April 23, 2012
New pledges could provide water and sanitation to 135 million people

Tweet

The High-Level Meeting of the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership ended on a high note on Friday:
pledges from developing countries taking part in the meeting could provide over 48.5 million people in South Asia and 85.4 million people in Africa with access to water and sanitation. To realize these commitments the governments need to strive to increase access to water by 5% and sanitation by 7% in their countries over the next two years.

Another key moment was the announcement by USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has joined the SWA Partnership. USAID and the US Department of State are committing a total of $1 million to the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program.

The investment will support the SWA-led National Planning for Results Initiative, which promotes national planning efforts related to sanitation and water and focuses on building local capacity to plan, implement and monitor successful and sustainable safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs. The economic gains from investing in sanitation and water are estimated at $170 billion per year.

The United States Government considers sanitation and water and our related partnering activities to be a critical component of our overall international development assistance effort.
- Raj Shah, USAID Administrator 

David Winder, CEO of WaterAid, America said, “This was a great day for the SWA partnership. We are so pleased that the US has officially recognized the importance of this group of countries and partners working to improve access to safe water and sanitation to all. We are certain that an increased commitment by the US will bring further weight to the initiative.”

In a statement Administrator Shah said, “the United States Government considers sanitation and water and our related partnering activities to be a critical component of our overall international development assistance effort."

"We look forward to maximizing the potential of this partnership, which brings together such a range of tools, experience, and approaches. Working together, we can not only reach full coverage, but we can also do it in the most effective, efficient, and collaborative way," he added.

”We are thrilled that USAID has joined SWA,” said Lisa Schechtman, Head of Policy and Advocacy for WaterAid, America. “This is not only a concrete demonstration of US political will to end the water and sanitation crises, but it adds a tool to the US government’s emphasis on integrated approaches to global health and development, such as the Global Health Initiative and the new Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday campaign.”

The Australian government also announced that it would join the SWA partnership, and the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development. Andrew Mitchell, told delegates that the UK will double the number of people it intends to reach with water, sanitation and hygiene to 60 million by 2015.

The lives of 2.5 million people around the world would be saved each year if every person had access to safe water and adequate sanitation, according to a new report released last week by WaterAid.

The report, Saving lives, (PDF 190KB) highlights that if governments meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to halve the proportion of the world’s population without sanitation by 2015, the lives of 400,000 children under age five will be saved worldwide – over 100,000 in Nigeria alone. Realizing universal access will require concerted and coordinated efforts—and political will—through bilateral and multilateral donor channels and domestic efforts worldwide. Commitments made at last week’s SWA High-level Meeting are a critical piece of this puzzle.

For interview requests or additional information, please contact Susannah Gold, Media Officer, WaterAid, on + 1 917 207 5375 / sgold@wateraidamerica.org

For more information and news about the event:

www.waterworks.me/hlm2012media

www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/hlm2012virtualbriefingpack.html