Dear friends,

We are pleased to announce the synthesis document is now available at this link:
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2731

We would like to thank all those who took time out to lead the topics and respond. As mentioned earlier, we will be sharing this document at the upcoming FSM4 conference in Chennai, India.

I would like to thank Anja and Magda for putting this together.

Regards
Nitya Jacob

Dear all,

Nitya has also created a video about FSM and explained the context in India very well!

Have a look and share your thought about it. Do you agree?




Kind Regards,
Maggie
on behalf of the SuSanA Indian Chapter

Dear friends,

While decades of sustained economic growth has made India the seventh-largest economy in the world today, the provision of public services such as water, sanitation, solid waste management, and drainage continue to be a challenge. National programmes take a piece-meal approach.

As India strives for a “Swachh Bharat” Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) has become a common term, although no fixed definition is in place. In urban India, septic tanks are common in non-sewered areas. It is estimated about 38% households in urban centres are connected to a septic tank. In rural areas, about 14.7% are. Additionally, pit toilets with a designed life of 7-8 years need regular emptying and these are being built at a fast pace under SBM. Thus, the problem of FSM will only grow in the future necessitating creative and new solutions.

With this Thematic Discussion Series (TDS) the SuSanA India Chapter in cooperation with India Sanitation Coalition would like to draw attention to the issue of Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) in India. A lot of information has already been given and discussed. The aim of the TDS is to summarize the different views on FSM from international level to local realities in India. With the upcoming conference FSM4 happening in Chennai in February 2017, this discussion should lead to a solid baseline of information about the understanding of FSM in India.

The discussion will be followed by a synthesis document, compiled of all the comments and posts given from participants to show the picture and directions of solid and liquid waste management and its challenges in rural and urban India for the future. Experts from Dgroup, the SNUSP Project from GIZ and India Sanitation Coalition will take the lead for enhancing the knowledge and exchange of ideas in the sector.

This discussion will be divided into the three following topics:

1) FSM beyond awareness and tools, led by Antoinette Kome of SNV. She will open the discussion with a post tomorrow. Please look out for it. This topic will be open for comments from 10-15 January.
2) Creating systems for whole cities. City sanitation planning and the role of FSM in the case of India. Moving from the global to the Indian context, Dirk Walther of GIZ, New Delhi, open this topic
3) Engaging the private sector in FSM. The India Sanitation Coalition will lead this topic given its mandate to find pathways for corporate engagement in sanitation.

As always, we will post interim summaries of the topics once they are completed. You are welcome to continue adding your comments online even after the summaries are posted as they will be incorporated into the final synthesis document. We will be disseminating the synthesis document during the upcoming FSM 4 conference in February. We also hope to reach out to the Government of India with the document.

I look forward to an interesting discussion.

Warm regards

Nitya