Webinar – Female-friendly public and community toilets

WaterAid, UNICEF and WSUP would like to invite you to the upcoming webinar on Female Friendly Public and Community toilets.
Date: Wednesday 3rd April
Time: 10am GMT

Join using this link: https://meet.lync.com/wateraid/andreshueso/CK25SZ4Y. If you have trouble joining, try the Skype Web App https://meet.lync.com/wateraid/andreshueso/CK25SZ4Y?sl=1.

Female-Friendly Public and Community Toilets: a discussion about why we need them and how to design them

Public and community toilets are often dirty, poorly maintained and have not been designed to meet the requirements of women and girls. But Governments and city planners can and should improve this situation by a) including women in the planning process and b) following basic principles of universal design that ensure public and community toilets are accessible for all users, are secure and well located, include context specific menstrual health features, cater for caring responsibilities (of all genders) and are maintained for cleanliness and safety. The practical “Female-friendly public and community toilets” guide is designed to help city authorities, planners and NGOs identify areas that lack public and community toilets and check if existing toilets are female-friendly while also giving some practical guidance for non-negotiable design elements. The webinar will highlight why it is important to look at public and community toilets through a gender lens, giving time for discussion and hoping for feedback from participants.

Presenters:
Priya Nath: Equality, Inclusion and Rights Advisor, WaterAid, UK
Olutayo Bankole Bolawole: East Africa Regional Director, WaterAid, Uganda
Lizette Burgers: Senior Advisor WASH, UNICEF, USA
Sam Drabble: Head of Research and Learning, WSUP, UK

The webinar will be recorded for those that cannot attend.

New guide on female-friendly toilets by WaterAid, WSUP and Unicef

1 in 3 people across the world don’t have a decent toilet of their own. But it’s not just a question of lacking a household toilet – low availability of public and community toilets is also an issue. Where they do exist, these facilities often don’t meet the needs of women and girls, undermining women’s human rights.

The ‘Female-friendly guide‘, out in October 2018 and written by WaterAid, UNICEF and WSUP, is designed primarily for use by local authorities in towns and cities who are in charge of public and community toilets. It’s also useful for national governments, public and private service providers, NGOs, donors and civil society organisations who play a role in delivering these services.

The guide explains why toilets must be female-friendly, before detailing the essential and desirable features needed to make them so. It also suggests ways to increase gender sensitivity in town planning on sanitation.

Recommendations and practical steps have been drawn from existing literature, expert opinion and analysis of pioneering experiences from around the world.

The guide is available to download now, and will also be presented at the UNC Water and Health Conference on 1 November 2018.

Download “Female-friendly public and community toilets: a guide for planners and decision makers”.

This news item was originally published on WaterAid’s WASH Matters website.

Strengthening the business case for water, sanitation and hygiene: how to measure value for your business – WaterAid

Strengthening the business case for water, sanitation and hygiene – how to measure value for your business. WaterAid, August 2018.

In response to the challenge of quantifying the business benefits, WaterAid, Diageo, GAP Inc., and Unilever have worked with PwC and ODI to develop a practical, step-by-step guide. 

The guide will help companies understand the business value of their WASH investments and calculate their financial return on investment (ROI).

It is aimed at companies who are likely to have an established WASH programme and want to evidence the financial benefits of their WASH interventions. This may be to:

1. Strengthen the internal case for future investment.
2. Work with suppliers to scale up WASH programmes.
3. Generate more business case data, which can be shared in a consistent format and used to catalyse action across the business community.

What can you do?

This guide provides an opportunity for progressive companies to take a lead, showcasing the incentives for business investment on WASH while catalysing action. WaterAid, Diageo, GAP Inc., and Unilever call on companies to use the guide and, most importantly, share the data they generate, and their learnings, with WaterAid.

WaterAid – Out of Order: The State of the World’s Toilets 2017

Out of Order: The State of the World’s Toilets 2017. WaterAid, November 2017.

