Water experts to hold global forum in Foz do Iguacu to improve sanitation and water services for the world's poor
First event of its kind to be held in Brazil

 

Brasilia, 18 October 2000 - Five hundred world experts and senior professionals on water and sanitation are meeting in the scenic city of Foz do Iguacu, from 24-29 November 2000, under the auspices of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) to review progress towards meeting the water and sanitation needs of the world.

This meeting is the Fifth Global Forum of the WSSCC, an international organization composed of members throughout the world that act as a global alliance and advocate the improvement of the health and well-being of the poor and underserved in developing countries. Previous global fora of the WSSC were held in Manila (1997), Barbados (1995), Rabat (1993) and Oslo (1991).

International effort

With major support from the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and many other donors, the Foz do Iguacu Forum will be attended by some 500 people from more than 100 countries. It will seek consensus on an international effort to improve basic hygiene and sanitation for the 2.4 billion of the world's citizens who presently lack these basic services. There are more than a billion people in the world who still lack access even to a daily supply of clean water. On the Foz do Iguacu Agenda are discussions on “people-centred approaches” in which local community action, based on people's own energy and initiative, becomes the spearhead for development progress in water supply, sanitation and hygiene. The experts will also be reporting on a series of worldwide discussions on innovative sanitation ideas, on ways of delivering basic services to squatter communities in Third World cities, and on a string of other critical issues aimed at improving the health and well-being of the world's poorest people.

The Iguacu meeting is being hosted by the Government of Brazil and the State of Parana, with the cooperation of the Inter-American Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (AIDIS) and secretariat assistance of the Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (ABAS). The outcome of the Brazil Forum is expected to influence future forms of international support for water supply and sanitation programmes in developing countries. The Council influences international programmes both through its members, who are senior officials in many development agencies and organizations, and through its findings, which are widely disseminated to development practitioners.

New global assessment

The November Forum will also see the release of a new global assessment of water supply and sanitation. Undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), this Joint Monitoring Report will confirm the depressing fact that, despite several accomplishments in the past decade by some countries, half of the world's population still has no access to facilities for hygienic personal sanitation, and that there are still well over a billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water.

VISION 21, which was launched and acclaimed at the Second World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference in The Hague in March this year, promotes fundamental changes in the approach and the delivery of water and sanitation services in developing countries. The key to this approach is to base efforts primarily on people-centred approaches.

Under the banner of VISION 21, the WSSCC is coordinating a global concerted effort to help countries introduce the local initiatives needed to achieve universal access to water and sanitation services. In this role, NGOs and community-based organisations are particularly relevant. The Montreal-based International Secretariat for Water (ISW) and WaterAid, will work closely with the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank and with others to help national and local NGOs in developing countries to facilitate the community mobilisation activities needed for VISION 21 to succeed.

In preparation for the Brazil event, the WSSCC held electronic conferences in September and October of this year that were open to anyone with an interest in the topic of “serving the unserved” with improved water and sanitation systems. Participants endeavoured to develop practical ways of bringing these local initiatives into national planning strategies, and changing the direction of international support towards community-driven programmes.

The theme of the Fifth Global Forum is “Vision 21: From Shared Vision to Shared Action”.

For more information, please contact the WSSCC: Ms. Eirah Gorre-Dale, Tel. No. + 1(914) 309-5491; E-mail: eirah.gorre-dale@undp.org. In Brasilia, she can be reached c/o The Manhattan Plaza Hotel, Tel. No.: (55) 61 319 3060; Fax: (55) 61 328 5685).