WaterAid experts available for interviews on sanitation in Latin America at LATINOSAN Costa Rica

Media advisory: WaterAid experts available for interviews on sanitation in Latin America at LATINOSAN Costa Rica

April 1, 2019 — WaterAid staff will highlight the importance of equity and inclusion at LATINOSAN, a regional conference held every three years to promote access to sustainable sanitation services in Latin American countries.

LATINOSAN is a well-known forum for public sector, corporate and civil society stakeholders to coordinate training, decision-making and financing to improve sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The event will be held in Costa Rica April 1-3 2019 at the Costa Rica Convention Center in San Jose.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most unequal region in the world. According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 24 million people in Latin America do not have access to clean water and 90.5 million people in Latin America do not have decent toilets. Since 2011, WaterAid has been working in the to bring clean water and decent toilets to communities in Nicaragua and Colombia.

The following WaterAid staff will attend the LATINOSAN conference and are available for interviews:

Joshua Briemberg, Latin America and Caribbean Regional Director, WaterAid

Manuela Pinilla, Country Director, WaterAid Colombia

Germana Fajardo, Country Manager, WaterAid Nicaragua

Javier Flores, Operations Manager, WaterAid Nicaragua

Juan Carlos Rodriguez, WASH Markets Specialist

WaterAid participation:

Session 1.1, April 1: Human Rights Based Approach in Sanitation Policies and Programs: The session is focused on the human rights-based approach to water and sanitation in sanitation policy and programs. Joshua Briemberg will be presenting on a panel with Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Leo Heller and Specialists from the Inter American Development Bank (IADB) and WaterLex on how to incorporate inclusivity in strategies for permanent and universal access to improved sanitation with indigenous peoples based on experiences and reflections from the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean and La Guajira, Colombia.

Side Event, April 2:  WaterAid has partnered with CAWST, Pure Water for the World, UNICEF and PAHO, under the auspices of the Regional Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS) Network, to host an event on the opportunities and challenges of HWTS for the universal access to safe water.

Session 4.5, April 3: Technological Alternatives for Sustainable Sanitation. Joshua Briemberg will be presenting experiences with container-based sanitation and community-level composting on a panel with AECID, IADB and a professor from the Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Department at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil).

See the full conference schedule: https://latinosan2019cr.com/programa

Learn about WaterAid's work in Latin American and Caribbean.

//ends//

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:

In the US: Emily Haile, Senior Communications and Media Manager, [email protected], 

About WaterAid
WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international nonprofit organisation works in 34 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25.8 million people with clean water and 25.1 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/us.