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(Journal Article) Urban community-led total sanitation: a potential way forward for co-producing sanitation services
01.10.2016
Community-led total sanitation (CLTS) has been proved to be a successful strategy for tackling the challenge of open defecation in poor rural communities across Africa and Asia. This article explores whether a similar approach can be used in peri-urban and urban areas to help co-produce sanitation facilities and services with inputs from communities, duty bearers, and other sanitation stakeholders. It is argued that an urban CLTS approach does not mean a copy and paste of tools and methods which have proved successful in the rural environment but following a set of similar principles. Based on field experiences different steps are suggested that incorporate these principles and respond to the specific urban sanitation problem. This article helps to articulate and better define urban CLTS as well as giving practical guidance for those wanting to use this kind of approach. -
(Journal Article) Sustaining school hand washing and water treatment programmes: Lessons learned and to be learned
01.10.2011
In Nyanza Province, Kenya, a sustainability evaluation of 55 pilot primary schools 2.5 years after the implementation of the Safe Water System (SWS) intervention revealed that programme activities were not successfully sustained in any of the schools visited. The most common criterion met was drinking water provision. We identified six enabling environment domains: financial capacity; accountability; technical feasibility and availability; community support; school leadership and management; and student engagement. While these domains pertain to the sustaining of the SWS activities in schools, they are likely to be applicable in creating an enabling environment and serve as proxy indicators for other school water, sanitation, and hygiene initiatives as well. -
(Journal Article) Developing games as a qualitative method for researching menstrual hygiene management in rural Bolivia
01.01.2015
The onset of menstruation has proven challenging for girls in school, with absenteeism, missed class time, reduced participation, teasing, fear, shame, and risky adaptive behaviours among the most commonly noted impacts in many settings. In 2012, Emory University and UNICEF conducted a multi-country formative study to gain a global perspective of girls' experiences. A compendium of tools was created to ensure investigation of common themes across all settings. This paper describes the process of adapting the focus group discussion (FGD) tool for Bolivia into a board game as a method to ease girls' discomfort discussing menstruation and elicit richer data. We describe the development of the menstrual hygiene management game, including structure and strategies for adapting FGD questions that increased interaction, stimulated detailed responses, and diversified participatory activities. A discussion of lessons learned will highlight elements of success and areas for improvement in future game adaptations. The paper discusses games as a research method for other topics and their applications for programme design, monitoring, and skills-based learning. -
(Journal Article) Value chain development for rural poverty reduction: A reality check and a warning
01.03.2012
Over the past decade, the value chain development approach has increasingly been adopted by governments, donors, and NGOs to reduce rural poverty. The design of related interventions often assumes that poor households: 1) have sufficient resources to effectively participate in value chain development; 2) do not face substantial trade-offs when using these resources; and 3) are able to assume higher risks when reinvesting capital and labour. However, insights from our own experiences and the literature show that these assumptions often do not reflect the realities and the needs of the poor. We argue that value chain development with poor and vulnerable populations, particularly in rural areas, requires additional conceptual frameworks, analyses, and interventions. In particular, we encourage donor agencies and development practitioners to adopt an asset-based approach to the design, implementation, and assessment of target value chains and to identify the non-market interventions needed for enabling particularly disenfranchised groups to meet the minimum asset thresholds for their successful participation in value chain initiatives. -
(Journal Article) Value chain development in Nicaragua: prevailing approaches and tools used for design and implementation
01.03.2017
This article draws on four contrasting cases of value chain development (VCD) in Nicaragua to assess approaches and tools used in design and implementation. We interviewed 28 representatives from the international NGOs leading the interventions, the local NGOs that participated in implementation, principal buyers, and cooperatives. Despite the complexity of market systems, results showed a relatively basic approach to VCD, reflected in: 1) reliance on a single tool for design and implementation; 2) expected outcomes based on technical assistance and training for smallholders and cooperatives; 3) local NGOs and cooperatives with key roles in implementation; and 4) limited engagement with other chain actors, service providers, and researchers. We conclude with a call for a broader approach to VCD, based on a combination of tools to account for multiple, context-specific needs of diverse stakeholders, deeper collaboration between key actors within and outside the value chain, and evidence-based reflection and learning. -
(Journal Article) WASH challenges to girls’ menstrual hygiene management in Metro Manila, Masbate, and South Central Mindanao, Philippines
01.07.2016
This paper examines water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions that enable and hinder Philippine schoolgirls to hygienically manage their menstruation. We collected qualitative data from 13 schools in three regions of the Philippines. Schools in both urban (Metro Manila) and rural areas (Masbate and South Central Mindanao) were included to allow for comparison across settings. Unreliable access to water, lack of disposal mechanisms for menstrual materials, unclean facilities, and insufficient number of latrines were identified as the key barriers to effective menstrual management in Masbate and Metro Manila. In South Central Mindanao, there was greater oversight of WASH hardware at schools and hardware was in better condition, which created a more enabling environment for girls to manage menstruation. Creating an enabling WASH environment for girls to manage menstruation requires sustained support and system oversight, combined with knowledge and information. -
