IWA’s Inclusive Urban Sanitation initiative seeks to reshape the global urban sanitation agenda focusing on the need for an accelerated and inclusive approach to expanding safe service coverage – beyond just technology advancements and infrastructural development.  

The IWA team coordinating the initiative was present at the 21st AfWA Congress & Exhibition and the 7th International Faecal Sludge Management Conference in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (19-23 February 2023). The event gathered experts around the theme of sustainable resource management and access to water and sanitation for all in Africa. This flagship event presented a key opportunity to address the many water and sanitation challenges with a focus on the African region. 

A strategic workshop “Scaling up Inclusive Sanitation” in collaboration with the Centre for Water and Sanitation (CWAS), CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) University, India was also organised and attended by over 60 participants. The workshop provided an opportunity to highlight the need for scaling up Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) based on lessons learned from Zambia, India, and Nepal, and to highlight the need for strengthening systems, data for performance assessment, and effective regulation. 

In partnership with the National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance, an event was organised to launch 11 high impact case stories from South Asia. The published stories are on three broad themes:  

• Policy and Regulation  
• Gender, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 
• Sanitation Services and Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) 

The stories aim to inspire stakeholders to discuss ways for advancing inclusive urban sanitation, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Find out more about the stories here. 

Lastly, IWA participated in two Technical Sessions and presented two technical papers. In the first technical session on Citywide Inclusive Sanitation, IWA provided a presentation on Regulating Inclusive Urban Sanitation – Lessons Learnt. In the second technical session on Rethinking Resource, IWA  explored sanitation as an integrated element for urban water management. The presentation outlined that sanitation efforts can also be built upon other recent global initiatives such as the water wise cities principles, which provide guidance for creating sustainable and resilient water sensitive cities. 

#SanitAction – promoting inclusivity for resilient, water-wise, and sanitation-secure cities