WSSCC advocated for improved sanitation and hygiene, with a focus on the needs of women, girls and people in vulnerable situations.
[5] The GSF funded national programmes in Benin, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
[9] The GSF, along with a diverse range of sector actors, was aimed at helping address the sanitation and hygiene crisis by enabling tens of millions of people to live in open defecation free (ODF) environments and access adequate toilets and handwashing facilities.
[11] The GSF funded behaviour change activities to help large numbers of poor people in hard to reach areas attain safe sanitation and adopt good hygiene practices.
[citation needed] Community-led total sanitation was frequently utilized by GSF-funded national programmes, such as in Cambodia[13] and Nigeria.
[14] The GSF previously funded, national programmes in Benin, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
It was first established in 2007, in response to the United Nations Human Development Report for 2006, which raised the issue of the global sanitation crisis.
[22] A key challenge that WSSCC focused on relates to the inclusion of menstrual hygiene management in the sustainable development agenda.
WSSCC advocated for equality, human rights and non-discrimination as central to ensuring access to safe water supply, adequate sanitation and good hygiene for all.
[citation needed] WSSCC's Steering Committee decided the policies and strategies of the organization, managed the governance process, and was accountable to both the membership and the donors for its work.
[1]: 24 The "WSSCC community" included staff based in Geneva, volunteer National Coordinators, Global Sanitation Fund programme managers, a democratically elected Steering Committee and bi-lateral donor partners.
[1] Key collaborating partners with WSSCC included WaterAid, the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) and UNICEF, among others.
[citation needed] During the 1990s, WSSCC concentrated on sharing knowledge and convening thematic discussion groups on water- and sanitation-related topics.
Previous chairs of the steering committee include: Interim chairs Brad Herbert and Ebele Okeke in 2017–2018,[1] Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Minister of Environment of Nigeria in 2016,[48][37] Andrew Cotton in 2014 to 2015,[38] Anna Tibaijuka in 2011 to 2013; Roberto Lenton in 2005 to 2010, Sir Richard Jolly in 1997 to 2004 and Margaret Catley-Carlson in 1990 to 1996.