SuSanA News - November 2023   
 
SuSanA News - World Toilet Day 2023
Dear SuSanA members and friends,

World Toilet Day is around the corner! A day to remember that the sanitation crisis is still not resolved and that still 3.5 billion people around this world do not have access to proper sanitation, endangering their dignity and health.

You may be wondering why the World Toilet Day logo features hummingbirds. The reason is simple: In an ancient tale, a hummingbird fought a great forest fire by carrying small water drops in its beak back and forth while all other animals stood by and just watched. The hummingbird’s actions, no matter how small, contributed to solving a significant problem. Hence, we should all strive to be like the hummingbird and do what we can to tackle the sanitation crisis, not just on World Toilet Day, but every day. If you would like to learn more about the connection between the hummingbird and World Toilet Day, you can visit the website of the campaign launched by UN Water by following the link below.

In addition to celebrating World Toilet Day with you, we are happy to announce the launch of our SuSanA Blog feature (more detailed information about this below)!

Enjoy exploring this special edition of our SuSanA Newsletter and celebrate World Toilet Day 2023 with us!

Yours sincerely,
Arne, Alexandra, Maren, Daphne, Teresa, and Bettina-Sophie
on behalf of the SuSanA Secretariat
Holy Shit Movie
Holy Shit! The topic of sanitation has made it onto the silver screen and we as SuSanA are a partner of the movie!

Directed by Rubén Abruña, this documentary explores global sanitation systems, spanning 16 cities across 4 continents. Abruña delves into Parisian sewers, visits a Chicago wastewater treatment plant, and introduces individuals maintaining our sanitation infrastructure. What’s makes the movie even better is that “Holy Shit” highlights the work of two projects from our own SuSanA partner: GiveLove Foundation, an organization founded by the renowned Academy and Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Arquette. It's a true testament to the growing importance of sanitation in our society, as it makes its way to Hollywood.

The cinema release day is the 30th of November. We hope many of you are going to watch this movie and bring all your friends with you!
WASH for Health – Prevention is the best medicine!
17 Nov. 2023 12:00 - 13:00 CET
In anticipation of World Toilet Day, we cordially invite you to join us for an insightful online event on "WASH for Health – Prevention is the best medicine!" hosted by the SuSanA Secretariat. This one-hour event will introduce the newly launched SuSanA WASH for Health Discussion Paper and delve into the key aspects of intersectoral collaboration within the WASH and Health sectors.

This event brings together various experts from across the both sectors (including WHO, Columbia and Xavier University, the EU, and WaterAid) to discuss key emerging issues and the importance of WASH for health in development cooperation.

This event will be conducted in English and will be recorded. For more information and registration, please follow the link below. We look forward to your participation!
Launch of the SuSanA blog
We are excited to introduce a new addition to the SuSanA platform: Our very own blog feature!

This blog serves as a dynamic space where we delve deeper into relevant and interesting topics within the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) sector. Here, we aim to provide a platform for our global network of members and partners to share their insights, ideas, events, projects, news, stories, and much more. The SuSanA Blog is designed to be an inclusive and representative space, amplifying voices from all around the world.
» Happy reading and exploring!
Webinar Series with GWOPA
The SuSanA Africa Chapter has teamed up with GWOPA, WaterWorX, GIZ, AfWaSa, FSMA, German Water Partnership and Aquafed to launch a webinar series dedicated to sharing sanitation knowledge and experiences among water operators across Africa. In this series, we'll spotlight 10 diverse case studies from the continent and dive into the practical realities faced by water utilities in their pursuit of improved sanitation access. This peer-to-peer format serves as a collaborative platform for water operators to learn from and inspire each other. The first and second webinar were a great success, with high attendance, valuable input from the speakers and active participation from the audience. Recordings and presentations are available on susana.org and follow-up discussions are taking place in the Forum. Don’t miss the 3rd webinar on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023, which will look at innovative partnerships between water utilities/authorities and private container-based sanitation (CBS) service providers, using concrete examples from cities such as Mombasa, Kisumu, and Kumasi. The registration link is open now!
GSC news
The Global Steering Committee (GSC) wants to draw the attention to the first “Connect the Networks” congress that took place from the 9th to the 12th of November in Zurich (Switzerland). For the first time, the three national resource-based sanitation systems networks RAE (France), NetSan (Germany) and VaLoo (Switzerland) came together in one big event.

Interested persons and members were able to take part in a broad programme of networking activities, panel discussions, workshops, presentations, visits and film screenings on progress, challenges and opportunities in the field of resource-based sanitation and closing the nutrient cycle.
CSE Webinar on World Toilet Day 2023 Special
India is experiencing a paradigm shift in sanitation management. A sewered system of sanitation is giving way to non-sewered methods. More than eight states in the country have moved towards mainstreaming faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM) through construction of faecal sludge treatment plants (FSTPs) and co-treatment of sewage with septage at existing STPs.

