Just over a decade ago, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation asked Candid (then Foundation Center) if we could create a resource to show what foundations are doing worldwide in support of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). At that time Hilton had become the largest U.S. foundation working to address the global WASH crisis, with more than…
Product Innovation Fuels Sanitation Manufacturing Enterprise in Cambodia
By John Sauer Geoff Revel knows the value of sustainable, market-driven local solutions, having led an organization called WaterSHED Cambodia that supported local businesses and governments to generate sales of over 200,000 toilets to rural consumers. Inspired by business solutions, Geoff has now transformed the NGO into WaterSHED Ventures, a social business that sells water,…
Let’s Connect Sanitation to the Rest of Development
By Kimberly Worsham To many of us in the WASH world, sanitation is the center of the universe. Without access to sanitation, communities face many other challenges when trying to improve their public health, equity, education, economic development, and climate change resilience. On the other hand, robust sanitation access can yield synergistic benefits to other causes…
How Does Systems Change Really Happen? Four Key Insights
By Sam Drabble, Head of Research & Learning at Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) In the context of the global push to meet the SDGs, sanitation continues to lag dramatically behind. The challenge goes far beyond a lack of, or unsuitable, infrastructure: underlying systemic issues hold the sector back and block millions…
India Has a Groundwater Problem
by Rachita Vora and Smarinita Shetty This story was originally published by India Development Review. To see the original post, click here. A majority of India’s water problems are those relating to groundwater—water that is found beneath the earth’s surface. This is because we are the largest user of groundwater in the world, and…
Combating Climate Change and Protecting the Livelihood of Rural Communities Through Watershed Restoration
by Jenna Saldana, Dick Whitmore and Mark Sullivan WATER IS LIFE Water is life. But, across Nicaragua, rampant deforestation for cattle, agriculture, and timber extraction is resulting in less water. Streams that once flowed year round are now seasonally dry. Community wells are drying up in deforested communities in the northern and central regions of…
Photo Essay: How Sanitation Workers Live and Work in Urban India
A glimpse of the ‘back-end’ of Swachh Bharat Mission in Tier-I and Tier-II cities. by C S Sharada Prasad and Isha Ray India’s flagship sanitation programme, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), highlights the importance of both latrine use, and ‘safe and proper disposal’. Since most of urban India is not connected to sewers, the SBM recommends that cities…
Collective action towards WASH systems strengthening
by Alec Shannon What does it take to keep water, sanitation and hygiene services going? Strong systems. Simply put, systems strengthening involves supporting actors and factors. Actors include national and local government authorities, service providers, service users, and private sector entities. Factors include financing, regulation, technology and much more. In recent years, several organizations and…
Nine Ideas for Gender Transformative WASH Programming
By Elaine Mercer This blog offers advice for practitioners wanting to apply gender transformative approaches to WASH programming. It has been partly adapted from the workshop ‘Gender Transformative WASH’ (April 2019) that the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) co-facilitated with Dr Sue Cavill for Plan International. The workshop was for Plan country-office staff from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, Uganda…
Rooted in Research, Handwashing Stations Designed to Encourage Kids to Wash Their Hands
Rooted in research, handwashing stations designed to encourage kids to wash their hands. This article was originally published by Engineering for chnage, to view the original article, click here. By Rob Goodier Note: Splash’s newest line of wash stations is one of the Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2019. See the full list at the link.…
Keep It Simple, Sanitation – experiences of app development
By Rosie Renouf, Research Officer, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) Going to the toilet hasn’t changed much over the last few millennia and the nuts and bolts of the biological side of it are unlikely to change anytime soon. What has changed over the last 20 years of so, though, is our ability…
Celebrating Gender Transformative Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Vietnam
Within the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, gender issues are frequently reduced to the roles and experiences of women and within that often with a narrow focus on menstrual hygiene management. Although these issues are very important, many other central gender equality issues are missed or side-lined. This article was originally published by IDS, to…
AfricaSan 5: Financing Sanitation and Hygiene in Africa While Leaving No One Behind
This blog post was written by an independent WASH consultant. It was originally published by CLTS Knowledge Hub, to view the original post, click here. By Florencia Rieiro The AfricaSan 5 Conference was held in February in Cape Town, South Africa. Every three years it reunites policy-makers, development partners, donors and the private sector to discuss…
A Year-Two Update on Leveraging Savings Groups for Water Point Sustainability
By Chris Prottas Forty five percent of wells in rural Uganda are broken. The majority fall into disuse after several years of inadequate maintenance. In communities where two-thirds of households lack cash savings, the challenge of collectively saving for future repairs is evident. Yet savings groups have a long history helping the poorest rural communities…
Shaping the Sanitation Market with Product Innovations in Ghana
Over 10 million urban Ghanaians live with unimproved sanitation services or are openly defecating causing a severe public health concern according to WHO/UNICEF. The World Bank estimates that poor sanitation and hygiene in Ghana leads to $290 million in economic losses each year. While businesses are trying to address the sanitation crisis, they face several…
Building Long-Term Sanitation Solutions
Around the world, one in two people live in an urban area. And, between now and 2050, three countries—India, China, and Nigeria—are expected to account for 35 percent of the growth in the world’s urban population, with India adding the most to this, a projected 416 million urban dwellers. Managing human feacal waste in India…
Applying Human-Centred Design to Facilitate Hand-washing in Indonesia
This story was originally published by Asia P3 Hub. To view the original article, click here. By James Bourne I turned up in Indonesia not knowing what to expect, slightly daunted by the expectations of being the ‘expert engineer from England’. The project was innovative for all involved: for me, it was a first to…
How Design Decisions Affect the Usability of Sanitation Devices
This story was originally published by Engineering for Change. To view the original story, click here. By Megan Richardson Design decisions have created limitations in sanitation products for underserved communities. These decisions affect who uses the products, how they are best used and where. Most sanitation products aim to improve users’ health and comfort while…
All in a Clay’s Work for Clean Water With Ceramic Pot Filters
This story was originally published on the CAWST blog. To view the original story, click here. By Ana Hoepfner In partnership with Potters for Peace, CAWST co-developed a hands-on course in Ceramic Pot Filter production, and last September we co-facilitated it together at Adamah Art Studios in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, USA. We designed this two-week intensive course…
