GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE ON SANITATION AND HYGIENE

Summary of Meeting on August 23, 2011 in Stockholm

This document provides annotated minutes of the meeting, providing further detail to
some of the discussion points raised and reflecting one-on-one discussions / queries
in the post-meeting networking session.
1. Around 45 people (list appended) met to discuss the concept proposal for the
creation of a new global community of practice (CoP) on sanitation and Hygiene.
The meeting was divided into 3 parts:
a. Background of the meeting and the role of the WSSCC in developing a
concept proposal for a Global Community of Practice on Sanitation and
Hygiene
b. Presentation of the concept proposal for a Global CoP on Sanitation and
Hygiene
c. Discussion and feedback by participants, including suggested next steps and
recommendations
2. Background of the meeting and the role of the WSSCC in developing the
concept proposal for Global CoP on Sanitation and Hygiene
Jon Lane, Executive Director of the WSSCC, opened the meeting by welcoming
the participants and giving some information on the Water Supply and Sanitation
Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the background of the meeting:
The WSSCC is a global membership organisation that works to improve the
lives of poor people in developing countries. WSSCC enhances collaboration
among water, sanitation and hygiene agencies and professionals and hence
contributes to the broader goals of poverty eradication, health and
environmental improvement, gender equality, and social and economic
development. With members in more than 80 countries, WSSCC has the
characteristics, legitimacy and flexibility of a non-governmental organisation.
Through
Networking
&
Knowledge
Management,
Advocacy
&
Communications and the Global Sanitation Fund, WSSCC aims to be at the
forefront of knowledge, debate and influence on water, sanitation and hygiene
(WASH) for all.
Since its beginning in the early nineteen nineties until 2006, the WSSCC has
had a number of thematic working groups which served also as global
platforms for open dialogue and debate identifying best practices and
achieving mutual understanding at the professional level.
After 2006 these working groups were basically dropped and for few years the
WSSCC was focusing exclusively on advocacy activities.
In 2010, after networking and knowledge management were taken up again
by the WSSCC, several people who were involved in these earlier thematic
working groups suggested to revive also the WSSCC sanitation working
group by forming some kind of global CoP.
1

Consequently, two meetings took place in September 2010 during the

Stockholm World Water Week in order to discuss with a wide range of
professionals from the sanitation sector the possible creation of a new global
CoP on Sanitation and Hygiene. Around 45 people from different
organisations participated in these discussions. It was agreed that possible
scenarios for a potential global CoP should be developed and the WSSCC
agreed to take the lead.
In spring 2011 the WSSCC hired a consultant (Pippa Scott) to work on this
and to prepare a concept proposal for a Global CoP on Sanitation and
Hygiene to be presented and discussed at a side event during the Stockholm
WWW 2011.
3. Presentation of the concept proposal for a Global CoP on Sanitation and
Hygiene
Pippa Scott presented the concept proposal that she developed over the last few
months based on (a) the discussions which took place one year ago in Stockholm
(see above), (b) a survey which was also sent out to WSSCC members who have
indicated an interest in knowledge management activities, and (c) interviews with
the group of sector professionals who offered one year ago to participate in
further discussions on the development of a global CoP. A copy of the slides
giving the rationale, vision and operational foundations of the suggested CoP are
appended to these minutes.
4. Discussion and feedback by participants
The discussion was moderated by Darren Saywell (IWA) and structured around
two topics:
Points of clarification and fundamental questions/reservations toward the
creation of a new global CoP on Sanitation and Hygiene
Organisational/thematic issues
The meeting did not allow for in depth coverage of all points raised as such the
following section minutes the discussion points with annotated responses to
queries where appropriate.

Points of clarification and fundamental questions/reservations toward the

creation of a new global CoP on Sanitation and Hygiene
A range of questions and points were raised and discussed as follows:
a) Do analogous global CoPs exist in other sectors one can learn from?
Examples of similar global CoPs in other sectors are: Innovations for Scaling
Impact (iScale), Knowledge for Health (Knowledge Gateway), Collaborative
Working Group in Solid Waste Management, KM4DEV, Democratic
Governance Practice Network UNDP. Experiences and lessons learned from
2

