Stronger regulators crucial to improving sanitation services for the poorest, report finds

A new report published by Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) and the Eastern and Southern Africa Water and Sanitation (ESAWAS) Regulators Association identifies how stronger regulators can play an important role in improving sanitation for under-served urban residents.

The report, entitled Referee! Responsibilities, regulations and regulating for urban sanitation, has four key findings:

1. Regulatory effectiveness is a core driver of improved sanitation services. Every football match needs a referee.
   An independent regulator can act as a referee between the government, and sanitation service providers, to ensure the best deal possible for customers.
2. Regulations are not enough: clear responsibilities and active regulating is essential.
   A plethora of national laws and municipal by-laws already governs much around sanitation services. Yet on their own, rules rarely translate into improved outcomes.
3. Problems cannot be solved in one bold step. Active regulating involves incremental change, extensive consultation and testing.
   Even countries which are showing good progress have a long way to go. Sandwiched between utility, government and consumer, regulators have to introduce change gradually and manage stakeholders wisely.
4. A Regulating Ladder could support countries in their journey to active regulating.
   A ladder which mirrors the industry-wide UNICEF / WHO JMP sanitation ladder could inform assessments of where countries stand in their journey from passive regulations compliance to active regulating.

Read the report.

The national case studies are as follows:

• Bangladesh: national institutional and regulatory framework for un-sewered sanitation
• Kenya: standard operating procedures in the city of Kisumu
• Kenya: introducing cross-subsidies to finance sanitation
• Mozambique: adopting new regulatory responsibilities
• Zambia: a new national framework for regulating un-sewered sanitation
• Kenya: incentives to encourage utilities to serve the poorest communities

The report also assesses the contribution being made by ESAWAS to drive change through at pan-African level.

Read the report.

New call for researchers (WSUP – Urban Sanitation Research Initiative)

Evaluation of user experience outcomes of Clean Team service use

Focus country: Ghana

This research project is commissioned under the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative, a 2017−2020 research programme core-funded by UK aid from the British people and managed by Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP). This research project will deliver an evaluation of the user experience outcomes of being a customer of Clean Team Ghana.

Clean Team Ghana is a social enterprise providing container-based toilets for a monthly fee covering toilet rental and the container replacement service. Clean Team Ghana currently operates in the city of Kumasi. It has about 1500 customers, and is recruiting new customers at a rate of about 300 per month. This research will aim to generate evidence that is: a) of wide value in Ghana and internationally for understanding the user experience impacts of container-based sanitation service models of this type, and b) of specific value to Clean Team Ghana in further improving their business model.

The research should focus on user experience including i) satisfaction with aspects including for example smell and container replacement service, and ii) subjective wellbeing across a range of dimensions including dignity and security. We anticipate a longitudinal design, with customers interviewed just before service start, soon after service start, and 6 months after service start.

Maximum budget under this Call: GBP 80,000 inclusive of VAT
Bids due: Before UK 1700 hours on 4th March 2019.

For more information visit: https://www.wsup.com/research/open-calls/

The devastating impact of poor wastewater management

In this World Toilet Day blog, Neil Jeffery, Chief Executive of Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), looks into the impact of poor wastewater treatment and highlights ways in which cities can improve sanitation management.

When people in the most developed cities flush the toilet, they have the luxury of not having to wonder where the wastewater goes to next.

They know, if they stop to think for a second, that it gets flushed into a sewer, probably running under the main road, joining larger and larger sewers until it ends up in a treatment plant. At this point, water gets treated and ends back – somehow – in the water system.

Maybe, years later, that water will come back to the same house, perhaps to be used in a sink, or shower.

But we don’t need to worry about all this. It just happens, and our sanitation systems works – by and large – in harmony with the wider ecosystem.

It is not so simple, though, in many other countries. The lack of a sewer system outside of central urban areas means that vast quantities of wastewater is simply not treated.

And this, in turn, results in sanitation waste being abundant in urban communities – with a devastating impact on health, dignity, education and economic development.

Read the full article here.

Call for researchers: Modelling faecal pathogen flows in urban environments

This research project is commissioned under the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative, a 2017-2020 research programme core-funded by UK aid from the British people, and managed by Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP).

The research will develop, apply and validity-test a modelling approach for understanding faecal pathogen flows within a defined urban location (in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique or Zambia). This will likely require significant on-site data collection to feed the model and to test its validity.

