Thursday 19 November 2020
From 10h00-14h00
Venues in Limpopo and online via the Zoom platform
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), together with the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI), will host their second Constitutional Dialogue on Thursday 19 November 2020 from 10h00-14h00 at several venues in Limpopo and online via the Zoom platform. The hybrid virtual-physical dialogue will look at the theme “Let’s Talk about Access to Water and Sanitation,” and will adhere to all COVID-19 protocols.
Governments around the world have for many years focused on water security and sanitation as a key human rights issue. The international community elevated this issue when it was included as Millennium Development Goal 7, adopted by Heads of State and Government at the United Nations in 2000. In 2015, the United Nations introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which again included the issue of water access and sanitation – as Goal 6. Through the adoption of the SDGs, Heads of State and Government committed, amongst others, to “achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all … [and] … 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 by 2030”.
The global outbreak of COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the need for equitable access to water and good sanitation, as well as the dire implications should this basic human need continue to be unmet.
This multi-stakeholder Constitutional Dialogue also comes amidst the UN-declared Water Action Decade, 2018-2028. Stakeholders will also come together to discuss these important issues on the UN-declared World Toilet Day.
The Premier of the Limpopo Province, Mr Stan Mathabatha, will welcome participants in the Dialogue. Ms Hameda Deedat, Acting Executive Director, National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI), will present the keynote address.
Recognising the importance and complexity of the issue of access to water, as well as the need for government, business and civil society to work with communities to achieve universal access to water and sanitation, the Dialogue will include a range of breakaway sessions which delegates will also be able to attend.
Each session will see a prominent expert in her / his field making a presentation, after which there will be time for discussion and the proposing of solutions to the challenges raised. Central to the Dialogue will be to highlight the involvement of communities in driving awareness of the need for better water security and sanitation and, more particularly, what communities are doing, and could be doing, to change their lived realities.
These breakaway sessions are:
Prof Mike Muller
Wits University School of Governance
Why your taps run dry – and what you can do about it
Ms Thando Mhlanga
International Budget Partnership / Social Audit Network
Social audits of access to water and sanitation
Mr Dhesigen Naidoo
CEO, Water Research Commission
Water Research Commission multiple use systems pilot project in Limpopo
Prof John Odiyo
University of Venda
Community-based water projects in Limpopo
Mr Morore Ben Mphahlele
Former CEO, Limpopo Economic Development Agency
Business contributions to improving access to water
Dialogue link:
