The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), USA and FUTUREFISH, UK visited GWSC on Thursday, 20 July 2023. We shared on-going collaborative engagements with Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to devising strategies for technology commercialization and addressing data governance structures to scale up sanitation development.

The Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Scaling Hub is responding to the needs of cities and DFIs. It provides technical assistance to governments, development banks, and other development partners in the South and Southeast Asian regions. The goal of the TA program is to enhance the capability and capacity of investment projects by guiding the entire project cycle, from project identification to post-implementation monitoring and evaluation.

Discussion on current collaborative engagements with DFI and other stakeholders.

Transformative sanitation technology is a key tool for achieving sustainable sanitation and water management. It reduces pollutants released into the environment, saves energy, and provides clean, safe drinking water. This technology can help to address water pollution and water scarcity, which are major global challenges. Transformative sanitation technology can be commercialized by developing partnerships with governments, development banks, and other organizations that are working to improve sanitation and water management.

Establishment of a Sanitation Data Command Center in Bangladesh addresses data governance to scale up sanitation development. It will provide a one-stop platform for accessing, storing, analyzing and visualizing sanitation data from various sources and levels. It will support data-based decision making, resource planning and management, policy formulation and implementation, and progress tracking and reporting for the sanitation sector. It will also foster transparency, accountability and participation of different actors and beneficiaries in the sector.

Representatives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) included Dr. Samuel Thevasagayam, the Director of Livestock and Fish, and Ms. Kimberly Churchwell, the Aquaculture Programme Lead. Dr. Michael Phillips, Co-Founder and Director, and Dr. Rohana Subasinghe, Co-Founder and Director, were present at the meeting on behalf of FUTUREFISH.

The meeting was attended by Prof. Sangam Shrestha, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology and Co-Director of the Global Water & Sanitation Center; Dr. Kavinda Gunasekara, COO of GWSC, and Ms. Isha Basyal Tiwari, Deputy COO of GWSC.

GWSC welcomed the BMGF and FUTUREFISH teams.