NEWS

10 February 2005

WSSCC LAUNCHES “WOMEN LEADERS FOR WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE FOR ALL”

Ministers of Norway and Uganda launched the “Women leaders for WASH” initiative Ms. Hilde F. Johnson, Norwegian Minister for International Development and Ms. Maria Mutagamba, Ugandan Minister of State for Water and Chair of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) launched a joint initiative entitled “Women Leaders for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for all (WASH)”, at the 13^th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13).

“Women Leaders for WASH” will lobby for greater priority and more budget allocations for sanitation and hygiene, which have not received as much attention as water from governments and the international community. Ms. Maria Mutagamba explained. “We won’t make it a secret campaign,” she added.

At the roundtable held in New York, participants raised a number of priority issues for action to be implemented, which related to:

• Alternative technologies,
• Decentralized financing,
• Greater involvement of women in latrine businesses,
• Monitoring activities,
• Reinforcement of attention given to sanitation.

This initiative is supported by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC).

Detailed information is available on WSSCC’s website at www.wsscc.org

Source: World Water Council — Weekly News Update