This is the second announcement and call for abstracts for a regional symposium on sanitation and hygiene. The Symposium will be a bilingual event (French and English). It will seek to identify proven good practices in the sanitation and hygiene sector, as well as drawing lessons from failures to enter into the policy dialogue. The symposium is jointly organised by RCN Ghana[1], UNICEF, West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI)[2], WaterAid, and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, as part of a longer term regional sharing and learning process. In some places across the West African region, good practices have been developed and successfully implemented. However, as learning in the sector has been weak, these practices are not being implemented at a scale needed to attain the MDGs related to sanitation and move on to sustained hygiene behaviour and full sanitation coverage and usage. The intention of this Symposium is straightforward. It aims to to build upon the profile and momentum achieved by the UN International Year of Sanitation (IYS 2008), AfricaSan 2008, regional Learning and Sharing workshops on sanitation and hygiene in South Asia and East Africa, the recent Mole conference held in Koforidua, Ghana, and the IRC symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor held in the Netherlands, in November 2008. What is it about The IYS was successful in raising the issue of sanitation and hygiene but it is clear that a lot remains to be learned on how to implement sanitation and hygiene at scale and how to make behaviour changes sustained. The symposium will be about identifying and learning from good practices. It will build on the problems, solutions and experiences identified by a wide group of stakeholders. The first two days of the symposium will focus on sharing and discussing proven good practices whilst the last day of the symposium will be used for the discussion on key messages and follow up activities such as, the initiation of policy dialogues, advocacy messaging or linking with existing programmes. Objectives To identify and share experiences of good practice in promotion of good hygiene behaviour and ensuring sustained access to sanitation in particular for the poor and vulnerable in West Africa;To identify key policy messages based on these experiences to be promoted at subsequent advocacy opportunities;To identify and initiate joint action-learning; andTo support the continuing process of developing a community of practice on sanitation and hygiene promotion at the West Africa level. Outputs All papers will be published on the IRC and RCN web sites. A short, select list of policy messages will be formulated for advocacy opportunities. Possible follow-up activities will be identified. Audience and format The symposium aims to bring together professionals working on sanitation and hygiene in West Africa, particularly practitioners, researchers, policy makers, people from government agencies, donors and media. The symposium will be designed to include both formal presentations of lead papers and case studies and also interactive sessions drawing on the experiences of participants to produce guidelines for addressing key challenges. The emphasis will be – very heavily – on open discussion of findings in a range of interesting formats, as against a PowerPoint heavy and discussion light sequence. Language This symposium shall be conducted in English and French. Because of the interactive nature of the Symposium, we may break out in language groups to have more in-depth discussions on specific issues. Call for abstracts Potential authors are invited to submit their initial ideas on subjects that they would like to present during the symposium. Authors will be guided through a process of writing and independent review. We therefore seek three types of papers: 1. Research papers. These are papers that synthesise research and provide a critical analysis of hygiene and/or sanitation. The maximum length of these papers is 5000 words. 2. Practice papers. These are shorter papers that present practical experiences with the implementation of sanitation and hygiene projects. These are expected to provide a critical look at innovative implementation practices. The maximum length of these papers is 2000 words. 3. Photo essays. These are collections of photographs which tell a story. Photo essays should have a maximum of 16 photographs with good captions. Interested authors can submit abstracts (250 words maximum). The abstract should be in Word format and include the following: - Type of paper—research or practice - Proposed title - Name of author(s), including contact information for lead author - Abstract of 250 words maximum A format for papers will be provided to authors of selected abstracts. Abstracts and full papers will be reviewed by an editorial committee, made up of members of RCN Ghana, WAWI, UNICEF, WaterAid and IRC. Date and location The symposium will be held from 10th to 12th November 2009 in Accra, Ghana. Further details on the venue will follow shortly. Time frame 30 June 2009: Deadline for submission of abstracts 15 July 2009: Authors notified if abstract accepted for development into a paper 15 August 2009: Deadline for submission of full papers / photo essays 10-12 Nov 2009: West Africa Regional Symposium on Sanitation and Hygiene Costs and registration fee The symposium registration fee of US$100 (150 Ghana Cedis) will cover the cost of lunches and refreshments and a set of the symposium materials. Participants must cover other costs themselves including travel, hotel, visa costs, airport transfers and other meals and other expenses. The symposium organisers are currently trying to identify further funding to sponsor the costs of some participants unable to cover the costs of their participation. If you would require support in order to be able to attend you could contact the symposium organisers as soon as possible. Further information and submission of abstracts: westafricasymposium@irc.nl
[1] Currently, the organizations and projects that constitute the RCN Core Group are, UNICEF/WHO Water and Sanitation Monitoring Platform (WSMP Ghana), The Tripartite Partnership (TPP) Project led by TREND, the WASHCost and SWITCH Projects which are led by KNUST, WaterAid Ghana, CONIWAS, CWSA, IWMI and IRC. [2] WAWI is a partnership of international bodies working in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector in four countries in West Africa – Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Niger.