150,000 Refugee women and girls to receive transformative menstrual health management solution

The UN refugee Agency UNHCR and AFRIpads have just begun the largest rollout of reusable sanitary pad distribution and Menstrual Health Management (MHM) sensitization of refugees in Uganda. The project aims at benefiting some 150,000 women and girls in south-western Uganda. With this, UNHCR Uganda is putting critical spotlight on the challenges refugee women and girls face during their periods. In addition to providing the AFRIpads kit to refugee women and girls, they have been providing MHM capacity building since late September to equip hundreds of NGO field staff with the appropriate knowledge and tools dedicated to breaking taboo and stigma around the topic of menstruation.

The project is in response to a 2018 UNHCR and AFRIpads pilot study in South West Uganda, which found that:

• The number of girls that reported missing school during their period was cut in half when using AFRIpads reusable pads
• 84% of refugee schools girls indicating they would prefer to use AFRIpads over disposable pads

Read the full press release and the announcement (with photos) on the AFRIpads website.

Residential Piped Water in Uganda – World Bank

Residential Piped Water in Uganda. World Bank, December 2018.

This World Bank Study provides a basic diagnostic of residential piped water coverage and affordability in Uganda and its relationship with poverty using a series of nationally representative household surveys for the period 2002–13.

The study first analyzes trends in piped water coverage using both administrative and survey data. Demand-side and supply-side factors reducing the take-up of piped water service by households in areas where the service is available are estimated.

The study also documents the extent to which piped water coverage enables households to shift time use away from domestic tasks toward market work, and the beneficial effect that this may have on poverty.

The targeting performance to the poor of water subsidies is estimated and results obtained for Uganda are compared with estimates for other countries.

Finally, the study analyzes issues related to affordability—including the impact of the tariff increase of 2012 on household consumption, poverty, and piped water affordability—as well as the cost for households to connect to the piped water network.

Water and Sanitation in Uganda – World Bank

Water and Sanitation in Uganda. World Bank, December 2018.

This World Bank Study provides a basic diagnostic of access to safe water and sanitation in Uganda and their relationship with poverty. The analysis relies on a series of nationally representative household surveys for the period 2002–13, as well as on qualitative data collection.

The study first relies on household surveys to analyze trends in access to safe water and some of the constraints faced by households for access. The issue of the cost of water for households without a connection to the piped water network is discussed. This includes a discussion of public stand pipes.

Next, qualitative data are presented on the obstacles faced by households in accessing safe water. The next two chapters are devoted to sanitation. The focus is again first on analyzing household survey data about sanitation, including with respect to toilets, bathrooms, waste disposal, and hand washing, and next on an analysis of qualitative data from focus groups and key informants.

Finally, the study reviews some of the policies and programs that have been implemented in order to improve access to safe water and sanitation for the poor as well as options going forward.

SEI – How can sanitation policy deliver in Africa? Insights from Rwanda and Uganda

How can sanitation policy deliver in Africa? Insights from Rwanda and Uganda. Stockholm Environment Institute, August 2018.

Sanitation is currently high on the international development agenda. But for policy to be effective, basic enabling factors are required – the right institutional environment and the right governance structures – which in many countries are not yet fully in place.

It is even more important to get these basic factors right as increasing numbers of public, private, and philanthropic bodies at different levels of society become involved in promoting and providing sanitation, driven largely by global goals and international development agendas.

This growing focus on sanitation has led to top-down pressure to meet prescribed targets, which in most cases miss the complexity of context, distort service priorities, and in some cases compromise sustainability.

Based on four years of research in Rwanda and Uganda examining sanitation governance structures, the author sets out policy insights on what is needed for sanitation policy to succeed in sub-Saharan Africa.

Money from waste? Revamp your view on sanitation

Money from waste? Revamp your view on sanitation. Water Blog, July 2018.

As an undergraduate student in Kampala, my head was full of thoughts about how I was going to make a living after my studies. Back then Rich Dad Poor Dad was still a best-seller, and I thought to myself: I can become a billionaire if I sell a billion of something to a billion people. Needless to say, it would have to be something that anyone can afford, like toothpaste or chewing gum. 

So, I wondered, what does every human need? It dawned on me: everyone needs water, food, and energy, every day. The next question was how I could make valuable goods from all the three as a civil engineer.

A fascination with sanitation

Over the course of my studies, I became interested in the intimate connections between water, food, and energy. I learnt about the water and nutrient cycles, and how we can recover resources from waste and use them to fertilize crops and generate energy.

Looking at the supply side, each of us generates about 1.5 litres of excreta daily – all together, a huge amount of waste. We can, of course, flush it down the drain and into our rivers, lakes, and oceans; or we can turn our pee and poo into valuable resources, like power and protein.

