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• (Journal Article) Taking Stock: Incompetent at incontinence – why are we ignoring the needs of incontinence sufferers?

  01.07.2016
  How would you cope if you had no control over how you urinated or defecated and regularly or constantly leaked urine or faeces? How would this make you feel? How would you deal with the smell, with the indignity? What if you were a young teenager, traumatized by very stressful events and returned to bed-wetting as a result? And what would you do if you didn’t have the money to buy spare underwear or incontinence protection products or those are simply not available to you? Could you manage if you were suddenly displaced in an emergency and did not have access to a toilet, shower or bathing facilities, or your usual materials and coping mechanisms? What if you lived in a camp and your toilet or bathing shelter was a 5 minute walk away and had a long line in front of it? Would you be able to stand in line at food distribution or water collection points, go to school, or look for or undertake work?

• (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.

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  (Book) Managing Our Waste 2021

  Practical Action

  Dealing with the waste we all generate is a growing global challenge. Waste management problems are conventionally described and measured in terms of material flows and environmental impacts, yet this is a human problem with major social, health, and economic impacts, felt most acutely by some of th...

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  (Book) Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-production for Sustainable Cities

  Kerstin Hemström, David Simon, Henrietta Palmer, Beth Perry, Merritt Polk

  How can we create new practices for research collaboration that mirror the complexities we are facing around the world, including the impacts of climate change, widening inequalities, decreasing biodiversity and untenable consumption levels? Transdisciplinary co-production aims to address this issue...

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  (Book) Makambo ya ebandeli - Buku Sphère Lingala

  Sphere Association

  The Sphere Handbook presents a principled approach to quality and accountability in humanitarian response. It is a practical translation of Sphere’s core belief that all people affected by disaster or conflict have a right to life with dignity and the right to receive humanitarian assistance. The...

• (Journal Article) Back to basics: urban households’ perspective on free water supply in Ghana in the COVID-19 pandemic

  01.04.2022
  Water supply is a basic human right and governments have sought to fulfil this right through free supply of water. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed governments, including the Government of Ghana, to return to supply of free water as a measure of enhancing personal hygiene in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to analyse the reliability of water supply before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of households’ water consumption during the pandemic. The paper is based on an online survey of 4,257 urban households across the 16 administrative regions of Ghana. The study found that flow reliability has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic free water delivery. We also established that correlation between consumption before and during the pandemic was r = 0.659, p < 0.01. Therefore, use of the ‘stay home campaign’ as a strategy to contain the disease in addition to social connection and sharing free water, have increased domestic water consumption. Although the pandemic necessitated the return to water being delivered as a basic necessity to fight against the pandemic, the emphasis on ‘back to basics’ was not fully implemented. This is because some urban households that could not pay water bills prior to the free water supply were denied the COVID-19 pandemic free water package and rural households who relied on point sources also did not benefit from the package.

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  (Book) Agrarian Change, Migration and Development

  Henry Veltmeyer, Raúl Delgado Wise

  The focus and concern of Agrarian Change, Migration and Development is the problem of labour migraton. Veltmeyer and Wise explore the dynamics and development implications of the migration processes set in motion by the capitalist mode of production. The dynamics of these processes are both internat...

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  (Book) Le traitement des boues de vidange

  Kevin Tayler

  De nombreux pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire connaissent une urbanisation rapide, ce qui crée un besoin de services, notamment d’assainissement. Alors que certains quartiers dans les villes et agglomérations sont équipés d’égouts, la plupart des habitants, en particulier les citadins pauvres, c...

• (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) Building resilience to crisis through digital financial services with a gender lens

  01.03.2022
  The vulnerability of populations with limited resources and either in or at risk of poverty to a myriad of crises continues to increase. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the inadequate resilience to crisis that such populations hold, and the rising prevalence of climatic variation is an existential risk factor that will continue to rise. In Mozambique, most livelihoods depend on natural resources and there is a high threat of extreme climate-related events. By drawing lessons from the Financial Services Deepening Mozambique (FSDMoç) programme, we highlight ways in which greater resilience has been built among fragile populations through innovative uses of digital financial services (DFS), and how resilience has been built with an explicit gender lens in order to mitigate existing inequalities. Lessons are drawn in relation to challenges faced and their application to wider programming.

