31 May-4 June 2021 | UCLG ASPAC and its implementing partners under the Municipal Network Policy Advocacy on Sanitation in South Asia (MuNASS) attended the first virtual International Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Conference. The sixth edition of the Conference, popularly known as FSM-6, was supposed to take place in Jakarta, Indonesia but went virtual due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
MuNASS was also represented in FSM-6 through its selected poster presentation on “People’s Perception Towards FSM in Five Municipalities of Nepal” under the Social Aspects Section. “Open disposal of faecal sludge is also the common practice for FSM in the surveyed municipalities of Nepal but the survey says that the people would instead prefer proper treatment of faecal sludge in a treatment plant if it ever existed,” says Buddha Bajracharya, Technical Coordinator of MuNASS from Environment and Public Health Organisation (ENPHO), the technical partner in Nepal.
“The survey also shows that there is dire need for construction of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants at the Municipal level for safe urban sanitation in Nepal,” adds Bajracharya, highlighting that the five municipalities under MuNASS in Nepal are already in the process of constructing their own treatment plants. MuNASS is a UCLG ASPAC programme that focusses, among others, on capacity building and implementation of national policy and strategy on sanitation with focus on FSM and non-sewered sanitation system in line with Sustainable Development Goal 6.2. The programme is being implemented in Bangladesh and Nepal through Municipal Association of Bangladesh (MAB) and Municipalities Association of Nepal (MuAN).
FSM-6 is estimated to have been attended by over 500 attendees from six continents representing 82 countries. The event included presentations, exhibitions, discussions, mastermind challenges and networking opportunities with some of the participants. The FSM-Alliance has been organising the International FSM Conferences and this edition’s co-host was DKI Jakarta and supported by Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Ministry of National Development Planning, PD Pal Jaya (local company for drinking water) and USAID.
At the closing ceremony of FSM-6, the FSM-Alliance has also announced to launch a new initiative to build a FSM Management System Standard with the goal to provide a series of steps to implement FSM, mitigate risks and ensure quality operation and maintenance. The next International FSM Conference is scheduled from 20-24 February 2023.
MuNASS is currently in the completion stage of its first phase and is preparing to launch its second phase. Apart from strengthening the capacity of local municipal associations and municipalities, MuNASS has assisted in implementation of sanitation and investment plans, improving sanitation policy framework through collaboration with stakeholders as well as in developing the accessibility of financial options through different funding mechanisms.
For further details, contact MuNASS’s Project Manager at UCLG ASPAC, Aniessa Delima Sari, at: project_manager1@uclg-aspac.org.
