The provision of sustainable sanitation for all is one of the world’s most important development priorities, yet 4.5 billion people lack access to a safe toilet. Past efforts to provide greater sanitation access, such as direct government provision and full, blanket subsidies for toilets, have proven to be ineffective or unsustainable in many developing countries, prompting some to focus on market-based sanitation (MBS) as an alternative. However, market-based approaches have proven difficult to scale up.
“The changes on the African continent are very much alarming—when we talk of sanitation and look at the growth of the populations in Africa, and also the urbanization phenomenon, with the growth of slums,” said Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), acknowledging the challenges facing the region in a recent interview with USAID’s Global Waters Radio.
Sylvia Cabus, the Senior Gender Advisor for USAID’s Office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, recently chatted with Global Waters Radio about the connection between gender and water.
The Water and Health Conference: Where Science Meets Policy will take place October 29–November 2, 2018, at the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill. The UNC Water Institute’s annual event has grown to become one of the most important gatherings in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector held in the United States. The conference this year focuses on five themes:
On September 26, the USAID-funded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) Project held this webinar and discussion on sanitation enterprises and design considerations. WASHPaLS presents a detailed discussion of the elements of a sanitation enterprise including mechanisms and practices, design approaches, and key considerations based upon the findings a recent WASHPaLS desk review.
New research demonstrates that improving a woman’s access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) provides a multitude of indirect and positive impacts that often are overlooked in traditional development interventions. Benefits of this water access “ripple effect” go beyond the time savings and health outcomes that are well known across the sector. Referred to as “pathways to empowerment,” these now-quantifiable impacts cover a range of outcomes, including a more than 50 percent increase in female community leadership positions and shifts in gender norms within the community.
More than 3,000 practitioners and decision-makers gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, at the end of August 2018 for World Water Week. Hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), this annual gathering encourages new thinking and positive action on water-related opportunities and challenges.
Water Access Sanitation and Hygiene for the Urban Poor (WASH-UP), funded by USAID, helped to improve availability and access to water and sanitation services in three slum communities of Accra and two slum communities in the urban area of Sekondi-Takoradi. Using a community-driven approach that involved residents and a broad range of stakeholders, Global Communities implemented programs to create sustainable improvements in water and sanitation access while improving hygiene behaviors.