• (Journal Article) Sustainable management of water utility in Samoa through services improvement with Okinawa Water Bureaus

  01.04.2022
  This study examines how Samoa improved the capacity of Samoa Water Authority (SWA) by implementing integrated cooperation with water utilities in Okinawa Prefecture, and hardware and software development to reduce the high non-revenue water (NRW) ratio and improve water supply quality and inadequate water pressure. Standard operation procedures were formulated to enhance the capacity of SWA. The cooperation method adopted continuous on-the-job training with a bottom-up approach. Consequently, the NRW ratio was reduced from 68 per cent to 36 per cent and water supply with proper pressure was achieved in the targeted area. The quality of the tap water, in which many coliform bacteria were detected before the cooperation, achieved 100 per cent compliance with standards. The cooperation evidenced that improving water services can help users’ understanding of tariff payments, although the water tariff increased for most consumers due to a shift from fixed to metered tariff.

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  (Book) Digital Development

  Sundeep Sahay, Arunima Mukherjee, Geoffrey Walsham, Thomas Hylland Eriksen

  There is growing global consensus that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and particularly the Internet, are providing a new framework and huge opportunities for economic, political and social development. This book explores case studies across India, Kenya, Guatemala, Sri Lanka,...

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  (Book) Sustainable Sanitation for All

  Petra Bongartz, Naomi Vernon, John Fox

  Great strides have been made in improving sanitation in many developing countries. Yet, 2.4 billion people worldwide still lack access to adequate sanitation facilities and the poorest and most vulnerable members of society are often not reached and their specific needs are not met. Moreover, sustai...

• (Journal Article) The role of handpump corrosion in the contamination and failure of rural water supplies

  01.01.2016
  There has been much discussion over many years regarding the origin of elevated iron concentrations in rural water supplies in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. High iron concentrations are often assumed to be naturally occurring in groundwater, despite several studies over the last 30 years which also point to the role of handpump corrosion in aggressive groundwater. Handpump standards specify that galvanized iron pump materials should not be used in groundwater due to the risk of corrosion, yet this advice is not always followed. High iron concentrations, whether naturally occurring, or present as a result of corrosion, have an impact on taste, odour, and appearance of water and can promote the growth of unpleasant iron metabolizing bacteria. These effects often result in the abandonment of boreholes, sometimes only a year old, and a return to unprotected and unsafe water sources. Where boreholes are not abandoned, the effects of corrosion can cause pump materials to degrade to the point where the pump becomes inoperable. These outcomes are clearly inconsistent with the provision of sustainable water supply services as a fundamental human right. This paper provides a synthesis of work undertaken in this area over the last 30 years and recent practical experience of WaterAid in investigating these problems in water supplies in north-eastern Uganda.

• (Journal Article) Nuggets from an old book: A Practical Handbook of Water Supply by F. Dixey (1931)

  01.01.2017
  Frank Dixey’s A Practical Handbook of Water Supply, published in 1931 is briefly reviewed. The text is correlated with current knowledge and experience. It is evident from the book that some of the present challenges in the water supply sector have been around for a long time which leads to the conclusion that effecting a change takes time. Development agencies therefore need to set realistic targets and time frames. Some of the rather old texts should be consulted and reviewed periodically as they may contain very useful information.

• (Journal Article) Can and should sanitation and hygiene programmes be expected to achieve health impacts?

  01.01.2017
  Although the anticipated health benefits are not the only reason for undertaking sanitation and hygiene programmes, they do represent an important part of the justification. Studies and reviews over recent years have shown, however, that the health impacts of sanitation programmes can be quite small or even negligible. They have also provided no solid evidence that integrated (water, sanitation, hygiene) programming has any greater effect than addressing one or two of these components alone. Two questions arise: first, whether a certain level of sanitation usage and hygiene practice within a community is needed in order to achieve a measurable health impact (i.e. whether a minimum percentage of the population should be using safe sanitation); second, whether sanitation and hygiene interventions undertaken without accompanying water supply improvements are likely to have significant health benefits. In this opinion paper some plausible and practically relevant answers to these questions are extracted from the relevant literature. The conclusions are that a high level of sanitation usage (well over 65 per cent) and widespread handwashing practice are necessary to achieve significant health impact; and that in situations where water services are poor, sanitation and hygiene interventions, while valuable for other reasons, are unlikely to have significant health impacts. Sanitation and hygiene programmes may be justifiable even if they do not immediately achieve high levels of compliance and corresponding water supply improvements are not made; however, the justification should not be presented on the grounds of short-term health benefits.

