be less known, but this is something we need to change. terminology describing a region should be fare by not calling it a name that was created by another region and not technically describing it geographically. we do also usually call it arab world, but there are other arab countries which are situated outside (north africa) like Sudan, muritania, Sumalia etc. in this case and for clarity (we say west asia and north africa) - details about the coutries we cover in that region is found on our website.

as for streaming the meeting, we sadly will not do that. we encourage everyone to be present if they could. otherwise we will later post updates about it.

Dear Lara,

I see. The Wikipedia article however says that:

Both the Arab world[5] and MENA region remain the most common terms and are used by most organizations, academia, and political entities flexibly, including those in the region itself. The World Bank,[6] UNDP[7] and even the UNSC[8] all use both terms.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MENA

Would you say this requires changing, and if so which other publications could we cite for a new statement? (the publications currently cited in the Wikipedia article might well be outdated)

And why did you decide to go for the lesser-known term WANA rather than "Arab World"? Just wondering.

Are you offering any remote participation for your meeting of the WANA chapter on Sunday 26th August in Stockholm, e.g. by opening up a skype for business line? Is there already an agenda for the meeting or is it rather informal?

Regards,
Elisabeth

so YES, the WANA Chapter is the same as the MENA Chapter. we just decided to change the name. why you may ask..

it may not be well known to europeans, but the word middle east is very eurocentric and somehow there isnt anything called the middle of the east we wanted to represent the region fairly and use UN terminology (Western Asia and North Africa) hence WANA.
for more info about this please check our chapter website - www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/regional-chapters/wana-chapter

we have also sent our the newsletter to everyone on the mailing list about the name change.
if you have any questions about the chapter please contact me or Manal. our contacts are on the website.

The abbreviation WANA is not well known.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and found:

WANA, West Asia and North Africa, a more geographically and politically neutral alternative to the acronym and term MENA (Middle East and North Africa)

So these two regions:





Oh, wait, is the WANA chapter the same as the MENA chapter? Don't do this to me, just when I was getting used to the abbreviation MENA!?

I checked further on Wikipedia and found:

Controversy[edit | edit source]
Due to the geographic ambiguity and Eurocentric nature of the term "Middle East", some people prefer use of the terms Arab World, WANA (West Asia and North Africa)[3] or the less common NAWA (North Africa-West Asia).[4] Both the Arab world[5] and MENA region remain the most common terms and are used by most organizations, academia, and political entities flexibly, including those in the region itself. The World Bank,[6] UNDP[7] and even the UNSC[8] all use both terms.

(good old Wikipedia! - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MENA)

If you managed to miss the announcement, the WANA Chapter will have a small meeting on Sunday 26th Aug 2018 at 11:30 am.

we would really appreciate your presence. the meeting will discuss how the new chapter aims to create a policy-science-society platform in the region to discuss SDG6 and sustainable sanitation.

we would love you to be there to get your feedback and how you see this chapter develop in the next year or two.

register here
www.susana.org/en/news-and-events/sanita...na-meeting-stockholm