WSUP’s Wonderful Women in WASH

While Aklima sees herself as a facilitator, Pascaline wants to build her own sanitation marketing business The growing number of female leaders in water, sanitation and hygiene is improving communication with local communities and unleashing new approaches and ideas. On this year’s International Women’s Day, we focus on two of WSUP’s women who are transforming […]

Pilots offer alternatives to sanitation challenges in Zambia and Kenya

In Livingstone, south of Zambia, and Malindi, on the Kenyan coast, unsafe pit emptying services create public health risks for both workers and the community. The TRANSFORM project, implemented by WSUP and Sanivation, with support from Unilever, EY and UK Aid, offered legal, reliable and healthy pit emptying alternatives in low-income areas, with pilot projects […]

Pilot demonstrates effectiveness of simplified sewers in Kenya

A pilot project in the informal settlement of Mukuru has demonstrated a cost-effective way to bring decent sanitation to some communities in Kenya: simplified sewers. Most residents in Kenya’s densely packed informal communities lack access to decent sanitation, and the practical and financial challenges of addressing this crisis are well documented. However, new evidence shows […]

Test your water knowledge and work for 100% coverage with this WSUP game

With climate change affecting water availability all over the world, it is imperative for any local, regional, or national utility to use resources wisely. More than ever, water must be distributed in a way that serves all citizens, preserves the environment, and guarantees the financial viability of the operation. Considering the size of the challenge, […]

Water in Uganda: the challenge of offering services to small towns

By Bridget Teirney Life in small towns is rapidly changing for communities across Africa. In the next twenty years the urban population is expected to double, and urban land cover to triple. But urbanisation isn’t just impacting the continents’ large and mega cities. Small towns are also undergoing significant transformation. Straddling both urban and rural […]

The challenge of small towns: Professionalising piped water services in Western Uganda

The WSUP Advisory report The challenge of small towns: Professionalising piped water services in Western Uganda tells the story of the recent progress made by the Mid Western Umbrella (MWU), one of the recently established Uganda’s structures of water utilities management. The improvements made in water provision in the country come as a much needed response […]

Smart water: the experience of utilities in adopting digital solutions

Across 2021 and 2022 the GSMA’s Digital Utilities programme and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) collaborated on research exploring four Kenyan water utilities experience of adopting digital solutions and their digitalisation journey more broadly. This blog, co-written by Eden Mati (WSUP) and Zach White (GSMA), summarises the report’s key findings and messages. […]

Mind the Gap: what happens when customers cannot afford safe sanitation?

By Sam Drabble, Head of Evaluation, Research & Learning In a recent publication, WSUP explored what quality sanitation means from a public health and user experience perspective. But there is a further question which is core to achieving Citywide Inclusive Sanitation: how can quality sanitation be financed? The scale of the financing challenge for urban […]

Mind the Gap: How can we address the shortfall in urban sanitation finance?

Sanitation for all is a challenge particularly acute for low and middle-income countries. In the face of funding constraints, and a lack of political influence among those living in poorer areas, governments have tended to under-prioritise sanitation as a public investment area. Yet, countries have committed to the Sustainable Development Goal for sanitation. In doing […]

Upgrading the importance of low-income customers in Ghana’s water sector

The more visible low-income customers are within a utility, the better the quality of the service they will receive. And so, the decision by Ghana’s national water provider, Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), to upgrade the Low-Income Customer Support Unit (LICSU) into a full department is excellent news for many under-served Ghanaians. WSUP has been […]