Global Water & Sanitation Center (GWSC), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was launched on 30 November at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Pathum Thani.
GWSC will work with government agencies, international financing institutions, and development partners to expedite water, sanitation, and hygiene agendas in Asia.
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Brian Arbogast, Director, Water Sanitation & Hygiene, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlighted the scale of challenges in delivering safe sanitation services to everyone around the world. “With almost half of the world population still lacking access to safe sanitation and management, we realised that we needed different approaches to reach this incredibly aspirational goal. Climate change is having a bigger impact and with the rapid urbanisation, challenges are becoming harder,” he said.
In his closing remarks, Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto, AIT President, said, “With a legacy of 60 years of working on water and sanitation, we believe that AIT has a greater role to play in improving the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. As such, we are very happy and honoured to host the GWSC.” He expressed appreciation to the Foundation and the esteemed partners for their trust and commitment to providing fullest support from the Institute to fulfil the vision and mission of GWSC.
The GWSC has four initial initiatives: establishment of Technical Assistance Hub (TA Hub); development and scaling up of Integrated Municipal Information System (IMIS); improvement of the National Sanitation Dashboard (NSD), and; Women in Sanitation Enterprises Project (WISE).
Present at the GWSC launch were Brian Arbogast, Director of the foundation’s Water Sanitation and Hygiene Division; his deputy Dr Roshan Shrestha; Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand Mohammed Abdul Hye; Nepal Ambassador Ganesh Prasad Dhakal; Dhaka Mayor Atiqul Islam; Chair of AIT’s management committee Dr. Anat Arbhabirama; AIT President Prof Kazuo Yamamoto; and GWSC directors Prof. Sangam Shrestha and Prof Thammarat Koottatep