To chalk-out a roadmap for translating National Sanitation Policy into action, Pakistan's first conference on sanitation (PACOSAN) will be held in federal capital from May 28, 2009. Ministry of Environment will be organising this conference in collaboration with its partners Rural Support Programs Network (RSPN), Unicef, Water and Sanitation Programme -South Asia (WSP-SA), WaterAid, Plan Pakistan, USAID and some others.
Major objectives of the conference are to focus on sanitation issues and prepare a proper mechanism for implementation of the policy and set the future course. "The 2-day conference will focus on finalising Pakistan Sanitation Action Plan highlighting a set of practical and measurable actions," Director General Environment, Javed Ali Khan informed APP Saturday.
"It would also focus on achieving outcomes in light of the Delhi Declaration adopted at SACOSAN-III," he said. There is now a broad consensus on the means and approaches to address the sanitation sector as provided in the National Sanitation Policy. But, still it needs clarity as to who will do what, when it comes to practices and identification of roles and responsibilities of various tiers of the government for achieving MDGs for sanitation and hygiene.
"The conference is also important as it is part of calendar of activities for the National Year of Environment and would promote the sanitation and hygiene cause," Javed Ali Khan said.
The mechanism for a reward system, to all tehsils/towns governments through the provincial governments on achieving 'Open Defecation Free' status, as part of the National Sanitation Policy will also be acknowledged, he added. He said, another purpose of holding the conference is to reaffirm the national commitments towards sanitation by appraising the present situation.
"We shall also be brainstorming on preparation of a PACOSAN roadmap and finalising Pakistan Sanitation Action Plan highlighting a set of practical and measurable actions on achieving outcomes in a systematic manner," Javed Ali Khan said.
The World Bank provides an indicative roadmap comprising five groups of milestones towards successful achievement of the national goals under the MDGs for sanitation and hygiene. The broad objectives of the conference include (i) creating awareness and sensitisation for mainstreaming sanitation across sectors, ministries, institutions and socio-political persuasions so that sanitation is prioritised in their respective programmes, (ii) stocktaking of the main features of the enabling environment and current situation in terms of existing provincial strategies, action plans and targets (iii) developing a PACOSAN Roadmap on Sanitation highlighting a set of key actions and milestones to achieving the national goals and MDGs in a time-bound manner and (iv) inception planning of developing a framework for an Integrated Sanitation and Hygiene Programme through brainstorming on various models of collaboration, roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, financing and the institutional options and arrangements.
The conference is expected to have a 'situation analysis report' and achieve better understanding of causes and benefits of improving sanitation, range of options that are appropriate and based on sound programming principles for promoting sanitation, PACOSAN Roadmap 2015 and an agreement on the frequency and timeframe for holding future PACOSAN events and framework for an Integrated Sanitation and Hygiene Programme.
Poor sanitation has emerged as a major challenge for the government and its partners during recent years as more than 50 percent people in the country lack proper sanitation facilities. This situation was not badly affecting the environment but also costing billions of rupees in terms of health bill every year, due to poor sanitation and open defecation.
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