CLTS Foundation recently had the honour of being invited to participate in the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention (MGISC) held in Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi from 29th September 2018 to 2nd October 2018. The Convention was a four-day event which brought together Sanitation Ministers and sector specialists from around the world. The Convention aimed to share sanitation success stories and lessons from the participating countries and culminated on 2nd October 2018 with the launch of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth year celebrations in India and final year of implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission.

Dr Kamal Kar, Founder and Chairman, CLTS Foundation had been invited to the Convention and he participated on 1st and 2nd October 2018. The plenary sessions focused on the major role played by Swachh Bharat Mission in accelerating India’s progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.2. in terms of the global advancement on those lines. This was followed by parallel sessions of Ministerial Dialogues where dialogues between the participating Ministers were facilitated by global experts in the field on building political will for sanitation, ensuring adequate financing and taking key steps required to work at scale and reach universal access. Dr Kar had the opportunity to meet the Sanitation Ministers and senior officials of various countries of Africa and Asia and we were humbled by the appreciation and respect shown to us by the esteemed representatives.

Below are some glimpses of Dr Kar’s meeting with some of the Hon’ble Ministers and senior delegates of Asia and Africa who were at the Convention.

 

 

 

Republic of Chad

Left: Hon’ble Mr Sidick Abdelkerim Haggar, Minister of Environment, Water and Fishery

 

 

 

 

Burkina Faso

Left to right: Mr Andre Patinde NONGUIERMA, Director General, Directorate of Sanitation,  Hon’ble Mr Niouga Ambroise Quedraogo, Minister of Water and Sanitation

 

 

 

Madagascar

Left to right: Mr RAZANADAHY Ferdinand, Director of Hygiene Promotion of the Ministry of WASH, Hon’ble Mr ANDRIANAMELASOA Lalaina, Secretary General of the Ministry of WASH

 

 

 Malawi

Left: Hon’ble Mr Atupele Austin Muluzi, Minister of Health & Population

 

 

 

 

 

Mongolia

Left to right: Ms TUYA Byambasuren, Officer, Division of International Cooperation, Hon’ble Ms BYAMBASUREN Lamjav, Vice Minister of Health

 

 

 

 

 

Côte d’Ivoire

Right: Madame BRAGORI Helene Epse YOCOLLY, Director of Rural Sanitation

 

 

 

 

 

 

Republic of Togo

Left: Hon’ble Mr Antoine Lekpa GBEGBENI, Minister of Water and Rural Hydraulic

 

 

 

Nigeria

Left: Hon’ble Mr Suleiman Hussein Adamu, Minister of Water Resources

 

 

 

India 

Hon’ble Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India

 

 

 

 

India 

Hon’ble Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

 

 

 

 

India 

Hon’ble Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State with independent charge, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

 

 

 

India 

Hon’ble Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs

 

 

 

 

United Nations

Hon’ble Mr Antonio Gueterres, Secretary General