Call To Action for survival & resilient WASH
Action Against Hunger, French Water Partnership and Solidarités International
(
Partnership
)
#SDGAction49874
Description
In order to achieve the SDG6, it is essential not to forget populations living in Fragile, Conflict and Violent settings (FCV), which represent 23% of the world's population (OECD). The past decade has seen an unprecedented frequency and density of humanitarian interventions. In 2021, HIIK's Conflict Barometer counted 355 conflicts worldwide, nearly three times as many as in the 1990s.
In addition to being more numerous, crises are also becoming more complex: humanitarian organizations face a wide range of crisis, from those triggered by environmental or climatic factors, to protracted conflict-related crises, with aggravating factors such as migration, urbanization and climate change.
Currently, humanitarian WASH actors do not have capacity and resources to respond to the ever growing-needs and demands.Indeed, humanitarian funds dedicated to the WASH sector represented only 21% of the amount requested during Humanitarian Response Plans. This is particularly worrying when the total amount of people in need is increasing every year, from 80 million in 2013 to 339 million in 2023. In addition, according to the 2018 SOHS, barely half of humanitarian programs meet their objectives on time and with an acceptable level of quality.
To tackle these gaps, over thirty of the world's most active actors in the humanitarian WASH sector -such as international NGOs, United Nations agencies, universities- have created a unprecedented collective to work collaboratively in order that by 2025, the humanitarian WASH sector will have the capacity and resources to deliver qualitative responses at scale, anywhere and anytime.
Together, they developed and committed to implement the WASH Road Map (WRM), a set of 16 global initiatives organized in four working groups related to (i) better management of access to information and knowledge, (ii) capacity building and professionalization of humanitarian workers worldwide, (iii) strengthening inter-sectoral coordination and innovative partnerships, (iv) higher-level advocacy and resource mobilization.
As part of the advocacy initiative, WRM actors have undertaken actions to urge governments to commit to take tangible actions to strengthen the WASH sector in FCV settings. Today, WRM actors are concerned by the lack of attention given to specific WASH challenges in FCV settings during past water high-level events and proceedings (e.g. 2022 Dakar declaration and 2021 High Level Political Forum).
They developed a Call to Action and strong substantial advocacy strategy for UN Member States to maximize its visibility and resonance. Advocacy actions include relentless communication on social networks to maximize the number of signatories (target 200 signatory organizations); facilitating external WRM actors to appropriate themselves CTA messages thanks to already-built visuals, social media messages, an email signature, and a powerpoint slide; organizing internal and external side-events at the UN23WC, webinars, seminars; assuring a follow-up with signatories to inform them on the Water Action Agenda and to include them in future advocacy efforts, etc. The communication and dissemination actions of CTA will continue beyond the 2023 UN Water conference and a monitoring system of the commitments made by the States will be put in place until 2030.
The expected results of this call to action are as follows:
• That governments primarily focus their efforts towards those living in FCV settings. They are the most impacted by the multiple burdens of conflict, climate change, poverty, and hunger. A special focus should be given to countries with no evolution on the achievement of SDG6, and populations without even access to basic WASH services.
• That governments further support humanitarian WASH response and coordination to deliver predictable, effective (timely) and sufficient survival WASH responses and to ultimately safeguard the lives and health of those living in FCV contexts.
• That governments build sustainable and resilient WASH services that can withstand crises. Building back better and adapting existing systems, from infrastructures to communities, should be systematic especially in countries most exposed to multiple risks (climate crises, conflicts, natural disasters). In these contexts, collaboration between development and humanitarian actors at all levels from local to global will ensure continuity of services and better value for money. Together, let’s build services that last.
• That all governments actively promote the effective implementation of International Humanitarian Law obligations relevant to the protection of WASH personnel and UN Security Council Resolution 2573 (2021), including by promoting the identification and exchange of good practices in the protection of WASH infrastructure during armed conflict, supporting data collection on attacks on or impacting WASH infrastructures and their reverberating effects, and facilitating access to equipment, spare parts and consumables required to restore and maintain WASH services.
• That governments support the request to the UN General Secretary to nominate as soon as possible a UN Special Envoy for Water to establish a recurrent intergovernmental, UN-hosted, mechanism to discuss global water issues and to ensure the achievement of SDG 6 and all water- related SDGs
>These requests will directly impact the acceleration of the SDG-6:"It is only by including the most vulnerable that we can hope to reach the SDGs” (Call To Action – WRM). Through these five demands, the Call to Action tackles the lack of international attention, mediatization, political means, resources, and capacities invested in FCV contexts and in the WASH sector. It is only by strengthening the latter, the main provider of water and sanitation services in crisis situations, that we will be able to claim to have done everything possible to achieve the universal goals of SDG6.
Furthermore, water affects all aspects of development, and the WASH sector is intrinsically linked to other SDG-sectors such as health, food security, gender equality, education, reducing inequality, peace etc. As a vital element, water feeds economic development and contributes to the health of human beings. History has shown that investing in safe water and sanitation averts preventable deaths and transforms lives. This explains why CTA actors are inviting actors from other sectors and contexts to participate to this inter-sectorial/multi-sectorial effort by signing the document and by appropriating themselves the information and content of the CTA to side-events around the UN 2023 Water Conference and other conferences, events, seminars...
ACF (France, International and ROWCA), PFE, GTO, ICRC, IHE Delft, IHIP, IMC, NRC, SI, OXFAM, STC
Twitter: @WASHRoadMap
Linkedin: @WASHRoadMap
https://www.icrc.org/fr https://www.savethechildren.net/ https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/ https://www.germantoilet.org/en/ https://www.un-ihe.org/ https://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/ https://www.solidarites.org/en/ https://www.oxfam.org/fr https://www.nrc.no/ http://www.ihip.earth/ https://www.partenariat-francais-eau.fr/
SDGS & Targets
Goal 6
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
6.1
By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
6.1.1
Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services
6.2
By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
6.2.1
Proportion of population using (a) safely managed sanitation services and (b) a hand-washing facility with soap and water
6.3
By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
6.3.1
Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated
6.3.2
Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality
6.4
6.4.1
Change in water-use efficiency over time
6.4.2
Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources
6.5
By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
6.5.1
Degree of integrated water resources management
6.5.2
Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation
6.6
6.6.1
Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time
6.a
6.a.1
Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan
6.b
Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management
6.b.1
Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management
SDG 14 targets covered
| Name | Description |
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Deliverables & Timeline
Presentation of the Call to Action and its messages to the Member States at the UN Water Conference 2023 during one or more side-event(s) inside and outside of the UN Headquarters
Mailing of the Call to Action to the UN Member States most involved in the issue of access to water and sanitation services. This will be done by volunteer signatories (during the follow-up process, they will be offered to reach out to the country’s repre
Implementation of a monitoring system (dashboard with SMART indicators) to follow up on the concrete commitments made by the States and dissemination of these commitments on social medias
Mobilization of CTA signatories so they can, based to their resources, set up an enabling environment, by mobilizing their partners and positioning themselves on the 5 points of the CTA
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
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Timeline
Entity
SDGs
Region
- Global
Other beneficiaries
Populations living in Fragile, Conflict, and Violent settings
More information
Countries
Contact Information
Jean, Senior WASH Expert