1. President of Senegal visits the SuSanA booth during AfricaSan 4 in Dakar, Senegal
2. AfricaSan 4: Ngor Declaration on Sanitation and Hygiene replaces the eThekwini commitments
3. 19th SuSanA meeting in Dakar, Senegal
4. Considering a SuSanA Regional Chapter for India
5. Get involved: SuSanA activities @ upcoming events
6. The 20th SuSanA meeting, Stockholm, Sweden will take place on Saturday 29 August 2015
7. Update on the SuSanA Thematic Discussion Series
8. Have a chat with us and celebrate 5000 members: Invitation to „Open microphone“ webinar on 18 June at 16:00 CET
9. SuSanA featured user of the month May 2015
10. SuSanA welcomes eight new partners
11. Monthly SuSanA discussion forum digest: What has been discussed?
12. Sharing knowledge: Recently uploaded publications in the SuSanA library
13. Upcoming partner events and training courses

1. President of Senegal visits the SuSanA booth during AfricaSan 4 in Dakar, Senegal

President Macky Sall of Senegal visiting the SuSanA booth at AfricaSan 4 (click on pictures to enlarge)

A highlight for the SuSanA secretariat during AfricaSan 4 was when President Macky Sall of Senegal visited the SuSanA booth in the exhibition area on Tuesday 26 May. The Director of Borda, Stefan Reuter, briefly gave an overview of SuSanA to the President and presented him with the SuSanA vision document, as can be seen in the photo below. For more impressions from the SuSanA booth at AfricaSan 4, click here.
The SuSanA booth was well stocked with SuSanA partner publications, posters and brochures from ACF, Boata, Borda, Cewas, seecon, Eawag-Sandec, GIZ, pS-Eau, SEI, and WEDC. The SuSanA partners WaterAid and WSP had booths adjacent to the SuSanA booth. Thank you to Borda, Cewas-seecon, Eawag-Sandec, GIZ and SEI for manning and financing the booth.

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2. AfricaSan 4: Ngor Declaration on Sanitation and Hygiene replaces the eThekwini commitments

AfricaSan 4 was convened and organised by the Government of Senegal and held in Dakar, Senegal from Monday 25 May to Wednesday 27 May 2015. The AfricaSan 4 was well attended by Ministers responsible for sanitation from across Africa along with participants drawn from government agencies, civil society, donors and development banks, multilaterals, research organisations and the private sector.
The eThekwini commitments were replaced by the “Ngor Declaration on Sanitation and Hygiene” on 27 May 2015, which sets out in particular clear indicators for monitoring progress. The Vision articulated by African Ministers responsible for Sanitation and Hygiene at AfricaSan 4, Dakar, Senegal, is summarised as: “Achieve universal access to adequate and sustainable sanitation and hygiene services and eliminate open defecation by 2030.” You can download the preamble and commitments here.

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3. 19th SuSanA meeting in Dakar, Senegal

The 19th SuSanA meeting was held in Dakar, Senegal on 22 and 23 May 2015 in the run-up to AfricaSan 4 Conference. The meeting was hosted by the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Ch. A. Diop (IFAN) from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar together with the SuSanA secretariat and took place in the famous IFAN museum in Dakar city.
The meeting started on Friday afternoon with an opening exhibition that displayed posters, prototypes and films of more than 20 exhibitors, including inter alia Oxfam, Water for people, Association des jeunes Professionnels de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement du Sénégal, Critical Practices LLC, Action contre le Faim, Borda, SEI, le collectif Sénégalais des Africaines pour la Promotion de l’Education Relative à l’Environment. The exhibition was opened by the Museum curator Mr Séne  followed by a welcome reception where more than 70 participants were able to network and get to know each other at the first ever SuSanA meeting in West Africa.
On Saturday morning Anselme Vodounhessi (AU/GIZ) did a great warm up for the AfricaSan 4 conference by summarising the findings of the 2014 African Water and Sanitation Sector Report that monitors progress of sanitation commitments of 47 African states. The second session of the day, picked up on finance with Fungai Makoni (SNV) presenting the learning paper “Financing sanitation for cities and towns” which introduced the sustainable full cost recovery paradigm. Diane Kellogg (Bentley University & Hope for Africa) shared her work experience with Sanitation Savings Associations as a promising tool to fill the financing gap.

Group picture 19^th SuSanA meeting in Dakar, Senegal (click on picture to enlarge)

The following session, hosted by Linus Dagerskog (SEI), raised the question of how productive sanitation could work at scale. Karim Savadogo (CEFAME and SNV Burkina) described the good political backing of EcoSan in Burkina Faso, with the Ministry of Agriculture clearly committing to make EcoSan a pillar for food security. The fourth session, chaired by Seydou Niang (IFAN), focused on Faecal Sludge Management and featured a range of Senegalese experiences – from the city of Dakar and the floodprone areas of Pikine and Guédiawaye.

