Sanitation beyond 2030: insights from SuSanA’s 35th Meeting

On the sidelines of World Water Week, the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) held its 35th meeting at SEI Headquarters in Stockholm. The gathering brought together sanitation professionals and enthusiasts from across the globe to share insights and innovations on topics ranging from climate-resilient sanitation and resource recovery to the health of sanitation workers, humanitarian water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and engagement with both institutions and the private sector. 

SEI colleagues were among those presenting new tools and approaches. Daniel Ddiba introduced the Resource Recovery Toolbox, a knowledge hub designed to make it easier for practitioners in sanitation, waste management and recycling to find and use practical tools for resource recovery. 

Linus Dagerskog shared updates from the WICER (Water innovation for circularity and enhanced resilience) project in Iraq, which is helping strengthen the country’s resilience to water scarcity and climate change through innovative water resource management and circular approaches. 

Key highlights 

The discussions underscored both the challenges and opportunities ahead for the sanitation sector: 

• Youth engagement: SuSanA announced a strengthened commitment to increase engagement with young people, launching a new youth engagement program that begins in Zambia and will expand to other regions. The initiative aims to support young people to share local WASH knowledge and innovations and to build new partnerships. 

• Sanitation beyond 2030: participants discussed the Road to Post-2030 Sanitation Framework, a global roadmap for sanitation beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on inclusion in future frameworks, coordinated messaging and building the evidence base ahead of upcoming major UN events. 

• Financing trends: the shifting funding landscape was a recurring theme. Discussions highlighted the need for new financing pathways, from blended finance and private sector partnerships to philanthropy and domestic resource mobilization. 

• Climate resilience: speakers shared innovations to strengthen climate resilience in the WASH sector. Examples included carbon credits for container-based sanitation as a new financing pathway, and research on emissions measurement and modelling underscored the need for accurate data and improved methods. Discussions also highlighted organizational resilience, enabling institutions to anticipate and adapt to risks. 

• A new Cold Climate Sanitation Working Group was introduced, and participants welcomed the upcoming women’s networking and peer mentoring event, “Stronger Together”.  

Regional perspectives 

SuSanA’s regional chapters presented updates from around the world, highlighting how collaboration, capacity building, policy advocacy and gender inclusion are advancing sanitation goals: 

• Latin America: the chapter is advancing direct exchanges, including a pilot between Sanima Peru and Bolivia to share best practices and technical assistance. It is also strengthening alliances with universities and hosting youth engagement events. 

• South Asia: a national WASH assessment in India is in progress to identify priority areas for policy reform, systems integration and equity. The chapter also hosted a webinar with sector veterans discussing how sanitation priorities and the WASH sector have evolved over time. 

• Middle East and North Africa: efforts are under way to connect the regional chapter to the German WASH network, while webinars on crisis waste management and national staff training are building capacity and connecting humanitarian, development and peace actors. 

• Africa: the chapter has been active in policy advocacy, participating in coordination platforms and contributing to the Post-2025 Africa Water Vision Policy. Its successful push for explicit recognition of women and girls in policy language was a notable achievement.  

Looking ahead 

SuSanA’s Global Steering Committee will be renewed in November, with nominations open for candidates from all seven regions – a key opportunity to join or encourage colleagues to apply. 

This year’s meeting also marked a milestone: the last SuSanA annual gathering to be hosted at SEI’s historic headquarters. Participants bid a warm farewell to the venue and look forward to reconvening next year at SEI’s new offices in Stockholm for the next SuSanA meeting.