(Journal Article) Youth savings groups in Africa: they’re a family affair
01.09.2017
Based on fieldwork in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, and Ghana, in the paper we provide new evidence that young people’s engagement with savings groups in Africa is deeply embedded in networks of family and social relations. Savings group members rely on money that is given to them by partners and family members to make savings contributions to the groups, while they also transfer some of their share-outs and loans to family members and friends. This is particularly true for younger members. As such we argue that the socially embedded nature of young people's engagement with savings group needs to be taken into account. The tension between the primary focus on the individual within youth saving programming, and the socially embedded nature of their engagement, has important implications for programme design, implementation and evaluation. -
(Journal Article) Integrating sanitation and climate change adaptation: lessons learned from case studies of WaterAid’s work in four countries
01.04.2021
The links between climate change and sanitation are frequently overlooked in the WASH sector. This paper examines experiences of WaterAid in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, India, and Madagascar where there was some consideration of the impacts of climate change on sanitation. Climate resilience was often not considered explicitly, however, with work instead framed around weather-related threats that are now increasingly frequent and severe. In these case studies, sanitation and climate integration involved adapting on-site sanitation hardware to physical impacts on infrastructure, while some social aspects of climate resilience were also considered. Integration took place primarily at the project level, while climate change consideration seemed absent from wider planning and decision-making. Aside from these case studies, most of WaterAid’s sanitation work does not seem to incorporate climate change. It is recommended that climate resilience is integrated into each stage of sanitation programming, with a more systematic consideration of its potential impacts. -
(Journal Article) The Bishesta campaign: a menstrual hygiene management intervention for people with intellectual impairments and their carers
01.07.2021
This paper describes the components of the Bishesta campaign: a behaviour change intervention for menstrual hygiene management (MHM), targeting young people with intellectual impairments, and their carers in Nepal. The campaign uses two fictitious characters: Bishesta (a young person with an intellectual impairment) and Perana (her carer), and consists of three group training modules. ‘Period packs’, designed to make MHM behaviours attractive and easy to adopt, are given to the young people. Packs include storage bags, a bin, and stories about Bishesta menstruating and learning to manage as independently as possible, with Perana’s support. Carers receive a calendar to track the young person’s menstrual cycle. A Bishesta doll, with removable clothes, underwear, and a miniature ‘period pack’ is used in training to demonstrate MHM. Evaluation findings show the intervention is feasible at small scale, so further research on how to scale up the intervention in an evidence-based way is required. -
(Journal Article) Strengthening market systems that provide water and hygiene items for cholera mitigation and emergency preparedness in Haiti
01.10.2018
In the context of the cholera epidemics in Haiti, a pre-crisis market analysis (PCMA) was conducted in Artibonite to study the supply of and demand for various water- and hygiene-related items. The objective was to inform current and future assistance modalities, whilst avoiding a negative impact on local markets and supporting local businesses. The market analysis found that the majority of households already purchase soap from local traders, but very few have handwashing facilities in their home. A good uptake of chlorine-based disinfection products was observed, including specific products to treat water for drinking. In addition, an extensive local supply of calcium hypochlorite (HTH), traditionally used by water services operators, was found to be available to individuals on Haitian markets. The market for water containers was also found to be strong, with the recycling of buckets and jerry cans used to import vegetable oil and other products. However, buckets with a tap, which are recommended for safer water handling and distributed during emergencies, were not available in the market. The findings from the PCMA are being used to strengthen market systems and supply chains to enable households to access water and hygiene commodities in Artibonite rather than to provide in-kind commodities directly as part of humanitarian responses. A marketing scheme was successfully piloted to encourage the purchase of water treatment products while promoting the installation of taps on households’ buckets. But another initiative to link water committees, national authorities and the wholesaler of HTH stalled due to disagreements about the role of authorities in supplying the product. -
(Journal Article) Roads for water: the unused potential
01.04.2014
Roads are generally perceived as infrastructure to deliver transport services, but they are more than that. They are major interventions in the hydrology of areas where they are constructed - concentrating runoff and altering subsurface flows. At present, water-related damage constitutes a major cost factor in road maintenance. Using ongoing research from Ethiopia, this article argues to reverse this and turn water from a foe into a friend and integrate water harvesting with road development. Optimized road designs are required - better planning of alignments, making use of road drainage, road surfaces, and river crossings, but also capturing freshly opened springs and systematically including developing storage and enhanced recharge facilities in road-building programmes. Equally important are inclusive planning processes that are sensitive to the multi-functionality of roads but also to the potentially uneven distribution of benefits and the diverse livelihood impacts. There is a need for closer integration of watershed and road-building programmes. With 5.5 million kilometres of roads in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and road building continuing to be one of the largest public investments, the potential of roads for water harvesting is great. -