In the afternoon, discussions raised in the plenary, were continued in smaller groups within four Working Group meetings (WG 2 Finance& economics, WG 5 Food security& productive sanitation systems, WG 6 Cities and WG 12 WASH & Nutrition).
The meeting ended with a wrap-up on knowledge exchange between French and English speaking African countries, in which Simeon Kenfack (African Water Association, AfWA) shared his experiences as representative of the largest knowledge management platform in the water and sanitation sector in Africa.
All presentations of the 19th SuSanA meeting are available on the SuSanA meeting page in English and French and a selection of pictures is available on Flickr. If you attended the 19th SuSanA meeting you are welcome to share your experience of the meeting in the forum in this thread.

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4. Considering a SuSanA Regional Chapter for India

The SuSanA secretariat is currently considering to set-up a SuSanA regional chapter for India which shall contribute to the Indian Governments Clean India Campaign “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, by triggering discussion on the sustainability of sanitation and by linking the Indian and the global discourse on sustainable sanitation. The SuSanA Regional Chapter for India is further aiming for a better outreach of SuSanA knowledge products on the ground and facilitating members and partners regional knowledge exchange and networking.
The SuSanA Regional Chapter for India will be an inclusive attempt open to Indian SuSanA partners and all other organisation working towards more sustainable and accelerated sanitation provision in India. Organisations interested in contributing to the SuSanA Indian chapter are most welcome to contact the SuSanA secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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5. Get involved: SuSanA activities @ upcoming events

• There will be a SuSanA booth at the upcoming 38th WEDC International Conference in Loughborough, UK taking place from the 27 to 31 July 2015. The SuSanA secretariat would like to invite SuSanA partner organisations to display their sanitation related publications at the booth, if you are interested please contact the secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
• The SuSanA secretariat is also planning, if there is interest from a number of SuSanA partner organisations, to have a SuSanA booth at the 5th International Dry Toilet Conference in Tampere, Finland taking place from the 19 to 22 August 2015. If you are interested please contact the secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
• During the Stockholm World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden taking place from 23 to 28 August 2015 there will be a number of seminars organised by SuSanA partners with SuSanA working group (WG) meetings following the respective seminars. Currently the following WG meetings are being planned (The room allocation for the WG meetings will be published via the 20th SuSanA meeting page as soon as they are known, here):
  • A WG 8 - Emergency and reconstruction situations, will take place either before or after the seminar on Tuesday 25 August from 09:00-10:30 entitled “Understanding Humanitarian and Development WASH Approaches to Improve Service Delivery” which will be convened by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; Federal Foreign Office, Germany; German WASH Network; SuSanA and UNICEF.
  • A WG 12 – WASH and Nutrition, will take place either before or after the seminar on Tuesday 25 August from 11:00-12:30 entitled “WASH in Nut: strategic and operational solutions to fight under-nutrition” which will be convened by ACF, GTO, GIZ and UNSGAB.
  • A WG 6 – Cities, will take place from 17:45 to 19:00 after the seminar on Wednesday 26 August from 16:00-17:30 entitled “Sustainable City Sanitation – from planning to implementation” which will be convened by Eawag-Sandec, GIZ , SuSanA, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) and Water for People.
  • A WG 7 – Community, rural and schools (with gender and social aspects), will take place either before or after the seminar on Thursday 27 August from 11:00-12:30 entitled “Gender sensitive indicators in sanitation and wastewater planning and implementation” which will be convened by WECF, UNEP, BORDA, GWA and GIZ.

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6. The 20th SuSanA meeting will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on Saturday 22 August 2015

We are happy to announce that the next SuSanA meeting will take place on 22 August in Stockholm and will be hosted by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the SuSanA secretariat held by GIZ (click here for the meeting page). We intend to have a live stream of the meeting for the members of the SuSanA community who are unable to attend. We will endeavour with a twitter chat to enable active participation from the online participants in the meeting, please share further ideas on how we could facilitate constructive and active participation from online participants in the forum here.
For the forthcoming draft agenda, to register and for further details around the 20th SuSanA meeting, field trip and working group meetings that will be taking place during the week of the Stockholm World Water Week please visit the meeting page here.

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7. Update on the SuSanA Thematic Discussion Series

With the first SuSanA thematic discussion series on the “Sanitation Ladder” successfully completed, the SuSanA Secretariat is now looking forward to hosting the next thematic discussions; aiming to involve actors from interconnected areas of expertise and produce useful information that improves knowledge exchange.
The next thematic discussion series (TDS) will be on the topic of “Urban Sanitation Finance” and is envisaged to take place at the end of June / beginning of July. We will keep you updated about this on the TDS subpage of the SuSanA platform.
In case you were unable to join in our first TDS about the “Sanitation Ladder”, you can find the full documentation here, including a recording of the webinar and an interview with Patrick Bracken (AHT Group AG), one of the thematic leads of the TDS.
If you are interested in organising a thematic discussion (series), you are most welcome to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss the format and timeline.