A possible modelling framework has already been developed in an earlier concept study under the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative, but we are open to considering other frameworks and approaches (more information about this framework can be found within the Call itself).

While this research aims to develop an internationally useful modelling approach, we would also expect it to be useful and influential in the specific location in which it is developed.

Maximum budget under this Call: GBP 250,000 inclusive of VAT

Bids due: Before 1700 hours on 22nd October 2018

Focus country: One of Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique or Zambia

More information can be found in the Research Call.

Queries and clarifications can be sent to erl [at] wsup [dot com].

Call for researchers: Increasing the impact of school-based hygiene promotion programmes in Madagascar

This research project, commissioned under WSUP’s Urban Sanitation Research Initiative with funding from Dubai Cares, will use a formative research approach to explore barriers and opportunities for improved school WASH in Madagascar. The over-arching aim of this research is to contribute to the evidence base required to improve and expand Madagascar’s existing WASH Friendly Schools programme (Ecoles Amies de WASH).

The research should aim to identify a feasible adjustment to the current programme model, which generates a sustained increase (by comparison with the existing model as currently applied) in the prevalence of key hygiene behaviours, among schoolchildren exposed to the programme and among members of their households. This will involve a) literature review and formative research to identify one or two adjustments to the current model, which can plausibly be expected to achieve better outcomes; and b) rigorous comparative evaluation of outcomes achieved in implementation of the existing model and adjusted models. Implementation will be funded and managed by WSUP.

The research may be led by a Madagascan or non-Madagascan organisation, but in either case this work will require strong Madagascan involvement in research design and delivery.

More information can be found in the Call here.

Maximum budget under this Call: GBP 65,000

Bids due: 23rd July 2018

Focus country: Madagascar

Languages: French (req’d), English (optional), Malagasy (optional)

RESEARCH CALL: Exploratory research on increasing the impact of school-based hygiene promotion programmes in Madagascar

This research project, commissioned under WSUP’s Urban Sanitation Research Initiative with funding from Dubai Cares, will use a formative research approach to explore barriers and opportunities for improved school WASH in Madagascar. The over-arching aim of this research is to contribute to the evidence base required to improve and expand Madagascar’s existing WASH Friendly Schools programme (Ecoles Amies de WASH). The research should aim to identify a feasible adjustment to the current programme model, which generates a sustained increase (by comparison with the existing model as currently applied) in the prevalence of key hygiene behaviours, among schoolchildren exposed to the programme and among members of their households.

This will involve a) literature review and formative research to identify one or two adjustments to the current model, which can plausibly be expected to achieve better outcomes; and b) rigorous comparative evaluation of outcomes achieved in implementation of the existing model and adjusted models. Implementation will be funded and managed by WSUP.

The research may be led by a Madagascan or non-Madagascan organisation, but in either case this work will require strong Madagascan involvement in research design and delivery. Some deliverables will need to be in French, some can be in English; internal communications with WSUP may be in French or English, as preferred by the successful bidder.

For more information, see the Research Call here.

Maximum budget under this Call: GBP 65,000
Bids due: Before Madagascar 1700 hours on Tuesday 19th June 2018, to erl [at] wsup [dot com].

Public Finance for WASH: update

Public Finance for WASH has moved: we’ve changed our URL! We’re now at https://www.publicfinanceforwash.org/

Public finance and domestic resource mobilisation are absolutely critical for reaching SDG 6. At Public Finance for WASH, a partnership initiative between IRC and WSUP, we remain focused on documenting equitable public finance models in the WASH sphere, aiming to provide a knowledge resource that can help the sector to identify transferable solutions. From the WSUP side, this is being supported by various research projects relating to public finance, under our Urban Sanitation Research Initiative: for example, check out our recent Policy Brief reporting a study of the willingness of Kenyan water utility customers to pay a little bit extra on their water bill to support slum sanitation. From the IRC side, we continue working to document, train and advocate at global and country level, to ensure that more money is disbursed for direct support and the enabling environment, while at the same time aiming for more efficiency in public administration and performance measurement in the WASH public sector.

If you want to work with us in any way, get in touch: pf4wash[at] gmail [dot] com!

WSUP webinar: demystifying the enabling environment for urban sanitation

Demystifying the enabling environment for urban sanitation: case studies from Bangladesh, Kenya and Zambia 

Tuesday 10th April, 1pm – 2.30pm BST

Register here

WSUP is hosting a webinar to explore what an enabling environment for urban sanitation really looks like. Despite its evident importance to achieving scale, the components of a well-functioning enabling environment for urban sanitation are weakly understood.

