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Dear Jasmin, The acronym WASH was indeed coined by the members of the WSSCC who were dealing with advocacy and Communication, but it emerged over a tIme frame of some three years.

Documents on that can still be found online. I was involved at that time as IRC Communications Officer And Editor of the Source Bulletin that IRC co-procuded with the WSSCC.

Here follow some quotes and links: From my Advocacy TOP 2003: The WASH campaign was launched at the Bonn Freshwater Conference in December 2001. It emerged from the earlier efforts on public information and promotion for water and sanitation in the 1980s, followed by the work of an international working group on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) of the WSSCC. This group from 1991 - 1997 developed and tested various advocacy and communication tools.

https://www.ircwash.org/resources/advocacy-water-environmental-sanitation-and-hygiene

From various issues of Source Bulletin that are available in PDF format from https://www.ircwash.org/sites/default/files/SourceBulletin-no.15-no.20-2001.pdf

WSSCC sections in Source Bulletin no 16 of May 2001: The Council reported that it would change emphasis from applied research results sharing to advocacy for influencing other organizations on key WASH themes. Some 250 "ambassadors" for VISION 21 agreed to this change in the Igacu Action Program at the 5th Global Water Forum of the WSSCC in Brazil in 2000.

The Council itself will to become more visible on the world stage both at established major events (Bonn, 2001, Johannesburg, 2002, Kyoto, 2003) and through pursuing a higher profile media coverage. To this end, a new advocacy and communications strategy has been developed, which will be implemented following agreement and ratification by the WSSCC steering committee.

In Source Bulletin No. 17, July 2001: Steering committee members and 20 other strategic partners met in Geneva on 17 and 18 May 2001 to discuss how the IAP programme is being implemented. The general atmosphere was good, positive, and supportive, with many useful suggestions for potential action. These actions were grouped under a number of headings: Sanitation/ hygiene education Institutional and management reform Community-based approaches Advocacy Monitoring Networking Dissemination of knowledge and best practices

That same issue carried an article about the setting up of a new advisory group on WASH advocacy. It was composed of six core specialists from different fields - ranging from radio, television and print media, to social mobilisation and the Internet. Other experts in the communications arena will be called upon to join in the group's discussions, which will take place mostly in the virtual world.

As an expert group of communications professionals with track records of undertaking advocacy and communications activities at national, regional and global levels, AGWA will act as an advisory arm of the Council's Steering Committee. The group will develop a global strategy in advocacy and communications for water, sanitation and hygiene within the context of poverty reduction and sustainable development. AGWA will hold its first meeting at WaterA id in London, from 19 to 20 July 2001.

The WSSCC organised a well-attended panel discussion on the first day of the Bonn International Freshwater Conference on the title: "On the road to Johannesburg - Putting water and Sanitation on the Political Agenda". That resulted in an Outcome Statement: Sanitation is not a dirty word. Do you hink you can live AND work in safety whilst 6,000 people die needlesly every day? End the apathy and inaction! This appeared in Source Bulletin no 21 in January 2002. In Bonn the Council launched its Global WASH campaign. A few months later WSSCC and UN-Habitat launched its first WASH campaign focussing on poor areas in Nairobi, as reported in Source Bulletin No 23, June 2002.

When ministers at the Bali CSD prep-meeting for the 2002 World Summit for Sustainability Development cited the WSSCC WASH campaign as a model of how global initiatves can connect with local, national and regional partnerships other WASH campaigns started. At this WSSD in Johannesburg the WSSCC launched its new "tear-out" publication WASH - It is the Big Issue, along with post cards and stickers, streetpole ads and a revamped web site. The goal: to draw urgent attention to what it called almost 50 years of neglected issues of sustainable development that are the very foundation of public health.

After that splash at the WSSD, with improved sanitation added as a target to MDG 7, the WASH acronym got more and more popular and institutionalised, even outside the sector.

Googlng I found the Council's WSSD 2002 campaign note at https://www.un.org/spanish/conferences/wssd/documentos/wash_campaign_note_020125.doc

I hope this helps,

Dick de Jong, enjoying retirement