International Year of Sanitation officially closed
The International Year of Sanitation has been officially closed on Friday November 21st during a ceremony at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam. His Royal Highness Prince Willem Alexander attended the ceremony. Simavi, IRC and NWP organized the closure.
During the meeting the water sector did not only looked back on the achievements of the last year, but especially was looking forward to make sure sanitation remains a top priority on everybody’s agenda.
During the closing ceremony there was a panel discussion among some experts in the field of sanitation. Bezwada Wilson from India made the biggest impression on the nearly three hundred attendees with his presentation. Bezwada is a so-called 'Manual Scavenger’, this is someone from the lowest caste which empties latrines by hand. This form of work is not only dangerous for the health of the scavenger, but above all inhuman.
Now the 'International Year of Sanitation' is completed the job is not finished yet. Sanitation is now on everybody’s agenda, the word is even recognized in the Dutch medical dictionary, and now it is important that the ideas and partnerships continue and ongoing projects are finished and new goals are set.
Here you can read which activities Simavi deployed during the past year:
Simavi’s special activities during the International Year of Sanitation
- Simavi established the School Sanitation Fund
- 29 school projects have been approved for a total of € 390,000, -
- Simavi supports the projects themselves for an amount of € 230,000, - from the general funds. Donors, including businesses, schools and foundations, gave a total of € 160.000, -.
- With these projects 156 schools (48,500 pupils) are provided with sanitary facilities. Thus there are 842 additional toilet facilities realized.
- Training routes are launched in three countries, in cooperation with WASTE and their local partners, to increase the knowledge of Simavi's local partners on sustainable methods of sanitation and experience exchange on ecological sanitation.
- The Water Company Brabantse Delta and Simavi have signed an agreement. It is a collaboration involving the use of expertise and knowledge of the water board in the field of waste water processing. Together we will prepare an action plan for sustainable sanitation supplies and a sewage system for Nkhoma hospital in Malawi and a reduction in pollution.
- On September 9 a petition was presented to the Dutch Minister for Development Bert Koenders. In the petition, the minister was asked to put the issue of sanitation high on the international political agenda during the UN Summit about the Millennium Development Goals. 400 Dutch medical specialists have signed the petition.
Nov. 2008