(Journal Article) Financing and design innovation in rural domestic rainwater harvesting in Madagascar
01.04.2019
Rural water supply interventions in low-resource settings often suffer from poor functionality. The use of technologies and financing approaches, that are out of step with the communities that they target, are primary drivers of this breakdown in supply. This paper describes a pilot study from south-east Madagascar that provides rural households with access to a water source at the home through the sale of rainwater harvesting systems. Results from the pilot show that households were prepared to pay a significant contribution towards establishing a household water supply despite being located in a low-resource, water-abundant region. Over a payback period of six months, zero households defaulted on loans that covered 57 per cent of the costs for materials and transport. Water quality tests demonstrated that the systems were capable of providing water with low levels of microbial contamination (median CFU/100 ml = 7). High levels of adherence to operation and maintenance schedules suggest that people were capable and motivated to maintain and use their systems. -
(Journal Article) Unpacking the policy landscape for menstrual hygiene management: implications for school WASH programmes in India
01.01.2015
Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) relates to how girls and women manage their monthly period, and require access to information about menstruation, clean and safe menstrual absorbents, and amenities and facilities such as toilets and water, and waste management to maintain hygiene. In general MHM is poor in India, with low levels of knowledge and many misconceptions, varied use of menstrual absorbents, and unhygienic practices among adolescent girls. With almost 50 per cent of school age girls enrolled in schools, creating a conducive environment in schools to promote MHM is imperative. This policy scoping exercise examines how select policy initiatives implemented by the Government of India address MHM, especially in the context of schools. This document review found that adolescent girls are a focus of most policy initiatives addressing MHM, with a focus primarily on the hardware (i.e. infrastructure, sanitary napkins) or software (i.e. health education) components. Most programmes are implemented at the school level, though guidelines for implementation are not always explicit. Programmes suggest convergence with other government programmes, yet operationalization of convergence mechanisms is lacking. -
(Journal Article) Unravelling context: a formative photovoice study of Indian youth perspectives of sanitation and hygiene practices
01.01.2021
Water, sanitation, and hygiene are issues of substantial public health importance. Community-based participatory research approaches such as photovoice can help explore and identify determinants that influence sanitation and hygiene-related behaviours. This study aimed to use photovoice as part of the formative research process to increase understanding of youth’s perceptions of the cultural and contextual factors that influence sanitation and hygiene-related behaviours in Thirumalaikodi, India. First, a school was recruited using convenience sampling; next, 10 participants were purposively selected to participate in an information meeting, seven photo discussion sessions, and one wrap-up session over a three-week period. In each photo discussion session, participant groups selected one ‘trigger’ photograph, and through a structured discussion using SHOWED mnemonic questions (a series of questions that ask participants to describe and reflect upon a chosen photograph), generated a new understanding of issues related to water, sanitation, and hygiene. All sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Conventional content analysis was used to analyse photo discussion session text. Findings revealed that factors such as social structure, education, and culture influence behaviours that determine the sanitary conditions of an individual’s private and public spaces. Furthermore, participants described how descriptive norms generated practices (e.g. littering) that were reinforced and maintained by limited access to waste management systems, attitudinal indifference, and generational beliefs. Findings yielded an in-depth understanding of youth’s perceptions of the cultural and contextual factors that influence sanitation and hygiene-related behaviours. This study also contributes to the advancement of participatory applications in formative research and intervention adaptation processes. -
(Journal Article) Addressing women’s needs in water access for economic use: the case of Wukro town, Ethiopia
01.07.2020
In urban areas where water is not adequately supplied, women’s efforts to make a living out of water-intensive businesses face many challenges. The study examined how small-scale businesses run by women in Wukro town, Ethiopia are impacted by inadequate supply of water, and what coping strategies are employed. The lived experiences of women involved in small-scale water-intensive businesses, such as traditional beer brewing and coffee shops, were examined. In addition to these women, the perspectives and experiences of selected key informants as well as the officers at the local water utility have been assessed. Whether or not these women secure support from the social networks in their neighbourhood has also been considered. The study revealed that the unreliable supply of water in the town has impacted women involved in small business. It was indicated that some women manage to do well either by borrowing water from neighbours or purchasing from providers. In contrast, others who run businesses in rented houses with limited social networks expressed that they are struggling. Suggestions are made for the water utility to revise its working guidelines related to the provision of water services and to implement a gendered perspective in water management practices. -
(Journal Article) How is microfinance being regulated in Latin America?
