WASH Mela 2019

On the occasion of National Sanitation Week 2019, Municipal Association Nepal (MuAN) and ENPHO in association with Paschim Paaila organized a mega event ‘WASH Mela’ on 8 to 9 June, 2019 at Basantapur Entrance, Newroad, Kathmandu. This event was intended to raise public awareness on various emerging Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) issues, along with information on various WASH services available to enrich sustainable WASH.

During an inaugural ceremony of WASH Mela, Honorable Minsiter of Water Supply and Sanitation Ms. Bina Magar, graced the event residing as the Chief Guest of the event. The inauguration of an event was conducted by pouring compost and water to the plant by the minister herself. Mr. Ashok Byanju Shrestha, Mayor of Dhulikhel Municipality was the Special Guests during an event. During an opening remarks, Honorable minister Ms. Bina Magar, suggested all to gear up with the commitment on faecal sludge management and also thanked the organizer to conduct this mass awareness campaign. Honorable Minister also visited all the stall and encouraged and appreciated all the organization for contributing in the WASH sector.

The event included exhibition stall, drama, documentary show, informative games and panel discussion.

Exhibition Stall

Altogether, 20 different organizations from government agencies, non-government organizations, private agencies and companies participated in the event. ENPHO, MuAN, Smart Paani, KMC, SNV Nepal, Pad to Go, Eco Concern, UEMS, Lumanti, RND Innovative Solution, Soil Water and Air Testing (SWAT) Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Miron Laboratory and Research Centre, Lamahi Municipality, Kathmandu University, Walling Municipality, Dhulikhel Municipality, Bhimdatta Municipality, Paschim Paaila, GiZ, SOPHEN, AEPC, UN-HABITAT and DWSS exhibited the stall and raise the awareness on WASH and their respective activities on WASH. During the stall, pad vending machine, home-made pad making training corner, rainwater harvesting models etc. were the major highlights of the event. More than 10,000 public visited the WASH Mela.

  

Drama

The enthusiastic youth volunteers from Paschim Paaila opted for the drama which reflected the message on current practices on faecal sludge and need for its proper management. The drama gathered the attention of more than 1500 public and delivered the message associated to it.

Documentary Show

A documentary show on faecal sludge management practice in ktm valley was played continuously in docu show corner. More than 2000 people observed documentary who visited at WASH Mela.

Informative Games and Quiz

‘Pictionary’, Arm Werstling and ‘Hit the Pad’ games was also conducted during the event.  The winners were given sanitary pad, soap, and sanitizer. More than 1000 people participated in the quiz and game and enjoyed the session.

Panel Discussion

In two day WASH Mela event, four sessions of panel discussion on issues of WASH associated with policy for FSM, priority of media in FSM, integrated solid waste management and FSM in urban area was held. The first panel discussion on “Necessity of FSM policy at Local Government Level” was held in facilitation of Mr. Kalanidhi Devkota, Executive director of MuAN in presence of panelists, Mr. Rudra Singh Tamang, Joint Secretory of Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and Mayor Khadga Bahadur Khatri of Kamalamai Municipality, Sindhuli.  This session came up with the conclusion that FSM is still not a prime priority for municipalities despite of preparing with resources required for FSM. But making policy of FSM for proper management of Faecal Sludge (FS) can be possible with collaborative working approach connecting government bodies, non-governmental organizations, individuals and all relevant stakeholders. The second panel discussion on first day of WASH Mela was conducted on “Why Urban Sanitation (Faecal Sludge) Matters?” which was facilitated by Mr. Bipin Dangol, Executive Director of ENPHO in presence of panelists, Mr. Sanjaya Adhikari, FSM Expert, Mr. Suman Sharma, Former Secretary, Nepal Government  and Mr. Suresh Bam, Engineer, Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board. Discussion was summed up with key points with need of individual’s realization for waste management as also responsibility of general public which plays vital role in success and sustainability of any projects for sanitation. And using sanitation as indicator of development will escalate in possibility of safe and clean environment including clean Bagmati by 2030.

The two topics “Media Forum: Why WASH is not priority in News?” and “Integrated Solid Waste Management: Challenges and Solutions” were for panel discussion sessions in the event of day-2. For the first session, Mr. Bhushan Tuladhar, Environmentalist facilitated discussion session with panelists, Mr. Dilbhusan Pathak, Editor-in-Chief of Kantipur Television, Ms. Montessori Rajbhandari, Co-founder of Ujyaalo Radio Network, Mr. Kiran Nepal, Manager Himal Khabarpatrika and Mr. Himesh Bajracharya, Editor, Kantipur Daily. Similarly, Prof. Dr. Murali Gopal Ranjitkar, Chairperson of National Institute of Health and Environment (NIHE) facilitated the second discussion session with panelists, Prof. Bhim Shrestha, Kathmandu University (KU), Dhulikhel, Mr. Surya Man Shakya, Former Member Secretary, National Environment Council and Former General Manager (GM), Solid Waste Management Technical Support Center, Mr. Mitra Prasad Ghimire, Member Secretary, Solid Waste Management Association of Nepal (SWMA) and Director, NEPSEMAC Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Updendra Khanal, Chief of Environmental Department, Dhankuta Municipality.

The first session on “Media Forum: Why WASH is not priority in News?” concluded with the key points as necessity of monitoring by environmentalists and experts on media and share information related to WASH to media personals. Furthermore, linking WASH with monetary value and politics can bring the issues on highlight making it focus of general public and priority of media. The conclusion for second session on “Integrated Solid Waste Management: Challenges and Solutions” came up with a need of aspiration for management of solid waste, as Dhankuta Municipality has set an example. Similarly, monitoring by government, budget allocation and working in collaboration is also required for integrated solid waste management.

WASH Mela was initiated as advocacy and campaign event by Paschim Paaila in 2014 on the occasion of World Water Day. The event was organized every year since 2014 in public spaces to raise awareness and sensitize general public on WASH led by youth which became national event this year and was organized on the occasion of World Environment Day 2019 and National Sanitation Week 2019 in lead collaboration with MuAN and ENPHO.
-Ms. Anita Bhuju