ENPHO, with the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and International Training Network-Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (ITN-BUET) is implementing the project ‘Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Scaling and Sanitation Innovation’ to catalyze achieving SDG 6.2 targets. Through effective collaboration, coordination and communication with stakeholders and regional partners, the project intends to build the capacities of relevant stakeholders to promote and implement CWIS/FSM at municipal level, across South Asia and beyond.
A learning exchange visit to Dasra- impact foundation, Mumbai was held from 29thMarch to 1st April, 2022 to build the capacities of the stakeholders and for the effective collaboration, coordination and communication with the regional partners in promoting and implementing CWIS.
During the program, sharing about National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management Alliance (NFSSM) Alliance, India was done which was formed to align all the organization working in the sector to avoid the duplication of the work and also to form the uniformity of the information and optimize the outcome. The host organization- Dasra shared on the formation of the NFSSM Alliance in India and their working modality. The whole process of aligning the sector experts and organizations, bringing them together with an objective of maximizing the output as an alliance along with the roles and responsibilities of each organization in the alliance was shared.
To this, various organizations shared their CWIS learning based on their experiences of implementation in different CWIS cities such as Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS) shared their learning on the CWIS implementation in Trichy, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) shared their learning from Warangal, Centre for Water and Sanitation (CWAS) shared their learning from WAI along with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) who shared their learning of formation of sanitation capacity building platform (SCBP).
The visit to the CWIS cities Wai, further gave a clear idea on the implementation of the CWIS approach along with the collaboration with the local governance. The impact of the service functions of CWIS framework on the outcome of the same framework was well demonstrated in the visit to the Wai city where the local governing authority had a good role for the effective implementation of CWIS.
The exchange visit further helped to enhance the knowledge on CWIS for the effective implementation and has opened a platform to discuss the CWIS content at regional level for the capacity building.
During the event, various CWIS implementing organization took part to share their learning and experiences. The visit was accompanied by a representative from UN-Habitat and Innovative Solutions from Nepal to the ENPHO team. Similarly, participants from different organization from Bangladesh like the project implementing partner of ENPHO, ITN-BUET, representatives from Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE), Water Aid Bangladesh attended the event.