• (Journal Article) Effects of water source accessibility and reliability improvements on water consumption in eastern Nairobi

  01.07.2017
  Under the commitments of the UN Sustainable Development targets, there is increasing pressure on water utility providers in developing countries to improve their levels of service to consumers, especially for the rapidly growing numbers of people with lower incomes who reside in urban informal settlements. However, pressure on water resources in many regions is simultaneously increasing owing to factors such as pollution, agricultural needs, and climate change. It is therefore important to assess the impacts of improving water services on city-wide water resources. This study examines consumption data from the East African city of Nairobi, collected from households of a variety of residential neighbourhoods. The study suggests that average per capita water consumption is closely related to water source choice (i.e. tap in the dwelling, yard tap, or water vendor kiosks). Within categories of water source type, variables such as household wealth, cost of water, and education do not have significant effects on per capita consumption. It is noted that increased accessibility of water causes the upper bound of consumption to rise, but not the lower. It may therefore be theorized that having a tap in a dwelling is necessary but not sufficient to increase per capita consumption. Within the sample examined, there is no statistically significant difference in per capita consumption between water source types other than a tap in a dwelling, and it is therefore suggested that providing a yard tap to those currently without any form of water connection may have negligible impact on city-wide water consumption.

• (Journal Article) Does women’s participation in water committees affect management and water system performance in rural Vanuatu?

  01.07.2017
  Greater participation of women in water management and decision-making is expected to improve outcomes for both women and the wider community. Global evidence indicates that women’s participation in Water User Committees (WUCs) has been limited; yet their involvement in management has correlated with more effective water systems. This analysis of water inventory data from Vanuatu considers how women’s participation in WUCs affects water management and system functionality. Women represent only 16 per cent of committee membership; however, their involvement in key WUC roles was associated with more effective water management, including regular meetings and revenue collection, and improved functioning of water systems. This evidence of women’s involvement is proving useful in advocacy efforts to improve the gender balance in WUCs, and targets for female membership are being considered for inclusion in water supply legislation.

• (Journal Article) Dimensions of water insecurity in pastoralist households in Kenya

  01.01.2020
  Pastoralist communities in Northern Kenya face increasing water security risks attributable to disruptions in their socio-ecological environments. Sedentarized pastoralists, women, and children are most vulnerable to spatial-temporal variations in water availability. This vulnerability is exacerbated by embedded power relations within existing socio-cultural and water governance systems. A preliminary study carried out in 2016 examined pastoralist women’s disempowerment in relation to the domestic water security constraints they face. The research found anecdotal evidence that women with diversified livelihoods and social capital are more resilient to water stress. The follow-on study was carried out in 2018 and aimed to provide empirical evidence on factors behind water security and to identify factors that enhance resilience for vulnerable pastoralist communities. The study covered both urban and rural communities in Samburu County and applied a mixed-methods research methodology incorporating quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The study was also used to test a scale for measuring household water insecurity which could potentially improve the methodology for assessing shock-related stress in these high-risk communities. Results show extreme levels of water insecurity, especially in rural areas, and indicate a close relationship between water security and social capital as indicated in the earlier study. Livelihood diversity does not appear to influence water security but households with higher numbers of livestock tend to be more water insecure than households with smaller herds. This is supported by reports from women that the additional burden of watering homestead-based livestock makes them more vulnerable.

• (Journal Article) Mainstreaming menstrual hygiene management in schools through the play-based approach: lessons learned from Ghana

  01.01.2015
  The study objective was to identify and document the effectiveness of the play-based approach in promoting menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in schools and share lessons learned. The study used a mix of study approaches including qualitative and quantitative techniques. The writer carried out an exploratory evaluation on the promotion of MHM activities as part of WASH in Schools programmes in 120 public schools in Ghana. Comparison was drawn between 60 schools currently using the play-based approach in promoting MHM, and 60 other schools which are not using the play-based approach. Data were gathered through interview, focus group discussions, observation, and from field level reports over a six month period. The study showed that there is much potential in play-based approaches, which could accelerate and sustain the implementation of MHM in schools. More teachers and school children participate in and demonstrated considerable knowledge and were confident discussing MHM. The play-based activities also served as point of attraction for the primary school children. The study indicated positive attitudes in boys towards menstruating girls and improved personal hygiene among adolescent girls.