SWA’s strategy is focused on the development of strong systems and adequate sector capacity to achieve transformational change, through which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the partnership’s vision of sanitation, water and hygiene for all, always and everywhere can be achieved.
The Building Blocks capture the key elements that the sector must have in place to be able to deliver sustainable services and progressively eliminate inequalities in access. At the Sector Ministers’ Meeting in March 2016, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, SWA partners recognized these five elements are the critical Building Blocks of a well-functioning WASH sector
Integrating the Building Blocks and the Collaborative Behaviours into existing and ongoing national processes
Based on eight country case studies, regional and global monitoring reports as well as learning from other sectors, SWA partners have identified Four Collaborative Behaviours that, if adopted by countries and their partners, can improve the way that they work together to improve the long-term sector performance needed to deliver sanitation, hygiene and water for all, everywhere and forever.
Various tools and mechanisms are available to integrate the Building Blocks and Collaborative Behaviours into existing and ongoing national processes:
- The WASH Bottleneck Analysis Tool (WASH BAT), a tool developed by UNICEF that can be used to analyze gaps, challenges and successes relating to the Building Blocks and Collaborative Behaviours at country level
- The global UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) also covers different aspects of the Building Blocks in its monitoring of the WASH enabling environment
- In addition, the SWA partnership is gathering tools used by partners to analyze the Building Blocks and reinforce the application of the Collaborative Behaviours
- Link to other materials: GLASS Country Profiles
How the Building Blocks and the Collaborative Behaviours mutually reinforce sector development
The Collaborative Behaviours outline how partners need to work together in order to develop and strengthen the Building Blocks. Together they provide a common framework that SWA partners can use to catalyze joint action towards strong WASH systems. In simple terms, the Building Blocks are the ‘what’ of a well-functioning sector while the Collaborative Behaviours are the ‘how’ of developing and maintaining a well-functioning sector.