Workshop on sanitation

Nimal WIJESINHGE - Anuradhapura Additional District group correspondent

The National workshop on the 4th South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-IV) will be held in Colombo from April 4-8, 2011.

Water Supply and Drainage Ministry is organizing the fourth South Asian conference on sanitation. The first regional cooperation on sanitation in the SAARC countries was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2003 which followed 'Islambad Summit in 2006 and third workshop in Delhi in 2008 delegations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be participating.

The participants will consist of Ministers elected representatives, state officials, professionals, academices, civil society, non-governmental and community organizations, development partners and private sector.

To raise awareness of the conference and for mobilizing efforts as required a series of workshops are being held in Colombo and at the provincial level. The provincial level workshops are held in Kandy, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Matara and Badulla.

According to the national steering committee for the conference the financial contributors to the national workshop on SACOSAN-IV are 'Water Aid' Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA) National Water Supply and Drainage Board and Centre Envirmental Justice.