Equity and inclusion in sanitation and hygiene in South Asia : a regional synthesis paper

When sanitation and hygiene stalwarts meet at global platforms to take stock, share experiences and assess progress - practitioners and policy makers from South Asia are centre stage to share ground breaking stories of how the region is being transformed, one toilet at a time. There is no doubt that there is a lot to applaud. An incredible meeting of minds between sanitation policy makers, practitioners and activists in Bangladesh has transformed the country; in Nepal, the architects of the new Master Plan seek to make some bold strides; in Pakistan, relief efforts have faced the sanitation challenge of repeated natural disasters with courage and conviction; India provided more than 166 million people with access to sanitation since 1995, in other words more people than the populations of Japan and Canada combined while Sri Lanka has for a long time been at the forefront of the attempts for universal coverage in the region, including public institutions. Commitment, innovation and progress mark the period between the first regional sanitation meeting in Bangladesh, in 2003, and this meeting in Colombo, SACOSAN IV, eight years later. This is a catalytic working paper for the Technical Session on Reaching the Unserved: Equity and Inclusion in South Asia. It is intended for discussion leading to collaborative action. In a region where many great ideas and real transformation have been brought about by ordinary people with visionary minds, there is no reason why the combination of a decade of expertise in this area, proven approaches and results, broad commitment and collaborative action should not do the same at scale and for all. [authors abstract]