| MAMA-86 held Public Hearings of the targets of the Protocol on Water and Health |  |
| Tuesday, 02 November 2010 18:01 | |||
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NGO “MAMA-86” conducted Public hearings of the National targets of the Protocol on Water and Health on 20-21 October 2010. Within this discussion a series of thematic events took place. Program of the public hearings (in Ukrainian) A Round table “Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in Ukrainian schools” and a Working Conference of the Women for Water Partnership (WfW) were held on 20 October 2010. Case studies on water and sanitation in Ukrainian schools were presented and discussed during Working Conference of WfW. Public Hearings of the draft National targets of the Protocol on Water and Health (hereinafter - the Protocol) were held on 21 October. The event took place in Kyiv, hotel “Bratislava” Big Conference hall. This Public Hearings completed public consultation on the targets that were initiated by the NGO “MAMA-86” in early September 2010.Thanks to these measures the public had an opportunity to become aware of the proposed targets for Ukraine, to provide comments and discuss feedback from stakeholders. Public Hearings were held with the support of the Women for Water Partnership (the Netherlands) and with financial assistance of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment of the Netherlands and the Collaborative Council on Water Supply and Sanitation (WSSCC).The Round table was attended by 36 stakeholders from 14 settlements of Ukraine. Today in Ukraine according to official statistics, 42 % of schools use cold outdoor pit latrines and more than 500 schools use for drinking purposes imported water. It concerns mostly children from schools in villages, but there are problems in schools in small towns, where not all people have access to centralized water supply and sanitation. There are cases where only pupils and teachers of primary school have an indoor toilet. Round table started from the premiere of a short film "Sanitation and hygiene for schools in Ukraine”. Despite the fact that from the central public authorities, only representative from State Committee of Water Resources Management took part, active part in the discussion took scientists-hygienists, representatives of the State Sanitary Epidemiological Service of 10 cities of Ukraine and interested public. Participants reviewed the current state of provision of schools by water and sanitation facilities, results of sociological survey of pupils and experts on issues of sanitation and hygiene in Ukrainian schools, that were conducted by NGO “MAMA-86”and “Socis” Ukraine in May 2010 (the survey covered 2000 pupils from 8 regions of Ukraine and 30 experts, among which were 18 directors of urban and rural schools). Representatives from NGO in their speeches criticized the shortcomings and inability of existing hygiene norms to ensure safety of drinking water and decent conditions of sanitation, inefficient practice of administrative sanctions in resolving these issues. Special attention was paid to the problems of schools, especially rural ones, that are not connected to centralized water supply and sewage network, to the experience of local initiatives to improve conditions of water supply and sanitation in schools through the introduction of short and long term economically viable technical solutions that are based on decentralized and alternative technologies of water supply and sewerage, including technology of additional water purification “on tap”, ecosan. Such solutions can help local authorities and school administrations to ensure secure access of pupils to safe water and sanitation in schools under the economic crisis, growing environmental pollution, above all, of drinking water sources by anthropogenic character and as a result of extreme weather events (floods and droughts), which become increasingly relevant in some regions of Ukraine. Results of the Round table are reflected in the Resolution (in Ukrainian). Working Conference of Women for Water Partnership continued the work of Round Table. Four case studies of problems of access to water and sanitation in schools in four regions (Yaremche, Nova Kakhovka, Bolshaya Feodosiya and Sevastopol) were presented during this Conference. Problems that were identified during case studies were presented for discussion in order to find possible practical ways to address them. Public Hearings of the National targets to Ukraine of the Protocol on Water and Health (NT) were held on 21 October and were attended by 36 representatives from public organizations and central public authorities responsible for implementation of the requirements of the Protocol. Valentina Kirichenko on behalf of the Norwegian-Ukrainian project of international assistance to Ukraine to identify NT presented draft NT. Representatives from Ministries of Health, Environmental Protection and State Committee of Water Management took active part in Public Hearings discussions (see Program). By October 21 NGO MAMA-86 has received feedback and comments from 8 organizations and individual experts to 11 National targets. Participants of Public Hearings decided to continue collecting comments till November 2 and charged NGO “MAMA-86” to summarize the results of Public Hearings and comments to National targets and submit these comments in a form of comparative table to the central public authority responsible for implementation of the Protocol. The results of Public Hearings will be presented on 10 November 2010 at the Fourth Meeting of the Steering Group of Senior level of the National Political Dialogue on integrated water resources management in Ukraine. For additional information, please contact:Anna Tsvietkova, NGO “MAMA-86” This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Presentations of the participants (in Russian and Ukrainian):
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