FSM ALLIANCE VISION, MISSION, GOALS, STRATEGY

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1 FSM ALLIANCE VISION, MISSION, GOALS, STRATEGY Background and Purpose of this document The Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Committee, hereinafter referred to as the FSM Alliance, has been at the centre of organising and delivering the game-changing FSM Conferences since The FSM Conference was pioneered by the Water Research Commission of South Africa and its local partners University of Kwazulu Natal and EThekwini Municipality Water and Sanitation in 2011, with FSM 1 and 2 (2012) held in Durban, South Africa. The FSM Alliance formally came into existence through FSM 3 (2015) held in Vietnam. FSM 4 (2017) was successfully held in Chennai, India and attracted over 1200 participants and exhibitors. Inspired by the FSM Conferences, and with the active support of members of the FSM Alliance, the governments of India, Nepal and South Africa have so far developed FSM policies and committed public investments towards FSM systems. There is now more knowledge of FSM solutions and challenges. Innovation in technology, development of tools and guidelines combined with more rigorous scientific and action research have also resulted from and were inspired by the FSM conferences. But much more needs to be done to scale up the innovation and ensure universal access to safely managed sanitation services and provide more than basic services to secure human and environmental health. In February 2018, the FSM Alliance met to explore our common vision for the faecal sludge management sector and the wider non-sewered sanitation sector. We explored the role we intend to play beyond convening the biennial FSM Conferences in supporting the development and growth of the FSM sector and its contribution to inclusive urban sanitation services in cities and settlements, what we can achieve in the medium and longer terms, and how the FSM Conferences can strategically be improved. This paper captures those discussions and documents our basis of unity and intentions. Context In 2015, there were 4.5 billion people living without safely managed sanitation. On one hand, there is a huge task of improving existing sanitation in long-established and relatively new areas where excreta are not managed safely. On the other hand, the growth of new urban areas across the developing world and emerging economies is rapid with accompanying challenges to public health and the environment from un-safely managed sanitation. Many urban authorities and public utilities are scrambling to catch up with development, but conventional sewerage technologies, infrastructure and systems for safe sanitation require a piped water supply, are expensive or not always fit for purpose or the topography. Safe sanitation tends to be a lower priority compared to providing safe water or reliable electricity supply. The changing climate and its direct impacts on urban water supply, wastewater systems, drainage, and urban waters also underscore the urgency of addressing excreta management. High-volume septic systems and conventional sewerage systems, while having some adaptive capability, can be overwhelmed by extreme weather events and are likely to contribute to water

2 stress and contribute to downstream pollution and public health risks - especially where faecal waste is not safely treated and disposed of. In water stressed areas, scarce and expensive clean water is used for sewage transport. Modified sewerage, referring to a range of simplified, sanitation technologies were found to have a higher adaptive potential than conventional centralized sewer systems (WHO, 2009). However, without a supportive policy environment, modified sewerage systems have the potential to lead to increased groundwater contamination and/or unsafe treatment of waste (ibid). If any reminder is needed of the inequality in the current situation in most developing countries, people living in poverty whether in urban or rural areas have least access to safe sanitation services. Where they do have access, it is almost always non-sewered and therefore demands adequate faecal sludge management (JMP, 2017), which is often absent. Such inequality results in high morbidity and mortality figures for people living in poverty, as well as maintaining a perennial source of faecally-transmitted infections for all those living and working in densely populated areas, both rich and poor, with or without access to safe sanitation. THE FSM ALLIANCE The current membership of the FSM Alliance includes the Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA), Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries of Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (SANDEC/EAWAG), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), the Pollution Research Group of University of Kwazulu Natal, Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), the University of Technology Sydney, Water Research Commission of South Africa, independent consultants Inclusive Sanitation in Practice (ISP) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). All members have active programmes and projects on FSM and sanitation more broadly and have been at the leading edge of support for knowledge-generation and brokering, influencing and constituency-building and developing technologies and services in FSM and urban sanitation for many years. The FSM Alliance is committed to expanding its membership, especially to ensure that perspectives of young professionals, businesses, and regional and gender expertise are represented more strongly. The FSM Alliance also plan to establish a Secretariat whose core responsibilities are to deliver a highquality biennial FSM Conference, mobilise resources, support and undertake influencing and communication activities in priority areas identified by the Alliance. Beyond delivering the conferences and ensuring high quality content and participation by stakeholders, the Alliance will develop and undertake other programmes and projects in partnership with other organisations to promote the growth of the FSM and non-sewered sanitation sector and market. OUR VISION Our vision is a world where all people, everywhere, enjoy equitable access to safely managed and dignified sanitation services which improve health, reduce poverty and safeguard the environment, and treat human waste as a valued resource. 2