these examples were taken into consideration when the concept proposal was
developed. iScale have acted as advisors in the concept development
process.
b) What problem(s) is this global CoP trying to address (problem statement)?
There are two problems the global CoP aims to address:
There is presently no global platform for open exchange and debate
across thematic areas and on controversial issues and between
professionals representing different views and interests.
There is poor uptake of learning and best practices. This CoP aims to
specifically address the gap in knowledge uptake between national and
international levels and South-South exchange. This is in response to,
practitioners of all levels expressing a desire to learn from each other,
share practical experiences, identify best practices and link research to
practice.
These current knowledge and coordination gaps manifest in lack of
collaboration, duplication of efforts and competition leading to conflicting
messages at the county level. These are at best, inefficient and, at worst,
detrimental to the collective goal of improving sanitation and hygiene for the
millions who are un-served or underserved.
c) What is the added value of such a new global CoP?
The added value of this global CoP fall under two processes considered as
follows:
Working with local and strategic partners the Global CoP, will stimulate
multiple platforms for open exchange, debate and reflection at the
national, regional and international level. In doing so the following added
value is anticipated:
o It will generate a better mutual understanding at the professional
level across the breadth of thematic sanitation and hygiene areas.
o it will provide a mechanism to carry best practice and learning from
local to international and vice versa.
o It will stimulate wider agreement on those best practices and how to
plan/implement and respond to different needs in the sanitation
sector.
The Global CoP will stimulate a process of collaborative learning. In doing
so the following added value is anticipated:
o embed knowledge beyond the typical outputs that are produced
globally.
o equip those working in the sector with better knowledge of where to
find the information they need and reinforce a global network for
practitioners.
The intention is to help those working in sanitation and hygiene to do their job
better. Continuous interaction and exchange are crucial for building trust and
improving collaboration in the sector.
3

d) How will it relate to existing CoPs and networks in the sector such as
SuSanA?
The global CoP is not intended to compete with the many existing regional,
local and/or thematic CoPs and networks.
It aims to be complimentary, acting to link discussion and exchanges
across the breadth of thematic areas in sanitation and hygiene.
Comments were raised on not being too averse to duplication, where
emphasis was placed on the value of reinforcing messages across a range
of platforms and the value in the process of accruing knowledge as a
mechanism of learning.
One of the activities of the global CoP will be to link existing groups of
interest and support nascent ones where needed.
A recognised and ongoing challenge will be to link this global CoP with the
many existing CoPs and networks in a problem-solving oriented way.
f) Why is the WSSCC the appropriate institutional anchoring of such a global
platform for open exchange and debate in the water and hygiene sector?
The WSSCC as a global membership organisation with members
representing all segments of the sanitation and hygiene sector provides a
neutral space in which individuals and organisations can network and share
ideas. This neutrality of the WSSCC is widely recognised.

Organisational and thematic issues

During the limited time which was left to discuss specific organisational and
thematic issues several points were mentioned which need special consideration.
a) Language issue - anglophone or multi-lingual?
English is likely to be the common language at the international level but
using simple communication tools the Global CoP will provide a framework
that can accommodate different languages at the national and regional
level.
b) How to make sure that more experts from the South can get involved?
WSSCCs membership has an extended outreach to practitioners from
the South. The proposal is for CoP membership to include WSSCC
members from the start allowing for far reaching early dissemination to
practitioners of the South. In the same way other networks or
organisational membership groups can be included.
The CoP will be officially launched at the WSSCC Global Forum in
Mumbai which is a forum specifically targeting global practitioners in
sanitation and hygiene.
4

c) How to make efficient use of the information and results?

Dissemination was raised in the discussion as an important activity of the
CoP. Dissemination of information needs to be through multiple
communication pathways as no one communication platform suits all. The
communication strategy for the global CoP is based upon the underlying
principle of ease of access and uptake of information. These are detailed
in the communication strategy of the CoP Proposal.
d) How will this link international to national and regional level?
National and regional groups will be encouraged. The CoP is intended to
stimulate conversation at the international, regional and national level.
Experience from previous Global CoPs suggests that to link these different
levels requires a clear mechanism this is proposed in by the CoP
managing the global conversation with clear communication tools.
e) The topics and issues to be dealt with and discussed within the global CoP
should be chosen continuously using a bottom-up approach and
responding mainly to the needs of the practitioners in the field.
This process will start at the WSSCC Global Forum in Mumbai with a wide
base of global practitioners identifying questions and themes of relevance
to their work.
f) Terms of participant engagement
Some predetermined terms of participant engagement can help build the
trust between community members and facilitate frank and honest
exchange. Some terms of engagement will remain constant and others will
be defined appropriate to specific CoP activities. The fundamental terms of
engagement are proposed as sanitation and hygiene community members
to engage and share without flying the flag of their respective
organisations and adopt a stance of intellectual honesty. Evidently
organisations would need to support their staff in this type of engagement
and the community would work collectively to identify the acceptable level
and value of this exchange.
g) Where and what are the incentives for sharing knowledge?
This is an important point as CoPs will only function as long as participants
see benefit. Also important is to recognise sharing knowledge in a safe
environment or face-to-face differs from sharing knowledge in a formal
manner. The Global CoP is seeking to facilitate collaborative learning
where the process of learning is as important as the outcome in terms of
building a shared pool or resources and knowledge-base (i.e. practice).
The incentives lie in the benefit of being able to draw upon that collective
global knowledge-base of experience, knowledge and best practice.
5

