Join us at the 2019 Water and Health Conference to discuss how to assess WaSH services citywide, what role shared sanitation could have in bringing safely managed sanitation to all, and our experience supporting the development of inclusive sanitation markets. Findings from several Urban Sanitation Research Initiative projects will also be presented by our research partners.
Organized by the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, the conference will take place from 7 – 11 October, exploring drinking water supply, sanitation, hygiene and water resources with a strong emphasis on public health.
Side events
Citywide measurement of WaSH services levels for SDG 6: progress so far
Convenors: Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor, Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene
Tuesday 8 October, 10:30 – 12:00 pm
In the push for universal water and sanitation access, limited tracking of intra-city inequalities presents a major monitoring challenge. Most household surveys and censuses are not designed to provide disaggregated information covering those living in informal settlements. Rapid population growth in these areas presents major service delivery challenges, and granular data is required to help authorities plan inclusive service improvements.
This participatory session will discuss these challenges and progress made in addressing this evidence gap. Through an online, interactive dashboard, WSUP will discuss our experience of piloting citywide assessments of WaSH service quality in low-income communities in seven cities. We will illustrate key findings from this major study and to make this data readily available and accessible for WaSH practitioners, donors, researchers, institutional partners, governments, and international agencies.
Report - Citywide surveys of water and sanitation service levels: design and methodology
Understanding demand for WaSH services: how much are consumers willing to pay?
Convenors: Harvard Kennedy School of Government, The Aquaya Institute, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor
Wednesday 9 October, 8:30 – 10 am
Reaching the SDGs for water and sanitation will require substantial additional investments. Leveraging consumer demand is key to meeting the SDGs in a “sustainable” way- first, because it unlocks a significant source of funding, but secondly, because if consumers have sufficient demand for WaSH products and services, they will pay to maintain and even improve their existing situations.
In this workshop we will discuss some of the latest empirical findings for consumer WTP. We will discuss the different methods used to assess WTP in each setting, and will also discuss the implications of the magnitude of the values measured with these methods for mobilizing funds and improving water and sanitation coverage and quality.
Report - Willingness of Kenyan water utility customers to pay a pro-poor sanitation surcharge
The Maputo Sanitation (MapSan) Trial: measuring health, environmental, and social impacts of an urban sanitation intervention in Mozambique
Convenors: Georgia Institute of Technology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID
Wednesday 9 October, 10:30 am – 12 pm
This side event is a proposed in-depth discussion of the largest controlled health impact trial of an urban sanitation intervention to date: the Maputo Sanitation (MapSan) Trial.
The goal of this panel discussion is to (1) provide a conscise description of study findings for health outcomes, environmental measures, and social research; (2) place these findings in the context of urban sanitation and sanitation impact research more broadly.
Report - High-quality shared toilets can reduce women’s feelings of stress due to fear of violence
An agenda setting workshop for “Limited” (Shared) Sanitation: user experiences, measurement, and improvement approaches
Convenors: Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor, Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity
Thursday 10 October, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
This session will lead to the creation of a research agenda for establishing the role of shared sanitation in bringing safely managed sanitation to all. The sessions will employ a “quick fire” format whereby several early career researchers will be allowed 1 slide and 5 minutes to summarize their recent research on shared sanitation and what it means for the future research agenda followed by group discussion on key themes.
Report - High-quality shared sanitation: how can we define that?
Creating inclusive sanitation markets for the urban poor: lessons from West Africa
Convenors: Population Services International, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, USAID
Friday 11 October, 10:30 – 12:00 pm
This side event will synthesize the learning from a 5-year program—Sanitation Service Delivery (SSD)—which aimed to create a more effective, efficient, and inclusive sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana. The event will explore three core challenges related to sanitation market development, presenting the learning from West Africa—before broadening the discussion to leverage the experience and perspectives of the audience.
Verbal presentations
Supply and demand: assessing costs and willingness-to-pay for urban sanitation in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Kenya
Aquaya Institute
Thursday 10 October, 2:30 – 3:30 pm
Poster presentations
Modelling pathogen flows in Urban environments: case study in Dhaka, Bangladesh and its wider implications
University of Technology Sydney
Monday 7 October, 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Gender inequity and attitudinal differences across genders among decision-makers in Kenya’s sanitation sector
Athena Infonomics
Wednesday 9 October, 5:00 – 6.30 pm