3 OUR MISSION We set the agenda, champion and promote the development of inclusive sanitation approaches, particularly faecal sludge management and non-sewered sanitation, to ensure human health and dignity, and the health of urban ecosystems. These approaches complement water supplies, sewerage systems, drainage and solid waste systems, and are an intrinsic part of urban management. OUR GOALS We have set these goals to be achievable over the next 10 years. These goals establish our priorities for partnership-building, for joint and separate actions by members of the Alliance and for our investments in both the short and medium terms. We will work towards the following goals: The FSM Conference platform drives policy change, public and private investment and business participation The biennial FSM Conference will continue to be our primary platform for encouraging commitment and promoting action towards FSM; for disseminating and promoting knowledge, experience and lessons that could inform policy as well as programme/project design and practical actions; for connecting people, agencies and businesses together to catalyse joint ventures; and for assisting new entrants to the sector, including young professionals, FSM service providers, technicians and utilities. Knowledge and evidence on FSM and non-sewered sanitation services expand We will continue to promote documentation of evidence, policy and practice through case studies presented at and commissioned for Conferences and learning events. We will ensure expansion of knowledge of FSM and non-sewered sanitation services and technologies through encouraging researchers, academics and businesses to use the FSM Conferences as a platform for dissemination of their results and innovation. We will continuously analyse the landscape of inclusive sanitation and its contribution to urban sanitation services in cities and settlements in order to inform and set the agenda for future research and knowledge-building in the sector. Through entering into partnerships with applied research and academic institutions, we will ensure that gaps in knowledge and evidence are identified and filled, leading to scale-able solutions for the market. Policies and standards on FSM and non-sewered sanitation services more generally, are mainstreamed in planning and development policy; and are used to support public and private investments and regulation of services. We will build policy circles and communities of practice, encourage learning exchanges to ensure that policy developers and decision makers are supported in making commitments towards including FSM and non-sewered sanitation approaches amongst their policy and regulatory responses to rapid urbanisation, pollution, public health, business development, water resources management, energy supply development, sustainable agriculture and making urban cities and settlements resilient to climate change. These policies and standards will enhance the principles of city- and settlement-wide planning. 3

4 Businesses involved in FSM and the non-sewered sanitation service chain from suppliers of technology and equipment to providers of services multiply There is a huge potential for the identified large market for FSM and non-sewered sanitation approaches and technologies to increase access to safely managed sanitation services as complementary to conventional centralised sewerage services. This will require services development along the sanitation chain, including the creation and expansion of predominantly small and medium enterprises, attracting investment capital and start-up grants, training and providing guidance to new enterprises and making the business case for larger water and sanitation utilities and infrastructure companies to get involved. We will reach out and support utilities and small and medium enterprises to increase their participation in this sector through our efforts towards policy makers and decision makers, evidence-building, and partnerships to identify and address barriers to entry. Updated or new institutions and mechanisms, including for planning, monitoring, regulating, standard-setting FSM service delivery come into being and are supported at national, city and town levels Due to the historical neglect of FSM and non-sewered sanitation approaches and services, new institutions and/or new mandates for existing agencies may be necessary at different levels of government. We will promote lessons learned from current experiences and examples through the FSM Conference platforms and through learning exchanges. We will also encourage partnership with and amongst organisations to identify and address some of the gaps relevant to urban sanitation services, especially in regulation, standards, monitoring and planning tools and encourage governments and businesses to test and use them. A new cohort of professionals, technicians and workers in FSM services gains education and training in FSM and non-sewered sanitation services and technologies as an essential component of urban services. Promoting and securing the future of FSM and non-sewered sanitation services and technologies will require the training and development of new professionals, technicians and workers for the sector. We will play our role in enabling the growth of these new professionals, technicians and workers through supporting their involvement in the FSM Conferences and through partnerships with organisations and academics to develop curricula and training materials, including online training courses. What we aim to achieve in 5 years under each of these goals and our targets will be outlined in a business plan and results framework. OUR STRATEGIES Our current membership gives us the capabilities to pursue particular strategies to achieve our goals. As the FSM Alliance grows and as regulations, institutions and practices in countries and at regional and global arenas change, our strategies may change, refocus or adapt. Our strategies will include: Convening Globally, we will convene the biennial FSM Conferences. Depending on partner and member capacities, we will also seek to convene national and regional dialogues and events both to inform and sharpen the focus of the global FSM Conferences and to help promote its key 4

5 concepts and knowledge. Convening will also be our way to generate and support constituency-building behind inclusive sanitation, especially FSM and non-sewered sanitation approaches among a wide group of sectoral stakeholders and professional disciplines. Forming partnerships Most of our goals, including our FSM Conference related goal can only be delivered with quality, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability through actively seeking and building partnerships with organisations that have expertise, social networks and political capital with different constituencies. Partnership building will also enable boundary-spanning beyond the usual suspects, including beyond the current professional disciplines and stakeholder communities involved in FSM. As the FSM Alliance, forming partnerships is at the heart of what we do and how we do it. Evidence-building We will promote and support the building and gathering of evidence on the opportunities and challenges, on the ground experiences and viability of FSM and non-sewered sanitation approaches. Through building partnerships with relevant organisations who are involved in knowledge curation and brokering, our evidence-building activities and their dissemination will support the development of public policy, including of standards and regulations to help create an enabling environment for public and private investments into these services. Influencing We will build our own influencing clout through convening and evidence-building, and build our alliance with other organisations so together we reach decision-making tables and influence the influencers. We will work with all other stakeholders who have similar objectives for FSM and inclusive sanitation. Our advocacy will also be built upon the use of strategic and high-quality communications online, social and conventional media in order to help in opinion-formation and further build the profile of the FSM Alliance as leading the strategic vision of the FSM sector. Supporting enterprise We will promote business development in the FSM sector, primarily through the FSM Conferences technology fairs, industry/case study tracks and training workshops and through our advocacy activities. We will also directly support business development through such Conference-based mechanisms as facilitated and structured networking between business and investors, between governments and business. Through partnerships with other organisations, we will promote the development of consultants databases and promote its use amongst governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies and businesses. Final version 10 October