Our World Toilet Day report Out of Order explores how the lack of decent toilets around the world prevents women and girls from fulfilling their potential.

The report finds Ethiopia is now the country with the world’s highest percentage of people without toilets, while India remains the nation with the highest number of people without a toilet. 

While both have made progress, millions still suffer the fear and indignity of relieving themselves in the open or in unsafe or unhygienic toilets – a situation which is most dangerous for girls and women.

Read the complete article.

 

Don’t neglect shared latrines in drive for sanitation for all, agencies warn

Shared toilets in Kenya. Photo: Sanergy

• WaterAid joins WSUP, World Bank and leading academics in urging donors, policymakers and planners not to neglect shared sanitation
• Where private household toilets aren’t yet an option, safe, well-managed shared toilets are a crucial step to further improvement

Funding for safe, shared toilets in fast-growing developing-world cities is at risk of neglect from donors, policymakers and planners, a new journal article authored by sanitation specialists, senior economists and leading academics has warned.

Authors from the World Bank, WaterAid and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor have joined leading academics from the University of Leeds and the University of Colorado – Boulder in calling for shared toilets as an essential stepping-stone towards universal sanitation.

DfID aid reviews – what do they mean for water, sanitation and hygiene?

DfID aid reviews – what do they mean for water, sanitation and hygiene? WaterAid, December 13, 2016.

Bethan Twigg, WaterAid’s UK Advocacy Manager, looks at the strengths and weaknesses in the new UK Department for International Development (DfID) Bilateral and Multilateral Development Reviews, and where WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) fits in.

It’s official – the long-awaited DfID reviews are finally out. The Bilateral and Multilateral Development Reviews (BDR and MDR) set out how and where the UK Government will spend its bilateral aid (money sent directly to developing country governments) and multilateral aid (to organisations like the UN and EU), the focus themes, sectors and countries, and which multilateral agencies it considers best placed to deliver the UK’s aid priorities.

Dotto collects clean water at Kiomboi Hospital, Tanzania, which benefited from DfID match funding.

Together with last November’s new UK Aid strategy, they form part of the larger review of UK international development, and will frame the UK Government’s approach, focus and priorities for development and overseas aid – including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – for the next four years.

Commitments to be proud of

There is much to welcome in the reviews: the UK’s re-commitment to give 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) to overseas aid; the focus on poverty reduction; a commitment to play a major role in delivering the Global Goals; and a commitment to be a world leader on health, education, nutrition, and disability. Also welcome is the emphasis on remaining outward-looking, open, and transparent, and in ‘leaving no one behind’.

Read the complete article.

 

Linking WASH to other development sectors – Thematic discussion: 24th October – 12th November 2016

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) Community of Practice on Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries and the Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation at Mzuzu University (Malawi) are holding a joint 3-week thematic discussion on linking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to other development sectors. The LinkedIn hosted CoP has over 6,200 members each working in WASH and other related sectors; this thematic discussion will be an opportunity to bring together sector practitioners and researchers to share knowledge, learn from each other, identify best practice and explore how WASH and other development sectors can collaborate in this SDG era.

The thematic discussion will take place on the CoP; with a coordinator moderating the discussions. The discussion will be split into three inter-linked sub-themes and conversation leaders will frame and prompt debates each week on:

• 24 – 30 October – Theme 1: WASH and Nutrition – At a grassroots level, WASH and nutrition are not often combined, what are some examples of successful merging of these themes? What about the health impact and the perceptions and views of communities? If you had one area of WASH and nutrition which makes the biggest impact to focus on, what would it be?

• 31 October – 6 November – Theme 2: WASH and Disability – What are the barriers to accessing WASH people with disabilities in developing countries? Is standard CLTS inclusive?  How can schools in developing countries be more accessible?  What are some examples of successful merging of these two themes?