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8. Have a chat with us and celebrate 5000 members: Invitation to „Open microphone“ webinar on 18 June at 16:00 CET

SuSanA membership development since the launch of the forum

June 2015 is the month where SuSanA will meet an impressive milestone: 5000 SuSanA members! In addition, another milestone achieved is that 100 sanitation projects funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have been introduced on the SuSanA discussion forum.
To celebrate these two milestones, and to hear about your concerns and ideas for the future of the SuSanA network, we invite you to one hour of an “open microphone” webinar. The webinar will be held on Thursday, 18 June at 16:00 CET (Geneva time). Unlike conventional webinars there will be no formal presentations (apart from a short input by Trevor Surridge and Annkathrin Tempel to set the scene). The webinar will give you the chance to speak to members of the SuSanA secretariat and core group (Arno Rosemarin, Madeleine Fogde, Jonathan Parkinson, and Elisabeth von Muench) as well as to fellow SuSanA members. You will be free to ask us what you have always wanted to ask, give us your advice on how to do things better, discuss the workings of the discussion forum, working groups, the Wikipedia WikiProject Sanitation, the new project database or even the future of the SuSanA network in general. Details on how to register will be available on the SuSanA discussion forum, just look for the moving blue banner at the top of the page and click here. We look forward to meeting you!

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9. SuSanA featured user of the month May 2015: Pawan Jha

Pawan is a scientist from New Delhi, India, working on the field of biogas plants based on human excreta for more than 20 years. He is an expert in the development and implementation of sustainable technologies in the fields of on-site sanitation, septage management and biogas from human wastes. Pawan is now working as the chairman of the NGO Foundation for Environment and Sanitation. He has a background in microbial biochemistry. Recently, his book on Technical Options for Solid and Liquid Waste Management in Rural Areas has been released by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India (click here for download).

In a personal interview with Pawan the SuSanA secretariat had the chance to learn more about Pawan's personal and professional background and also to get an insight on his thoughts on the current situation in India. Click here to listen to the full interview and here to download the interview.

Pawan joined the SuSanA forum in December 2012 and is well known for very clear and informative posts, providing in-depth knowledge from India, including many references to government-led publications. He has first-hand information about waste management and biogas production. View Pawan's forum profile and his last 20 posts are available here (you need to log in to view his profile). Pawan is currently in 29th position of the most active users, see here.

Congratulations again for being selected as the Featured User of the month May 2015 - much deserved, Pawan! Looking forward to hearing more from you in the coming months and years!

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10. SuSanA welcomes eight new partners

We welcome the following new partners who have recently joined SuSanA, bringing the total number to 244 partners. SuSanA members can apply online to have their organisation become a partner here (see also our selection criteria).

The Centre for Development Finance (CDF) from India is one of three research centres at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR). CDF undertakes policy oriented research and advisory engagements to improve the delivery of public infrastructure and services, particularly in the areas of water and sanitation. The organisation recently developed a guidance paper on performance agreements for sustainable urban sanitation, funded by the Gates Foundation. For sanitation-related projects, please search for sanitation under ifmrlead.org/projects/.

Non-Water Sanitation is an organization which promotes drytoilets and raises awareness about hygiene topics. So far, they helped one rural village in India (Darewadi) to gain Open Defecation free status and build a drytoilet-complex for a residential school in another Indian village. Next to the development aid projects, they started EcoToiletten which is a rental for ecological mobile toilets in Germany. This is an alternative to the widely known plastic toilets. The campaign helps to promote ecosan in Germany and also a part of the returns are allocated to the projects in developing countries.

Health And Nutrition Development Society (HANDS) from Pakistan was founded by Prof.A.G.Billoo (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) in 1979 and has evolved in 34 years as one of the largest Non-Profit Organization of the country with integrated development model. HANDS has a network of 30 offices across the country and has access to more than 16.2 million population nearly 20,274 villages/ settlement in 34 districts of Pakistan. The NGO has initiated Urban WASH program in the Gadap town of Karachi in collaboration with Water Aid. The program consists of two components Provision of Safe Drinking Water to urban slums and Improvement of school WASH.

Sanitation Solutions Group (SSG) from Uganda is an independent social enterprise whose objective is to provide affordable sanitation products and services to households and communities in Uganda with the aim of achieving city-wide and district wide scale. SSG provides business development support, marketing, management consulting, and market/field testing services to sanitation businesses and organisations with the aim of scaling up the provision of affordable products and services that will impact at scale through commercially viable supply chains.

