Tackling Sanitation Crisis
Can SAARC make a difference?
L-R: Sanitary latrine must be made part of every rural homestead. Safe drinking water should be made available to every citizen
Talking about faeces or latrine is neither romantic nor attractive for both politicians and media. But it is a reality in South Asia where more than one billion people simply don't have toilet to perform their natural functions. Many men, women and children still defecate in open places which are highly undignified. They are exposed to severe health risks, violence and adding to environmental pollution. Majority of schools in all the countries of South Asia don't have adequate toilets and hand washing facilities for students, hence a chance to change behaviour in next generation is missing out. Economically better performing region in the time of global economic slowdown is facing daunting health challenges emanating from basic sanitation and hygiene, the problem which developed world faced and resolved in early 18th century as a fundamental to human development. This deficit in human development might be consequential for future economic development potential. The economic, social and environmental consequences of this situation are globally known. The World Bank estimates that the consequences of inadequate sanitation cost India approximately USD 53.8 billion -- 6.4 % of GDP -- every year and Bangladesh BDT 295.5 billion (US$4.2 billion) -- 6.3% of GDP. In India alone every day more than 1,000 children under the age of five die from diarrhoea caused by dirty water, lack of toilets and poor hygiene, placing India in the top spot in world diarrhoea rankings. Pakistan and Bangladesh, two other South Asian nations, follow close behind. Why is this pathetic condition socially and politically accepted in the region, which otherwise inspires the world in many areas, or put another way, how this very basic developmental challenge had been addressed by developed countries? The most important factors we find are public sector investment and greater political commitment at higher level which transform the societies. There is political commitment to change but not at required levels with new policies and investment for public services which are inadequate. This region also faces the inherent problem of exclusion. The biggest, and often overlooked, problems of exclusion and inequity deny millions of poor and marginalised people their basic rights. Digging deeper into the issues, early this year three non-governmental organizations carried out a review with a cross section of poor and marginalized social groups across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka seeking qualitative information on people's understanding of sanitation, their existing sanitation facilities and hygiene practices. The study also looked into the issue of the status of sanitation infrastructure and facilities in their communities, and their reflections on why interventions and projects in their settlements had succeeded or failed. However, the collection of voices from diverse people and communities that follow different cultures and traditions, live under different governments and regimes, and face different struggles and hardships, when comes to sanitation and hygiene they seem to speak almost the same language and some very clear messages have emerged from the review. The people in South Asia want a 'clean' and 'healthy' environment for themselves and their families. They aspire for dignity, privacy and freedom from a life of shame and embarrassment of defecating in the open. They want functional toilets, waste water disposal systems, and adequate and regular arrangements for disposal of solid waste. People believe that sanitation programmes and projects have failed because of less involvement and poor commitment from both communities and external agencies and the consequent lapses in technology, planning, implementation, supervision, support and, above all, accountability. For making services sustainable and programmes successful, the quality of construction work should be improved, minimizing vested interest group to benefit, controlling corruption and establishing an effective operation and maintenance system. The overarching message emerged from peoples' voices across the region is that their political leadership must take a collective resolve in the region to promote right to sanitation and dignified life, work to provide them and their children a disease free and healthy environment. Now the question is how this aspiration could be translated into a reality when this region faces political hostilities and is struggling to share a common regional development vision! Can sanitation be a joining factor in this unfriendly political environment? The governmental heads from South Asia will be gathering in southern island of Maldives for 17th SAARC summit in the second week of this month (10-11). In 25 years and 16 summits, sanitation has never been on the agenda of SAARC. SAARC has demonstrated that it can make things happen with political will on the back. It is high time for the leaders of South Asia to come up with clear and ambitious targets, timeline and cash for sanitation. If South Asia makes progress, world makes progress on sanitation related MDGs. SAARC leaders need to recognize that sanitation is the building block of dignified society in South Asia. They must recognize 'sanitation crisis in the region and diarrhoea as the biggest child killer. There is even a greater challenge of inequity in resource distribution and service provision. National governments need to engage pro-actively to provide stronger political leadership to WaSH; SAARC can encourage such moves by the governments. They need to work out a regional mechanism for implementation, coordination, research and knowledge sharing and steering the plan through the existing SAARC secretariat and strengthening South Asian Conference on Sanitation process. Information on WaSH sector finance and service provision is inadequate coupled with data inconsistencies, definitional issues -- hence creating bottlenecks to measure progress and ensure accountability. SAARC governments need to work together to strengthen monitoring and financial reporting and improve transparency over WaSH budget allocations and expenditure to ensure that the poor and most marginalized are measured and targeted. Government of Bangladesh took an initiative in 2003 to organize first ever South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) to mobilize political will for addressing sanitation crisis in the region. SACOSAN process has been quite successful but still sanitation in South Asia remains a major challenge as we proceed towards the MDG cut date. Bangladesh has also been very successful in promoting community led total sanitation approaches, now it is time to lead the entire region to learn and coordinate regional actions with time bound and focussed actions to lift millions of citizens from undignified conditions. SACOSAN has been attended by sector ministries, while the commitment from head of states in SAARC summit will provide the required impetus and thus Bangladesh can lead this process by proposing sanitation agenda in the summit.
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