Read the complete article.

 

Institutional triggering for improved sanitation in Uganda

Institutional triggering for improved sanitation in Uganda

CLTS Knowledge Hub at IDS, Published on May 10, 2018

Mujuni Kitimbo Jimmy (Field Officer, Ministry of Health, Uganda) talks about successes using ‘Institutional Triggering – an Advocacy Tool’ with Community Leaders resulting in improved sanitation for communities in Uganda.

This interview was filmed at the East and Southern Africa Regional Sharing and Learning Workshop on CLTS and Rural Sanitation 16 – 20 April 2018, Arusha, Tanzania.

The event was organised by the CLTS Knowledge Hub with support from SNV Tanzania. It was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Local governance and sanitation: Eight lessons from Uganda

The magnitude of the sanitation crisis means that sanitation and hygiene solutions must be delivered sustainably, and on a large scale. This requires the close involvement of government at all levels. A new case study outlines eight lessons from the Global Sanitation Fund-supported Uganda Sanitation Fund in coordinating, planning, and implementing Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) at scale through a decentralized government system.

Download the case study or read the feature article on wsscc.org.

Local government health workers and latrine owners proudly display an improved latrine in Lira district, Uganda.©WSSCC/USF

 

 

Intra-Household Access to WASH in Uganda and Zambia – Do Variations Exist?

Intra-Household Access to WASH in Uganda and Zambia – Do Variations Exist? SHARE.

• Full text

This paper was produced for the 39th WEDC Conference held in Ghana in July 2016. It analyses baseline data from the SHARE-funded Undoing Inequity project to explore whether differences exist between heads of household and ‘vulnerable’ individuals’ reports on access and use of WASH at the household level.

Comparative assessment of sanitation and hygiene policies and institutional frameworks in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania

Comparative assessment of sanitation and hygiene policies and institutional frameworks in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, 2016. 

• Full text, pdf

Authors: Nelson Ekane, Nina Weitz, Björn Nykvist, Petter Nordqvist and Stacey Noel. Stockholm Environment Institute.

This paper presents a comparative assessment of the sanitation policy and institutional frameworks in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania based on a set of recommended criteria that comprehensive and supportive sanitation policies should meet. This assessment finds that the policies in Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania meet many of the recommended criteria, but are still lacking key aspects to adequately cater for sustainability of services and functionality of facilities.

Further, policies should reflect the needs and preferences of people. This is usually not the case because policies are very ambitious and hard to fully translate to action. Despite the existence of policies, the implementation process is flawed in many ways, and two key gaps are the lack or inadequate financing for sanitation, and serious lack of technical capacity, especially at the district level.

Furthermore, the assessment shows that the policy and institutional framework for sanitation and hygiene differs from country to country. Rwanda and Uganda have separate sanitation and hygiene policies while Tanzania is still in the process of developing a separate sanitation policy. The paper also shows that even though there are still serious shortfalls shortfalls that hindered the achievement of the sanitation MDG in Uganda and Tanzania in particular, major reforms in the sector have undoubtedly contributed to improved sector performance in all the three countries.

Regionally, access to improved sanitation in SSA is on a gradual increase while the practice of open defecation is decreasing. On a country level, however, there are significant variations in performance between countries, with countries like Rwanda making remarkable progress in sanitation and hygiene coverage.

Waste to Wealth: Helping to Close the Sanitation Financing Gap in Rural Communities and Small Towns

Waste to Wealth: Helping to Close the Sanitation Financing Gap in Rural Communities and Small Towns | Source: Solutions Journal, Feb 2016 |

Waste to Wealth is a Ugandan initiative created in partnership with the Ministry of Water and Environment, its water and wastewater utility (the National Water and Sewerage Corporation), and other government, NGO, and academic partners. The concept is simple—to use modern bioenergy technologies to convert human and other organic wastes into resources that will provide economic benefits and improved environment and human health.

The results of using EcoSan fertilizer on maize in South Nyanza, Kenya. No fertilizer was used on the left, while fertilizer from EcoSan toilet systems was used on the right. Both sections of maize were planted at the same time.

The biogas and slurry left from energy conversion will be used as a resource with economic value to provide a return on the investment in AD technology. The concept is an innovative and transformative technology-based approach to managing human wastes and providing sanitation services in low income countries.

Key Concepts

• Human waste contains significant amounts of organic material that can be digested by specific bacteria in oxygen-free environments.
• The byproducts from this digestion process can be used as energy for cooking, lighting, and generating electricity.
• Revenue or savings from the sale or use of these products provides financing to pay back up-front capital costs.

Read the complete article.