The great Asian continent was the first overseas experience we had. It was at the end of the last century that we started promoting ecological sanitation in India. One of the first communal sanitation programmes was in Bangalore, Karnakata. In the 2000s, we worked closely with local partners to develop decentralised sanitation options, designing and building innovative treatment plants. In Asia, we launched the Sustainable Water and Sanitation Management (SSWM) course, and trained hundreds of practitioners in India, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

We are convinced that there are many opportunities for innovation in Asia. Through the circular economy, asian developing countries can capitalise on the vast waste streams and obtain valuable resources such as water, nutrients, and energy.

Some of our experiences in Asia are:

• In Indo- and Chinese-European consortia, thanks to funding from the European Commission, we work with local partners to implement business models for the development of markets for innovative water and natural resource management systems.

• With our partner BORDA, we have analysed the enabling environment for implementing sanitation schemes in six cities in Afghanistan (Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Kunduz) in the framework of a USAID project.

• In collaboration with ICLEI  and with support from EuropeAid, we trained local authorities in five cities in India and five cities in the Philippines to improve urban sanitation management.