Safely managed onsite sanitation: a life changer for low-income communities

Toilets: we cannot live without them. However, about half of humanity does. According to the United Nations, 3.6 billion people around the globe live without access to a toilet “that works properly”. With that in mind, the UN has focused on those in need of this very basic service on its campaign for World Toilet […]

Integrate with wider city resilience: collaboration with other areas is crucial

This is the fourth blog in a series exploring four recommendations from WSUP’s new report, The missing link in climate adaptation, released ahead of COP26. Read the full report here: www.wsup.com/the-missing-link  Recommendation four: Integrate with wider city resilience For water and sanitation, climate change is not only about reducing the emissions of carbon into the Earth’s atmosphere. […]

Protect the infrastructure: climate proofing water and sanitation systems

This is the second blog in a series exploring recommendations from WSUP’s new report, The missing link in climate adaptation, released ahead of COP26. Read the full report here: www.wsup.com/the-missing-link Recommendation two: Protect the infrastructure When Hurricane Sandy struck the United States back in 2013, the wastewater systems were overwhelmed causing over 10 billion gallons of […]

Integrated Slum Upgrading: details and learnings from four experiences in Africa

Projects executed in Africa in the past few years have helped WSUP better understand the connection between water and sanitation issues and other challenges faced by residents of low-income urban areas. Our report “Integrated Slum Upgrading”, first released in May 2021, indicates a clear path towards successful outcomes: solutions to the most urgent problems in […]

Building resilience faster: Join us for World Water Week 2021

How can water help us tackle the world’s greatest challenges and build resilient cities faster? Join us virtually for four sessions during the week to find out. As the world faces multiple challenges from increasing urban populations to climate change and with the SDG deadline fast approaching, finding ways to improve the resilience of cities […]

Towards a cleaner and more productive Malindi and Watamu

The residents of the coastal town of Malindi, popular for its beautiful beaches, largely depend on on-site sanitation. There is no waste treatment plant and only 25% of the waste is safely managed. As a result, 90% of hand dug wells are contaminated causing serious health risks in the communities. Leaders in Kilifi County Government […]

Shared sanitation in low-income urban settlements: Evidence from Ghana, Kenya and Bangladesh

Shared sanitation has immensely contributed to sanitation access in urban areas, but is at best considered a “limited” solution due to the lack of quality standards within Sustainable Development Goal 6. This policy brief presents the main results of the QUISS project (Quality Indicators of Shared Sanitation), a three-country comparative mixed-methods study that identified the […]

Integrated Slum Upgrading: how can we link water and sanitation with wider urban development?

Marginalised urban communities are often characterised by three things: complexity, interdependence of challenges, and constant evolution. The sheer numbers of people living close together in poorly planned communities can make improving the quality of life extremely difficult. The rapid rate of urbanisation – by 2050, the number of people living in African cities will double […]

Citywide Inclusive Sanitation: Resource Planning and Management

For urban sanitation systems to function safely, at scale, over time, and inclusively, they must be organized to support three functions: responsibility, accountability, and resource planning and management. This short publication looks at the function of resource planning and management, drawing on a desk review of over 40 urban sanitation investments in twenty-eight countries across Africa, Asia and Latin […]

Citywide Inclusive Sanitation: Accountability

For urban sanitation systems to function safely, at scale, over time, and inclusively, they must be organized to support three functions: responsibility, accountability, and resource planning and management. In this paper, we explore the accountability mechanisms that can be applied to the different service provision mandate structures identified in our parallel paper on responsibilities. Click for a longer […]