SuSanA sanitation knowledge platform boosted by major new Gates grant

Through SEI, the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), a cross-sectoral informal network of stakeholders interested in sustainable sanitation, has received a US$2.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the continued growth and development of its online knowledge-management and collaboration services.

“With this generous grant we will be able to enrich SuSanA’s services to meet the needs not only of our current active users but also potentially huge new user groups in the Global South and in the private sector – stakeholders who can play a pivotal role in scaling up sustainable sanitation access,” says Arno Rosemarin, project leader for the grant.

The project will be led by SEI and implemented by a consortium that includes the German International Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), WaterAid and Oxfam, as well as specialized additional consultants. The SuSanA Secretariat will continue to be hosted by GIZ, with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (GIX).

Founded in 2007, SuSanA is an open international alliance, with a network of over 7300 individual members and 282 partners. SuSanA’s mission is to promote innovation and best practices in sanitation policy, programming, implementation and scaling up, by linking on-the-ground experience with an engaged community of practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and academics. In particular, SuSanA promotes a systems approach to sanitation that takes into account all related aspects of sustainability across the sanitation value chain. SuSanA has been supported by the Gates Foundation with two smaller grants since 2012.

Supercharging SuSanA

This new three-year grant will cover a third phase of development, highlighting the Foundation’s continuing prioritization of knowledge management in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.

The new phase aims for three key outcomes: 1) Improved use of SuSanA Platform by identified target groups, through a clear communications plan and platform improvements; 2) Demonstrable improvements in the impact that use of the SuSanA Platform has on members’ work in sanitation; 3) SuSanA’s strengthened governance and institutional sustainability as reflected in an operational plan that includes a plan for funding the budget needed to assure the Alliance’s future.

Some SuSanA services that will be strengthened under the project are:

• SuSanA discussion forum
• Excreta flow diagrams portal, with information and resources at city level
• Database of sanitation projects worldwide
• The SuSanA library, containing over 2000 publications
• SuSanA working groups
• Updates to Wikipedia articles dealing with sanitation topics; for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_defecation
• Regular webinars run by the SuSanA Secretariat. SuSanA also offers the Thematic Discussion Series platform, hosting open discussions led by expert practitioners on specific themes
• SuSanA Working Group wikis.

Central to the new project phase will be three studies, the results of which will inform decisions about improved planning and implementation of SuSanA. One study will look at how online user experiences can be enhanced for SuSanA’s online knowledge-management resource and already lively discussion forum.

The second study will be a marketing study to better understand the knowledge and networking needs of the global WASH community, particularly those parts of the community that could play a bigger role in SuSanA. One key outcome of this study will be the development of a major new communications strategy and implementation plan for SuSanA. The third study will look at how to ensure SuSanA’s long-term organizational sustainability.For more information contact [email protected].

You can also join a discussion about the new grant on the SuSanA Forum »