• 7 – 12 November – Theme 3: Climate Change and WASH –What are some of the local strategies in place to strengthen climate change resiliency and WASH objectives? If an ODF community build a pit latrine by cutting down old growth trees, have we made a positive or negative impact at a community level? Are there more innovative ways looking at not only the environment and human dimensions of these problems? What are some examples of successful merging of these two themes by field practitioners?

Join us for the discussion with some of the following thematic experts:

• Megan Wilson-Jones, Policy Analyst: Health & Hygiene, WaterAid for WASH and Nutrition discussion
• Adam Biran and Sian White, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Mavuto Tembo, Mzuzu University, Malawi

Weekly summaries of discussions will be posted on CoP as well as a synthesis report of overarching findings at the end.

To participate in the discussion, please join here:

WSSCC Community of Practice: www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1238187

We look forward to some constructive and in-depth discussions!

Margaret Batty/WaterAid – Poor globally being failed on sanitation

Margaret Batty/WaterAid – Poor globally being failed on sanitation | Source: The Guardian, Aug 14 2016 |

WaterAid shares the global concern for the world’s top athletes dealing with the sewage in Rio’s bays (Report, 4 August). But the heavily contaminated waters don’t only put at risk the health of Olympians, it’s clear they also adversely affect the millions of people facing this faecal nightmare, day-in and day-out.

Rubbish along the edge of Guanabara Bay, Rio, the venue for the Olympic sailing events. ‘These Olympic Games have put the spotlight on one of the most urgent yet beatable crises of our time. World leaders must address it,’ writes Margaret Batty of WaterAid. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty

Despite Brazil being an upper-middle income country, nearly 2% of Brazilians, or 3.5 million people, have no access to clean water, and 17%, or 35 million people, live without good sanitation. In Rio alone, 30% of the population is not connected to a formal sewerage system. It is a travesty that anyone should have to live like this.

Sadly, Brazil is not alone in facing a water and sanitation crisis. One in three people globally live without decent toilets, and one in 10 are without clean water. These Olympic Games have put the spotlight on one of the most urgent yet beatable crises of our time. World leaders must address it.

The UN global goals for sustainable development were agreed by these leaders last year. The challenge now is to put those promises into action, ensuring that everyone, everywhere has clean water and sanitation by 2030.
Margaret Batty
Director of global policy and campaigns, WaterAid

WaterAid – Caught Short: how a lack of access to clean water and decent toilets plays a major role in child stunting

Caught Short: how a lack of access to clean water and decent toilets plays a major role in child stunting, 2016. WaterAid.

• Full text

WaterAid’s new report reveals the extent of the global stunting crisis and the impact a lack of clean water and decent toilets is having on the futures of millions of children suffering from malnutrition.

Sisters Manjula, 9, and Gouramma, 13, stand in front of a blackboard at their school in Karnataka State, India, showing how their height compares to the average for their age. Gouramma also suffers from hypothyroidism, which doctors say may in part explain her height.

50% of malnutrition cases are linked to chronic diarrhoea caused by lack of clean water, decent sanitation and good hygiene, including handwashing with soap.

For a child, experiencing five or more cases of diarrhoea before the age of two can lead to stunting. Beyond this age, the effects are largely irreversible.

“Stunting not only makes children shorter for their age, but affects their emotional, social and cognitive development, meaning their lives and life chances are forever changed,” says Barbara Frost, WaterAid’s Chief Executive.

The Caught Short report reveals that:

• India has the highest number of children suffering from stunting in the world – 48 million, or two in every five.
• Nigeria and Pakistan rank second and third with 10.3 and 9.8 million children suffering from stunting respectively.
• Timor-Leste has the highest percentage of children who are stunted, at 58%.

 

If These Kids From MP Find Someone Defecating In Open, There’s A Funny Way They Tackle It – WaterAid India

Published on Apr 5, 2016

An inspiring story of a group of children from Sehore in Madhya Pradesh who set off at the crack of dawn to prevent people from defecating in the open using a unique method. See how these young crusaders in the fight against open defecation are inspiring their communities to stop open defecation.