On behalf of WaterAid, UNICEF, and the Lumanti Support Group for Shelter, the Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI) initiative at the Centre for Policy Research is pleased to invite you to the third Policy Lab on: ‘Urban Poor Communities and COVID-19 – Community Approaches to Managing WASH Services’.
The session will be online via Zoom. To register, kindly fill this Form.
The session will also be live-streamed on CPR’s YouTUbe Page.
In case of any issues and for any queries, please email at sci-fi@cprindia.org.
Urban poor communities across the world grapple with multidimensional challenges in accessing water and sanitation facilities and services. The state of being “informal” acts as a fundamental barrier in both the formulation and implementation of policy, and mobilisation of finances and investments for upgrading services in informal settlements. Although countries have made some overall progress in bettering access to WASH in recent years, informal settlements continue to be largely left behind. The continuing COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated existing challenges in meeting the daily water demand, maintaining sanitation facilities, and the practice of hygiene to stay safe.
The impact of not having adequate and reliable access to the much-needed water and sanitation facilities is felt differently by different people. Women, children, people with disabilities, and the aged suffer the most – a dimension of vulnerability that compounds further among the urban poor. Nonetheless, urban poor communities, highly dynamic in nature, often find ways to address WASH issues confronting them, albeit at the cost of more money, a lot of precious time and hard effort. It is high time that we recognise these diverse and intensive contributions and leverage them for ensuring unconditional improvements and investments in universal access to WASH services for urban poor communities, and thereby contribute to the realisation of global, regional and national WASH goals.
The present Policy Lab will discuss the context of urban poor communities in the global, regional and national policies and priorities with reference to COVID-19. It will aim to learn from community experiences on their approaches toward managing issues and challenges in accessing WASH facilities – discussing the underlying gaps and the way forward.
AGENDA
| Time |
Topic |
Speaker |
| 5 mins |
Welcome |
Dr. Anita Manandhar, Chairperson, Lumanti |
| Session 1: Global and Regional Commitments and Actions (Moderated by Anju Dwivedi, Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Research) |
| 10 mins |
People’s Process for Sustainable Urban Development |
Prof. Bharat Dahiya, Director, Research Centre for Sustainable Development and Innovation, School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Thailand |
| 10 mins |
Government’s Commitments and Accountability for achieving WASH for All |
Ms. Heloise Chicou, CSO Advisor, Sanitation and Water for All, New York |
| 10 mins |
Islamic Development Bank’s Approach and Priorities on SDG WASH targets |
Mr. Bipin Dangol, Senior Sanitation Expert, Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia |
| 15 mins |
Panel Discussion |
Ms. Kusum Athukorala, Chair – NetWater, Senior Advisor – Sri Lanka Water Partnership, Sri Lanka |
| Ms. Sri Husnaini Sofjan, Senior Program Advisor and Strategist, Huairou Commission, New York |
| Ms. Ylva Schwinn, Programme Specialist – WASH Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sweden |
| Session 2: Experiences and Learning from Community Approaches in Managing WASH Issues (Moderated by Lajana Manandhar, Executive Director, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter) |
| 10 mins |
Issues and management of menstrual hygiene management in the communities |
Ms. Pema Lhaki, Executive Director, Nepal Fertility Care Centre, Nepal |
| 10 mins |
Building Resilience in the Issues of Water and Food Security through Water Cooperatives in Informal Settlements in Philippines |
Ms. Josephine Castillo, Program Manager, Damayan ng Maralitang Pilipinong Api (DAMPA) ( Solidarity of Filipino Poor) Philippines |
| 10 mins |
Water Harvesting System in the Communities in Guatemala |
Ms. Maite Rodriguez Blandon, Programme Coordinator, Guatemala Foundation |
| 10mins |
South Asian Experience on Partnership with the governments and communities |
Mr. Murali Ramisetty, Regional Convenor, Freshwater Action Network South Asia, India |
| 20 mins |
Panel Discussion |
Mr. Jagat Deuja, Member, Land Issues Resolving Commission, Nepal |
| Mr. V R Raman, Head of Policy, WaterAid India |
| Mr. Thomas Kerr, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Thailand |
| 5 mins |
Closing Remarks |
Mr. Shubhagato Dasgupta, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research |
About the Policy Labs
The present Policy Lab is the third in a series of four titled, Urban Poor Communities & COVID-19 – New Urban WASH Priorities for South Asian Governments, jointly organised by WaterAid, UNICEF, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter, and the Scaling City Institution for India (SCI-FI) initiative at CPR. The series will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders including national and local governments, practitioners, researchers, and the civil society to deliberate on strategies for improving WASH for urban poor communities, and in turn, unlocking the urban resilience of cities across South Asia.
Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI)
The Water and Sanitation initiative under the SCI-FI initiative seeks to understand diverse reasons for poor water and sanitation and to examine how these might be related to technology, service delivery models, questions of institutions, governance, finance, and socio-economic dimensions. The SCI-FI: Water and Sanitation initiative seeks to support national, state, and city authorities to develop policies and programmes for intervention with the goal of increasing access to safe and sustainable sanitation in both urban and rural areas. The SCI-FI initiative is nested at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) since 2013.
