Beyond the Finish Line - Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All in Lao PDR is part of a five-year multi-country programme, which is being implemented by SNV in Bhutan, Lao PDR and Nepal. First developed in 2008, the Australian Aid-funded SSH4A programme in Lao PDR is currently on its second cycle of project funding as part of the Water for Women Fund. It is being led by SNV together with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Institute for Sustainable Futures of University of Technology Sydney (ISF-UTS), together with local partners, CARE, the Gender Development Association, and with technical support from IRC and CBM Australia.

Building on the SSH4A approach since 2008, the project in Lao PDR will contribute to area-wide access and usage of sanitation and hygiene services in the Savannakhet Province districts of Atsaphone, Champhone and Xonbouli. Beyond achieving coverage at household level, the project extends to institutions, e.g., by integrating menstrual hygiene management in schools (and health centres). The project applies a rights-based approach and engages strategically with potentially disadvantaged groups, e.g., ethnic minorities, people living in remote and extreme poverty areas, women, and people with disabilities – to strengthen their voice and leadership, and to create positive role models for households, communities and local institutions.

The SSH4A adjusted, integrated and phased district-wide approach will:

• strengthen the capacity of government agencies (one provincial and three district) to practise inclusive planning and investment, including multi-stakeholder processes, social inclusion strategies and women's leadership activities.
• strengthen capacity of 15 private sector actors to provide affordable market-based solutions and financing for a variety of consumer needs and changing service levels.
• strengthen capacity of local actors to develop and implement SBCC (social behavioural change. communications) and sanitation-demand creation, with attention to gender equality and social inclusion.
• seek to effect positive change in attitudes and/or self-perceptions related to gender, disabilities and inclusion within households, community, sub-national government and CSOs.
• improve performance monitoring, evidence-based learning and uptake of innovations, including the application of rights-based approaches, climate change resilience and inclusion of gender and social inclusion-related monitoring outcomes.

Photo credits: Images taken by Aidan Dockery for SNV in the Savannakhet Province during the earlier days of SSH4A implementation.