Government and Civil Society Organisations must work together to achieve the SDG 6 targets and sanitation for all – participants from around the world shared at the Watershed Annual Partner Learning Meeting 2017.
Watershed – Empowering Citizens, is a five-year long policy and advocacy strengthening programme of WaterAid Bangladesh, launched early this year. WaterAid working as in-country 
lead with strategic partners – Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SIMAVI, IRC, Wetlands International and AKVO. The programme aims to improve governance for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and integrated water resource management (IWRM) in five other countries apart from Bangladesh – Kenya, Uganda, Mali, Ghana, and India. Following the programme’s inception in the country early this year, Watershed held its first Annual Partner Learning Meeting this month from October 3rd till the 5th 2017.
Delegates from different countries took part in this 3 days’ discussion centred around the ‘WASH and IWRM situation in Bangladesh and way forward’, with especial focus on CSO’s role in L&A to make service providers accountable. The learning meeting infused great learning to international delegates, taking the Bangladeshi stakeholders’ experiences and perspectives into account.
Dr Khairul Islam – Country Director, WaterAid Bangladesh; Ms. Catarina Fonseca – Programme Director, Watershed; Ms. Erma Uytewaal – IRC associate; Dr. Dibalok Singha – Executive Director, Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) were present amongst the other distinguished participants.
Through this programme, WaterAid looks to strengthen civil society organisations so that all citizens, including the most marginalised, can benefit from sustainable services. It also focuses to enhance citizens’ ability to obtain information so they can advocate for change based on reliable, accurate data.