CSE is marking World Toilet Day 2023 with a webinar to assess and review the performance of FSTPs in terms of their design parameters. The webinar will take place on Monday, November the 20th at 3:00 (IST). Save the day in your calendar, register and CSE for an interesting webinar.
Unconventional Approaches for WASH- it’s a winning streak!
The Waterproof-Dance4WASH Campaign won the third prize in the NRW Media Award for Development Policy Engagement. The six-month social media campaign reached an estimated 1.2 million young people through dance, art, music, and social media across six countries. The campaign used the catchphrase "WASH IT, SHAKE IT, MAKE IT AND BREAK IT" and collaborated with great partners, musicians, and artists. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) provided financial support. Viva con Agua's #waterisahumanright campaign won first place in the Bundesgesellschaft Für Digitale Medien. Both campaigns highlight the importance of collaboration to create diverse communities for change to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SuSanA taking part in the OVERDUE Initiative
As a key partner of the OVERDUE initiative, SuSanA has endorsed the 'Just Sanitation for African Cities' campaign, which was launched on September 4th this year. The aim of the campaign is to mobilise a wide range of sanitation actors ahead of the SDG Summit in New York, where progress towards SDG6 will be discussed, and to collectively draft and endorse a regional call for action that is deeply rooted in localised action across urban Africa.
The SuSanA Africa Chapter, represented by its coordinator Chaiwe Sanderse, was invited to participate in the OVERDUE regional meeting in Nairobi on 11th- 12th September. Chaiwe's voice was strong around the message of 'amplifying the voices we hardly hear from', calling us to honour those who are busy providing sanitation services on the ground by pushing for solutions to the challenges they face, and to hold policy makers accountable for previously neglecting the voices of sanitation workers in policy discussions.
SIRWASH webinar Series
The SIRWASH Programme (Sustainable and Innovative Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) conducted a three-part webinar series on rural WASH services. The Webinars were convened by our partners from the RWSN - Rural Water Supply Network, and Skat Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank Group, Water For People, ONE DROP. All three events were multilingual, with simultaneous translation into English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
The third webinar of the SIRWASH Webinar Series "Rural sanitation – why is it left behind?" took place on November 15th. This webinar featured government initiatives from Brazil, Tanzania, and India that strengthen and prioritise rural sanitation. Recordings of all three webinars are available at the link below.
SuSanA at AfricaSan7 Namibia (06-10.11)
The Africa Chapter successfully hosted a SuSanA Meeting at AfricaSan7 on November 8th. The possibility was given to the SuSanA members to connect, learn and contribute to the future of sanitation in Africa with Sareen Malik, the coordinator of the SuSanA Africa Chapter, and Chaiwe Mushauko- Sanderse, the co-coordinator and Forum moderator. The meeting started with an introduction and update of SuSanA and its Africa Chapter, highlighting SuSanA's recent collaborations, including with the OVERDUE initiative and the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW). The following discussion focused on the strategic direction the Africa Chapter, encouraging collaborative planning of activities based on members’ motivation and interests.

The SuSanA Africa Chapter seized a valuable opportunity during the high-level CSO Dialogue Session, co-convened by AMCOW and ANEW, to effectively advocate for enhanced knowledge management across the African continent. Our efforts were directed at raising awareness of the need for and importance of increased resource allocation for knowledge sharing and learning among regional sector actors. This call resonated, leading to a commitment to incorporate knowledge management in the Swapkomund Declaration.
Striving for better access to toilets every day
Sanitation for Millions (S4M) News
Sanitation for Millions (S4M) improves access to safe sanitation and hygiene with activities ranging from construction of sanitary facilities to behaviour change to faecal sludge management in Colombia, Pakistan, Jordan and Uganda, with a special focus on inclusivity and gender. To commemorate this years’ World Toilet Day, S4M Colombia holds awareness-raising sessions in collaboration with the local health sector, with a focus on women and children. In Uganda, the World Toilet Day will be celebrated with a community-based debate on sanitation, commonly known as "Kabakes", at a local health centre, a kick-off event for the construction of inclusive toilet facilities at a school and a health facility, as well as a photo exhibition of S4M Uganda's interventions and best practices. S4M Pakistan organises role-play activities and public speaking competitions in schools and inaugurates inclusive sanitation facilities in health facilities.

Also, the Toilets Making the Grade school competition will enter a new round in December, starting in Pakistan. Toilets Making the Grade is a school competition to motivate schools and students to reflect on how to improve their sanitation, implemented in partnership with the German Toilet Organization.
You received this email because you registered either as partner institution or working group member to the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance or subscribed to the mailing list. If you are a SuSanA member and would like to cancel or change your subscription, please log in and unsubscribe/change under "Change your details".

If you are not a SuSanA member and want to unsubscribe the mailing list, please click here.
Imprint
The secretariat of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance is located at:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 36 + 40
53113 Bonn, Germany

info@susana.org