WaterAid in Mail holds open week to celebrate World Toilet Day
8 December 2011
From 16 to 19 November 2011, WaterAid and its partners organised Open Days on water, hygiene and sanitation chaired by the High Council of Local Authorities. These days aimed to promote learning through a multi stakeholder partnership to improve the performance of the WASH sector.
The programme of the Open Days included among other activities: A forum of mayors, an exhibition, a conference debate, a press tour and crisis talks on issues of the north and urban connections. The key themes of the activities were related to the effective transfer of resources to local authorities and the issue of rights to WASH services.
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Highlights from the open week include:
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The Country Representative allocution during the opening ceremony
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| Credit: WaterAid/Mali |
"Strong recommendations for the effective transfer of resources to local authorities and the prioritization of sanitation in local development plans."
From 16 to 18 November, WaterAid in Mali through Regional Learning Center and in partnership with Technical departments, Helvetas, SNV, GWI, UCGLUA, Cri 2002, the Association of Municipalities, GIZ, organised the forum of mayors. It registered 117 representatives and elected officials from Mali, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria.
The debates were on the transfer of resources, support to local financial management, and the promotion of local governance in order to reach the MDGs. The event also helped discuss the AfricaSAN commitments to raise the attention of officials on the necessity to prioritize sanitation in Sub Sahara Africa.
The different communications, presentation of case studies and work groups led participants to develop a resolution with recommendations presented to the Ministers in charge of decentralization. Among those recommendations are:
- the recognition by Decision makers of water and sanitation as a basic human right;
- the development of public-private partnership, inter-municipality cooperation and dialogue between citizens and elected officials;
- the development by local authorities of credible and coherent plans prioritising sanitation and considering international commitments, including those of AfricaSAN.
"Right to WASH in the heart of the debates"
Experts of the sector among whom, the National Directorate of sanitation, focused on the texts and their degree of implementation. It is true that water and sanitation are inalienable rights in Mali.
However, quoting the representative of UCGLUA: "It is necessary to raise awareness among stakeholders to make the texts more accessible to local communities. Water and sanitation are rights but we have the duty to meet the costs they require”
The crisis talks held on the 19th were marked by the intervention of local communities, elected officials and service providers on the issue of access to water in the north and urban areas. One of the recommendations for urban areas is to promote social connections. The issue of the availability of sites for the disposal of liquid waste was also part of the concerns of both populations and service providers.
"An immersion in the work of WaterAid and its partners"
During three days, participants shared their experiences on approaches and technologies through an exhibition. WaterAid in Mali took this opportunity to widely share its country strategy and the flagship report: “Off-track, off-target: why investment in water and sanitation is not reaching those who need it most”.
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The Mayor came to take part in the open days
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| Credit: WaterAid/Mali |
“Right to water and sanitation: latrines for the families of the forces of order” WaterAid in Mali gave two blocks of three latrines to the Mobile Group of Intervention.The event is the result of partnership with the social services of the police involved in the concerns of the vulnerable in the barracks and those in preventive detention. It was the way for WaterAid to advocate for providing equitable and inclusive WASH services for all.
"Meeting with the media"
The WASH journalists’ network visited Kolokani, Yélékébougou and Kati through a press tour. The press tour aimed at supporting influencing work to raise awareness among Decision makers and communities for a change of behaviour and practices by the broad dissemination of information. In this case, focus was put on the importance of WASH in education through WaterAid’s experiences of WASH in schools.
In addition, journalists participated to the official signing of the convention of twinning between Guily (village of Yelekebougou) and Umeå, (Swedish city). The twinning is a result of a WaterAid Sweden visit to Mali, when the visitors were impressed by the commitment of the community of Guily to the improvement of their living conditions.
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