The GSF programme in Nepal is now in high gear and it is starting to show positive results and also attract the interest of national and international guests. The visit of Chris Williams, Executive Director, of Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, and Mark Willis, Programme Manager for Global Sanitation Fund, also endorsed this. Besides visiting communities in Sindhupalchowk and participating in an Open Defecation Free declaration programme, which is highlighted in the cover story of this issue of Sani News, Chris and Mark also participated in a series of meetings with GSF staff, government officials and partners in Kathmandu. At the end of the visit, Chris and Mark were impressed with how everyone from the local communities to the district officials and the policy makers at the central level were all involved in the “Sanitation Movement” in Nepal. The coordination among stakeholders and participation of communities was what they found most impressive.

Indeed the main USP (unique selling point as they say in business) of Nepal’s sanitation movement is, “local government’s leadership, stakeholders’ partnership and local communities’ ownership. The GSF programme in Nepal is proud to be following this mantra while implementing its programme in six districts of Nepal. We have started to see the results of this mantra and look forward to accelerating our programme in the days ahead using the same approach