WSUP publishes 2020-2021 Annual Report

WSUP has launched its 2020-2021 Annual Report, presenting our operations and impact in the year up to March 2021. Through work in our core countries Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zambia, plus our emerging presence in Uganda and consultancy work in Malawi and Cambodia, we were proud to improve the lives of 6.7 million […]

Can new pan-African policy guidelines help bring about national sanitation programmes?

With 72% of the 962 million people living in Sub-Saharan Africa lacking access to basic sanitation, and governments struggling to increase access, new action is required to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. This situation has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, further underscoring the need for African governments to meet their national, […]

Capacity building versus hand-holding: how to avoid dependency syndrome

Capacity building has the power to transform organisations into stronger and more resilient service providers. However, it can be difficult to strike the right balance between being supportive and inadvertently making yourself indispensable. By Sibongile Ndaba, Business Development Lead, Zambia One of the major impediments to improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is low capacity […]

An evaluative framework for urban WASH sector functionality

This publication presents the results of baseline urban WASH sector functionality assessments in WSUP’s six programme countries. We begin by outlining the rationale and process for creating a framework, the methodology and results from the baseline assessments, and concluding it by exploring potential applications of the framework. WSUP’s decision to develop a Sector Functionality Framework […]

WSUP at the UNC Water & Health Conference, 2018

Next week, WSUP will be discussing inclusive citywide sanitation, designing practice-relevant WASH research, and how to support the development of sanitation businesses at the Water & Health Conference: Where Science Meets Policy, at the University of North Carolina. The Water & Health Conference will take place from 29 October – 2 November, exploring global issues […]

Keep your hands clean! Preventing diseases, saving lives

The practice of handwashing with soap is a vital habit; it prevents diseases and saves lives. In the cities where WSUP works, it is not uncommon to have just one functioning toilet for every 300 children. And cramped urban schools can be a focal point of disease. Handwashing with soap is therefore a key way […]

Mapping sanitation in peri-urban Lusaka: a toilet database

This Practice Note outlines the development of a toilet database to support sanitation business development and public health monitoring in Lusaka. Currently being tested in the peri-urban area (PUA) of Kanyama, the electronic database enables information on the ownership, location, quality and emptying history of local pit latrines and septic tanks to be stored in […]

International study of institutional models to support the development of Ghana’s proposed National Sanitation Authority

Lead author: IMC Worldwide. The overall aim of the project is to respond to the Government of Ghana’s interest to establish a National Sanitation Authority (NSA) to prioritise sanitation service delivery and achieve Ghana’s commitment to SDG Goal 6. The Ministry of Sanitation & Water Resources (MSWR) has requested the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative in […]

Towards citywide sanitation in Lusaka

Towards citywide sanitation in Lusaka: The next phase of non-sewered sanitation

Lusaka has made huge strides in introducing faecal sludge management (FSM) services for low-income consumers, particularly thanks to the efforts of the city’s utility, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC). WSUP has worked closely with Lusaka’s water and sanitation stakeholders, including LWSC and Lusaka City Council (LCC), for a number of years. In particular, LWSC […]