Friends of Londiani from Kenya is a community development organisation whose mission is to work in partnership with the people of the Kenyan community of Londiani, and its surrounding villages, to develop and complete sustainable community projects to enable the people to achieve an improved quality of life based on their values and become the authors of their own development. Our programme areas are health, water, education and economic empowerment.

Results for Development Institute (R4D) from the United States is a non-profit organization whose mission is to unlock solutions to tough development challenges that are preventing people in low and middle income countries from realizing their full potential. We work across multiple sectors – including education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), market dynamics, and governance. In WASH they are working to support promising development approaches in Africa and India by connecting them to the people and resources they need to grow. Working with in-country partners, the R4D WASH team is focused on finding and promoting the most effective, demand-driven, and sustainable solutions to the enduring challenge of providing WASH services to the poor.

Population Services International (PSI) from the United States is a leading global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health. Working in partnership within the public and private sectors, and harnessing the power of the markets, PSI provides life-saving products, clinical services and behavior change communications that empower the world's most vulnerable populations to lead healthier lives. For PSI’s activities in WASH visit psi.org/health-area/water-sanitation/.

Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial (INTI in Spanish) from Argentina promotes the generation and transfer of technological innovation to every branch of industry, and it verifies that every process, every good and every service is adjusted to worldwide standards and trends, spreading technological practices and knowledge throughout the country. Currently, along with Argentina's Health Ministry, UNICEF, NGOs and other state institutions, INTI is part of a workgroup that aims to make sustainable sanitation options available to the entire population; specifically, urine diversion dry toilets (UDDT).

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11. Monthly SuSanA discussion forum digest: What has been discussed?

The SuSanA forum now has a new logo. The aim was to have a logo that looked more similar to the SuSanA logo in order to show that the SuSanA forum and SuSanA website/platform are totally integrated.

Should shared sanitation services be considered 'improved' sanitation? (and MDG implications) (1320 views, 13 replies)

Tippy Tap in schools way to go!? (and other group handwashing facilities at schools) (1202 views, 25 replies)

Open Defecation: A Boon or Bane? (blessing or curse) (829 views, 9 replies)

Lessons Learned from the Dissemination of Biodigesters for Sanitation in Haiti, from 2010 to 2013 (705 views, 12 replies)

How common are squatting toilets in your country? (1156 views, 34 replies)

28 May is MH Day - Let's end the hesitation around menstruation - and new Wikipedia article (558 views, 13 replies)

Sewage Treatment in India: "We are making collection, transportation, treatment and finally reuse of sewage mandatory" (621 views, 10 replies)

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12. Sharing knowledge: Recently uploaded publications in the SuSanA library

Results based financing for sanitation ​– do the costs outweigh the benefits? Webinar and follow-up discussion (for the video recordings of the webinar click here)

Several new publications have been added to SuSanA library summing to 1870 entries till date. We would like to highlight the following publications to you (click here for the complete library):

• Abeysuriya, K., Kome, A., Willetts, J., Chong, J. (2014). Financing Sanitation for Cities and Towns - Learning Paper. Prepared for SNV Netherlands Development Organisation by Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
• Castalia Strategic Advisors (2015). Review of Results-Based Financing (RBF) Schemes in WASH - A Report to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Castalia Strategic Advisors, Washington D.C., US
• Cavill, S., Chambers, R., Vernon, N. (2015). Frontiers of CLTS: Innovations and Insights - Sustainability and CLTS: Taking Stock. CLTS Knowledge Hub at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
• German Toilet Organization (GTO) (2014). WASH Capacity Development - WASH ePaper, Issue No. 1. German Toilet Organization (GTO) in collaboration with the German WASH Network and the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
• Gorsboth, M., Callenius, C., Lukow, M., Mari, F. (1015). Die Welt im Wasserstres - Wie Wasserknappheit die Ernährungssituation bedroht. (In German) Brot für die Welt – Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung e. V.
• Hill, B. G. (2013). An evaluation of waterless human waste management systems at North American public remote sites. PhD thesis, University of British Columbia (Vancouver), Canada
• Various authors (2015). Determining the effectiveness and mode of operation of CLTS: The DEMO-CLTS study - Various documents on results from research grant. Eawag/Sandec (Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology)

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13. Upcoming partner events and training courses

Have a look at the highlights on upcoming conferences, sanitation events and courses in this section.

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Arne Panesar, Trevor Surridge, Annkathrin Tempel, Jona Toetzke and Lasse Roeder
on behalf of the SuSanA secretariat
Website: www.susana.org
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Skype: susana.secretariat
Follow us on facebook: www.facebook.com/susana.org
Twitter: @susana_org
Discussion forum: www.forum.susana.org