5. Conclusion and next steps

The discussion showed that there is a certain amount of enthusiasm as well as a
certain amount of concerns related to the creation of a new global community of
practice on sanitation and hygiene. Since many of the open questions become
clearer once the CoP becomes operational, there was a general agreement to go
ahead as suggested in the presented concept proposal. The next steps will be:
to launch the global CoP and continue the discussion on organisational
issues during the WSSCC Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene 9th14th October 2011 in Mumbai
to form the core steward group to guide the strategic direction and
operational planning of the CoP1.
to begin the practice of learning and sharing as a community by setting
up an interactive community corner at the WSSCC Global Forum on
Sanitation and Hygiene in Mumbai
to identify a community calendar for 2011-2012 and beyond

This document provides annotated minutes of the meeting held in Stockholm on the
23rd August 2011. It was prepared by Roland Schertenleib, Pippa Scott and Darren
Saywell using the detailed notes taken by Christoph Lthi. For further details please
contact Pippa Scott shcopadmin@wsscc.org.

The steward group will comprise of 6-8 sector professionals with a balance of profiles to include CoP
experience, developing country practitioners and a range of professional experience. For specific CoP
activities, additional stewards of local or co-convening organisations can rotate in to support the core
group. The steward group will be formed based on suitability to desired profiles. This is further
detailed in the CoP concept document.

Join the Conversation, Join the Community of Practice

The Global Community of Practice for Sanitation and Hygiene
Tuesday 23rd August 2011 | 17:45 19:45 | World Water Week Stockholm Room
shcopadmin@wsscc.org
First / Given Name
Family Name
Organisation
Ethne
Sjef Ernes

Davey
Ernes

Amanz Abantu
Aqua for All

jennifer
John
Lucia
Arne
Thilo

McConville
Feighery
Henry

CIT Urban Water Management

Columbia University
Crepa

Panesar
Panzerbieter
Montangero
Verhagen
Parkinson
Saywell
Alvarinho

EIZ
German Toilet Organisation
HELVETAS
IRC
IWA
IWA
Mozambique Water Regularoty Council

Le Jalle
van de Beukel
Schertenlieb
Luthi
Reymond
Zurbrugg
Spuhler

ps-Eau
Safisana
Sandec / Eawag
Sandec / Eawag
Sandec / Eawag
Sandec / Eawag

Agnes
Joep
Jon
Darren
Manuel
Christophe
Aart
Roland
Christophe
Philippe
Chris
Dorothee
Johannes
Linus
Birger
Ylva
Arno
Madeleine
Guy
Gueladio
Jean

Heeb
Dagerskog
Forsberg
Rylander
Rosemarin
Fogde
Collender
Cisse
Gough

SEECON
SEECON
SEI
SEI
SEI
SEI
SEI
SHARE
SWISS TPH
UNICEF

Barbara
Zifu

Evans
Li

John
Elisabeth
Thorsten
Gert
Federico
Isobel
Hakim
Jon
Pippa
Barry
Musah

Borrazzo
Kvarnstrom

University of Leeds
University of Science and Technology Beijing
USAID
Vectura Consulting

Kiefer
de Bruijne
Properzi
Davidson

WASH United
WASTE
WHO
WSSCC

Hadjel
Lane
Scott
Jackson

WSSCC
WSSCC
WSSCC
WSSCC

Issaka Balima

WSUP-Ghana

Discussion &
Rationale

Frank and honest debate & dialogue

Identifying successes & best practices

Streamlining

Duplication Need for reliable information easily

accessible to southern practitioners

New identity Intellectual honesty

Information overload Benefit to practitioners

Links international, regional and national

Talking shop South to South exchange

Conflicting messages Professional peer group
Organisational affiliation

shcopadmin@wsscc.org

10

11

12