The FSM5 conference joined forces with the African Minister’s Council on Water (AMCOW) to co-convene with the AfricaSan 5 conference. Through this partnership, conference attendees had access to a unique synergistic program that combined the political will of AfricaSan along with the technical, practical, and academic expertise of the FSM Conference. 

The 5th International FSM conference continued its mission of advocating and sharing good practice and innovation to improve how faecal sludge is managed and contributes to meeting the sanitation needs of 4.5 billion people lacking access to sustainable sanitation services. This platform creates additional impetus to address the demands and challenges of the sanitation sector Africa, whilst also continuing to maintain the independent identity and global focus of the FSM conferences, including Asia. It provided the opportunity for sector professionals, governments, policy-makers, utilities, development partners, investors, industries and service providers to coordinate, develop and share learning to provide affordable and workable solutions at scale. This conference focused on practical solutions to sustainably manage the whole non-sewered sanitation service chain, covering the toilet, containment, emptying, transport, treatment and reuse, as an essential component of city-wide urban sanitation services.

The focus of FSM5 was to demonstrate FSM as a utility service that can be:

• Structured and regulated by government
• Delivered in partnership with private service providers
• Organized to attract investment from government, development partners, commercial banks, and private entities

Building on the success of the first four International FSM Conferences in Chennai (2017), Hanoi (2015) and in Durban (2011& 2012), the FSM conference aims to bring together professionals working in the sector, including utilities, service providers, cities, governments, academics, scientists, consultants, donors and industries, to support the global initiative of disseminating sustainable solutions for FSM.

Conference presentations and materials can be found on SuSanA