The IAS joins the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) global partnership

This global partnership has been operating for 13 years to contribute to universal access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene..

In January 2023, the IAS joined Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) - Created in 2010, Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is a global multi-stakeholder partnership linked to the United Nations, which brings together governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, research institutions and the philanthropic community to achieve universal access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene. The SWA currently has representatives across 78 countries.

The partnership between the SWA and the IAS is the result of a dialogue initiated in March 2022, during a face-to-face meeting in Brasília with this organization's leader, Catarina de Albuquerque, who was the first UN special rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation.

The mission of the Partnership is to eliminate inequalities in access to water and sanitation – by raising political will, ensuring good governance, and optimizing funding.

Accordingly, the SWA focuses on the hardest to reach and most vulnerable individuals, communities, countries and regions, and puts women and girls at the center, as dynamic agents of change. It works by harnessing the collective power of its partners, to support government-led, multi-stakeholder action at the national, regional and global levels.

The SWA partners are committed to contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”, particularly of targets 6.1, “by 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” and 6.2, “by 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.”

For the IAS, the partnership is a great opportunity to exchange experiences and learn from the other actors that make up this broad, qualified network, with 13 years of experience developing strategies to guarantee access to sanitation for historically marginalized populations. 

“One of the lessons learned by the IAS that we would like to share with society in general and with the federal government is the importance of truly universalizing access to water and sanitation. The partnership with the SWA is consolidated at a time when sustainability, the fight against poverty, and the reduction of inequalities at all levels are at the center of the Brazilian political agenda. Sanitation is at the core of all this, universalization will indeed directly contribute to this agenda”, explains Marussia Whately, Executive Director of the IAS. 

“We also expect this partnership to drive the IAS to expand its capacity to promote dialogue between different actors in the field of sanitation, which is so divided, so that together we can focus on what really matters: the goal of achieving universal access to water and sanitation by 2033 [set by the Sanitation Legal Framework - Law 14,026/2020]. The next four years [of the federal administration] are decisive to achieve this goal”, she adds.

Long live the partnership between the IAS and the SWA. To ensure water and sanitation for all men, women and gender diverse people