USAID Workshop: “Poverty Reduction and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement; What Do They Have in Common?”

Antananarivo - On February 14 and 15, 2006, USAID, via its funded project called HIP (Hygiene Improvement Project) in collaboration with Madagascar DIORANO – WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) Initiative, will hold a strategic planning workshop entitled “Poverty reduction and water, sanitation and hygiene improvement; what do they have in common?” This two-day workshop, at Espace Dera, in Tsiadana, is part of an important strategic process to encourage collaborative efforts and promote coordination among key stakeholders around water, sanitation and hygiene issues. The workshop supports the President of Madagascar's call to action making water a national priority.

The workshop will gather key stakeholders across all relevant sectors that impact improving household and community behaviors concerning water, sanitation and hygiene. Participants include representatives of Malagasy Ministries (Health and Family Planning, Environment and Water and Forests, Higher Education, Energy, and Mines, Youth and Sports, Population, Finance, Public Works, Decentralization, and Industrialization), national and regional institutions, donor organizations, technical service providers, NGOs, private companies, training and research organizations and the media.

The goal of this workshop is to identify common objectives shared by the stakeholders and, from these objectives, establish a list of immediate feasible actions. This list of activities will provide Madagascar DIORANO – WASH Initiative with the information needed to design a comprehensive strategy in which all of the stakeholders can play a roll, improve their collaboration, avoid replication of efforts and provide investors and donor organizations a resource to identify priority investment areas.