01.12.2015
Microfinance regulation is a complex and constantly evolving topic, comprising many and very diverse issues which, moreover, are treated differently by legal systems. This paper suggests a novel comprehensive analysis structure that may serve as a benchmark to analyse different regulation frameworks for microfinance, based on the international guidelines provided by the Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas, the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision, and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor. This structure is then used to compare and relate the regulations of 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries. -
(Journal Article) Assessing high-profile public messaging for sanitation behaviour change: evidence from a mobile phone survey in India
01.10.2020
The UN Sustainable Development Goals call for the elimination of open defecation by 2030. Assessing global progress will require learning from India’s sanitation efforts because of its ambitious program of high-profile behavior change messaging to tackle open defecation, and because open defecation is widespread in India. In 2014, the Prime Minister announced a policy called the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), which aimed to eliminate open defecation by 2019. However, the 2015–16 National Family Health Survey –4 found that about 55% of rural and 11% of urban Indian households lack a toilet or latrine. To assess the extent of public awareness of the SBM, we use a mobile phone survey to ask about people’s knowledge of the existence and purpose of the SBM. We report representative estimates of awareness of the SBM among adults in Delhi (2016), Uttar Pradesh (2016), Mumbai (2016–17), Rajasthan (2016–17), Bihar (2018), Jharkhand (2018), and Maharashtra (2018). While much of the SBM’s activities took place in its last two years, we find that, at the time of the survey, no more than one-third of adults in any state are aware that the SBM intends to promote toilet and latrine use. Awareness was particularly low in Uttar Pradesh, where one in eight people who defecates in the open worldwide lives. While the SBM was very active in constructing latrines, the lack of awareness we find suggests that the SBM was less successful in raising the awareness required for large-scale behavior change in promoting latrine use. -
(Book) Panorama de la pobreza energética 2019
El PPEO 2019 es la culminación de cinco años de investigación, explorando qué se necesita para hacer realidad el tipo de servicios energéticos que permiten a las personas pobres en energía prosperar. El informe recopila y actualiza los mensajes y recomendaciones clave sobre la planificación (PPEO 20...
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(Book) Scaling up Agroecology
Chris Henderson, Jonathan Casey
To eradicate extreme poverty means focusing on the 500 million smallholders so they can reliably generate more food and income from their agricultural activities. This paper uses the three pillars of Technology Justice (access, local innovation, and sustainable use of technologies) to assess the ran...
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(Journal Article) Development impact bonds: learning from the Asháninka cocoa and coffee case in Peru
01.03.2017
Impact bonds effectively allow the risk of implementing social development activities to be shared with private sector investors. Social or development impact bonds replace the upfront financing of charitable activities with a pay-for-success contract. Four actors together agree upon the outcomes and their indicators: outcome sponsor, investor, project implementers, and verifier. Under such a contract, a charitable donor or government (‘outcome sponsor’) takes the obligation to pay the ‘investor’ an amount determined by a set of objective indicators reflecting the outcome desired by the donor. The investor, expecting contract-based future payout, can recruit and pre-finance project implementers (‘service provider’) to achieve the agreed results. The achievements of the outcome indicators are assessed by an independent verifier to conclude the payout from donor to investor according to the contract. The structure allows charitable donors to transfer a significant share of risk to investors and/or financial markets. The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the Schmidt Family Foundation (SFF), Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) were the first to apply the model in the agricultural sector in an emerging economy. The main objective of the impact bond was to increase productivity and market sales of cocoa and coffee produced by the Asháninka people, an indigenous community living in the Peruvian Amazon. This pilot provides valuable lessons learned to contribute to the development of the mechanism.