The South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN), a government led biennial convention held on a rotational basis in each country, is a platform for dialogue and influence created by the governments of South Asian Countries to review the progress made in the area of Sanitation. The SACOSAN process would help to generate political will to narrow the gap in Sanitation access and usage.
They are intended to develop a Regional Agenda on Sanitation, enabling the learning from experiences and setting forth action for the future. The objectives of such conferences are to accelerate the progress of sanitation and hygiene in South Asia and to enhance quality of life of the people. In addition it will contribute to reaching targets of the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments made in the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Commencing from 2003 three countries namely Bangladesh, Pakistan and India had their turn of hosting the conference.
Sri Lanka is proud to announce that the next SACOSAN will be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2011 4-8 April in Colombo.
Objectives of SACOSAN Process
The overall goal of the SACOSAN process was to accelerate the progress of sanitation and hygiene work in the South Asia so as to enhance its peoples’ quality of life in fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments made in the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Conference Objectives
- To review progress made in implementation of the Delhi Declaration of the 3rd South Asian Conference on Sanitation (held in 2008 in India).
- To reiterate political commitment in each country of the region for furthering the sanitation agenda.
- To facilitate development of country-specific as well as regional frameworks for sanitation.
- To share experiences and lessons learnt in sanitation and hygiene promotion
- To increase outreach of sanitation agenda in the region