Urban Resilience By Building Partnerships And Applying New Evidence In WASH (URBAN WASH)

Delivering high-quality evidence to improve access to inclusive urban and peri-urban water and sanitation services.

Overview

FOCUS AREA 1:
Enabling environment for improved water quality and city-wide sanitation
  • Policies, regulations, and institutional arrangements instrumental for inclusive improvements in drinking water quality and city-wide sanitation
  • Cost recovery mechanisms for water quality monitoring
  • Approaches for financially sustainable city-wide inclusive water and sanitation services
FOCUS AREA 2:
Small and informal service providers (SIPs)
  • Best approaches to incorporating SIPs into city-wide inclusive WASH services
  • Policy and regulatory framework to improve SIP
FOCUS AREA 3:
Source water protection and diversification
  • Legal and regulatory frameworks, DSTs and funding models that support sustainable and equitable domestic drinking water protection measures for small, medium and large cities

Resources

The Role of Small, Local Service Providers in Inclusive Citywide Water and Sanitation The Role of Small, Local Service Providers in Inclusive Citywide Water and Sanitation
Brief

In low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, between 44 percent to 51 percent of urban populations are unserved by piped water and 72 percent to 84 percent lack sewered connections. A significant…
Pathways to Inclusive City-Wide Water and Sanitation Services Pathways to Inclusive City-Wide Water and Sanitation Services
Brief

Rapid urbanization in low- and middle-income countries has put pressure on water and sanitation providers, resulting in uneven progress on access to services, especially among the poorest and most vulnerable people. This study, produced by Urban…
Managing the Climate Impact of Human Waste: A study to understand the impact of methane emissions from fecal sludge and potential abatement approaches Managing the Climate Impact of Human Waste: A study to understand the impact of methane emissions from fecal sludge and potential abatement approaches
Technical Report

Methane emissions are the second largest driver of global warming. Sanitation systems contribute to anthropogenic methane emissions if the biological decomposition of human feces is facilitated by anaerobic technologies. Climate action to curb…
Effective Enabling Environments for Inclusive Urban Water and Sanitation Provision: Desk review of the policies, regulations, institutional arrangements, and other associated factors for effective urban water and sanitation service delivery Effective Enabling Environments for Inclusive Urban Water and Sanitation Provision: Desk review of the policies, regulations, institutional arrangements, and other associated factors for effective urban water and sanitation service delivery
Technical Report

Achieving and sustaining equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation services remain key challenges in many urban areas of low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund’s Joint…
Building Inclusive and Resilient Citywide Water & Sanitation Services: An evidence-based review of the role of small local service providers (SLPs) report Building Inclusive and Resilient Citywide Water & Sanitation Services: An evidence-based review of the role of small local service providers (SLPs)
Technical Report

Across low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), the public institutions mandated to provide water and sanitation services in cities have limited financial capacity and/or capabilities to provide citywide coverage. The population in unregulated areas…
Pro-Poor Connection Subsidies to Improve Water Access in Ghana Pro-Poor Connection Subsidies to Improve Water Access in Ghana
Technical Report

In the Accra metropolitan area of Ghana, fewer than 30 percent of households in low-income urban and peri-urban settlements have access to piped water services, well below the government’s stated aim for 70 percent of urban/peri-urban households to…
Accra Pro-Poor Water Connection Subsidy Study Accra Pro-Poor Water Connection Subsidy Study
Brief

Ghana’s urban population has more than tripled over the last three decades, outpacing the expansion of urban water infrastructure. In the Accra Metropolitan Area, fewer than 30 percent of households in low-income urban and peri-urban settlements…
Urban Water Quality and Efficiency Assessment in Ghana Urban Water Quality and Efficiency Assessment in Ghana
Brief

Rapid urbanization is straining Ghana’s water supply systems. This study of the urban water systems in Kumasi and Tamale will assess three core challenges faced by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL): water quality, equity, and non-revenue water.…
Improving Water Quality Management, Water Equity, and Non-Revenue Water in Ghana Improving Water Quality Management, Water Equity, and Non-Revenue Water in Ghana
Technical Report

Rapid urbanization has strained Ghana’s urban water systems. Ghana’s urban population has more than tripled over the last three decades, rising from approximately five million (1990) to more than 18 million (2021), with over half (57 percent) of the…
URBAN WASH Fact Sheet URBAN WASH Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet

This fact sheet provides context for the Urban Resilience by Building Partnerships and Applying New evidence in WASH (URBAN WASH) project, a five-year (2021–2026) project that will generate evidence to promote impactful, sustainable, equitable and…

Partners

URBAN WASH is led by a team of experienced researchers and urban WASH experts and supported by an external Advisory Board composed of WASH and urban resilience innovators and thought leaders. The project is implemented by Tetra Tech in collaboration with a consortium of partners including, Aquaya Institute, FSG, Iris Group, Segura Consulting, Stockholm Environment Institute-US, and WaterAid.

TETRA TECH brings more than 35 years of successful WASH sector programming and thought leadership. Tetra Tech provides technical assistance in the areas of urban water supply, sustainability assessments, and across a wide range of other technical and analytical service areas.


AQUAYA INSTITUTE offers experienced scientists and field-based WASH researchers who bring a rigorous approach to implementation research. Aquaya provides technical assistance in the areas of water quality, point of use water treatment, market-based approaches, sanitation economic studies, and evaluation.


FSG offers a formal business analytics perspective to understanding successes and challenges of market-based sanitation interventions. FSG provides technical assistance in the areas of market-based WASH services, market assessments, and inclusive market development.


IRIS GROUP brings extensive experience in mixed methods research on women and WASH and gender-equitable approaches to rural and urban sanitation programming. The Iris Group provides technical assistance to Urban WASH in the areas of gender mainstreaming, social inclusion, and women’s empowerment, and will contribute to design, analysis, and recommendations across all project components.


Segura Logo

SEGURA CONSULTING is an international consulting firm, specializing in advisory services to public and private sector clients in emerging markets with an established track record supporting USAID WASH sector programming. Segura provides technical assistance in the areas of utility reform, private sector engagement, and WASH financing.


STOCKHOLM ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE-US (SEI) is an international not-for-profit research organization that has been engaged in environment and development issues at local, national, regional and global policy levels for 25 years. For Urban WASH, SEI provides technical assistance in the areas of WRM and source water protection.


WATERAID is a non-profit organization with affiliates implementing WASH programs in 27 countries. For Urban WASH, WaterAid supports the roll out of implementation research in the field by leveraging and convening their local networks and stakeholders.

Contact Us

Ryan Mahoney, rymahoney@usaid.gov 

Jesse Shapiro, jeshapiro@usaid.gov 

Liz Jordan, Chief of Party, liz.jordan@tetratech.com 

Miriam Otoo, Deputy Chief of Party, miriam.otoo@tetratech.com