Join us on April 10th to hear how we are working to strengthen enabling environments across WSUP locations.

Speakers:
Amirul Hasan, WSUP Business Development Lead, Dhaka (Bangladesh)
Sibongile Ndaba, WSUP Business Development Lead, Lusaka (Zambia)
Emanuel Owako, WSUP Project Manager, Kisumu (Kenya)

This webinar will share the lessons from a 5-year programme – funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – which aimed to catalyse the market for on-site sanitation services in Bangladesh, Kenya and Zambia, through the development of flexible public-private arrangements.

We will begin the session by introducing a new framework for conceptualising and evaluating the enabling environment, grounded in WSUP’s experience of implementing urban WASH programmes in six countries.

Our speakers will then share their experiences of strengthening key components of the local enabling environment – ranging from institutional mandates, regulatory effectiveness and service provider capacity to infrastructure, technology, affordability and consumer behaviour.

Participants will also be introduced to “The Bottom Line”: a new online simulation which brings to life some of the challenges faced by sanitation businesses.

Click here to register.

New call for tenders – WSUP

Strengthening public finance for urban sanitation services in Mozambique

Background:
It is estimated that poor sanitation costs Maputo’s residents over US$ 7.4 million annually as a result of access time lost, premature deaths, productivity losses due to sickness, and health care costs. The majority of the population relies on on-site sanitation, 28% on septic tanks, and 28% on improved latrines. Many of these systems are emptied by mechanical and manual private operators paid for by households themselves, the total value of which is unknown but thought to be significant. The remainder of the population, over 30%, have access to a non-improved latrine. It is this latter section of population that is most negatively and disproportionally impacted by poor sanitation.

In December 2016, a new sanitation surcharge was approved by CMM (Municipal Council of Maputo), with plans for implementation in 2017. WSUP intends to support CMM in the implementation of the surcharge and introduction of eligible sanitation services. CRA (Conselho de Regulação de Águas, the national water and sanitation regulator) and WSUP intend to undertake a 6 month research project to capture learning from the implementation of previous activities in Maputo, and the replication by CRA in Beira and Quelimane. This includes a documentation of the process, an assessment of the sanitation surcharge, regulatory framework agreement and compliance with the agreement (transfers and investments).

Consultancy objective:
The overall objective of this consultancy is to strengthen CRA’s capacity to more effectively and equitably mobilise public finance into urban sanitation services in Mozambique. More specifically, the objectives are:

1. adapt tools and strengthen capacity to model financial cost of delivering sanitation services in urban centres of Mozambique, and
2. strengthen CRA’s regulatory mechanisms, tools and oversight to ensure more effective and equitable sanitation service delivery in Mozambique.

Details:
Bids due: Before 23:59 (GMT +2) on 22nd March 2018
Location: Desk and Mozambique
Start date of consultancy: 30th March 2018
End date of consultancy: 18th September 2018

More information and details of how to apply can be accessed on the WSUP website (‘Current research calls’).

New call for researchers (WSUP – Urban Sanitation Research Initiative)

Analysis of citizen and decision-maker attitudes to freshwater pollution in Bangladesh cities as a basis for more effective regulation.

This research project is jointly commissioned by the REACH global research programme (led by Oxford University) and the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative, (a 2017-2020 research programme led by Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor, WSUP). The project will be managed by the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative team with single point-of-contact, but should aim to align with the broad vision and specific requirements of both research programmes.

The research will investigate citizen and decision-maker attitudes to pollution of watercourses in urban environments in Bangladesh, and attitudes towards regulation to reduce such pollution. We require detailed consideration of two specific types of pollution, and of their associated regulation, namely a) faecal contamination arising from widespread discharge from septic tanks, pit latrines, and hanging toilets to surface drains and water bodies and to subsurface water bodies, and b) industrial discharge to surface and subsurface water bodies. However, we would expect detailed consideration of these specific issues to be embedded within a wider framework of analysis of urban freshwater pollution, and its regulation, in Bangladeshi cities.

Bids due: Before 1700 (UK) Tuesday 13th March 2018

Focus country: Bangladesh

Maximum budget: GBP 80,000

For more information and details on the bidding process, see the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative website (‘Current research calls’).