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The Exploration Continues - In Search for a Future in the WASH Sector

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A Market-driven approach to sanitation - two case studies The bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) business approach targets the most impoverished population and has reconfigured and internalised a close relationship between the chase for profits and WASH objectives. Recognising the market potential of soap in impoverished communities, Unilever has used its marketing and consumer behaviour expertise to successfully increase handwashing and soap usage ( Hopkinson, 2017 ). Handwashing reduces human contact with waste and germs, which prevents the transmission of diarrheal and other diseases ( Burton et al. 2011 ). This reconfiguration might address the concern of and put less pressure on regulatory bodies to address the potential imbalance between profitability and WASH objectives, as in the case of PPP. However, there are still potential risks in businesses' power and profit-oriented behaviour, especially for TNCs like Unilever; one example is the inclusion of triclosan, a scientifically c...
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Private-sector Participation (PSP) in the WASH sector – Don't Lose the Focus

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Mixed outcomes from  community management (CM) and its incapability for developing and managing hard WASH infrastructure ( Hutchings, 2015 ), a WASH solution in the long term or in many densely populated urban areas, has led to the embracement of PSP ( Golooba-Mutebi, 2012 ).  Fig.1 from Professor Page 's (2023) lecture slides account in detail a typology of PSP, which ranges from the transfer of ownership to different forms of public-private partnership.  Fig.1 : Classifying PSP . Supports of PSP argue that, with increased competition, PSP delivers higher-quality WASH services with lower costs, thus improving efficiency.  Additionally, in search of future profits, private firms would be willing to invest in the WASH sector to compensate for the public-sector resource shortfall  ( Adams et al., 2018 ;  Kirkpatrick et al .) . Meanwhile, it also receives criticism. Instead of fostering competition, private firms often obtain monopoly power, resulting in...
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A Community-Based Approach to WASH?

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Can community management (CM) be an effective and sustainable model for bottom-up WASH services? This post will discuss its methodology, strengths, limitations, and key success factors.  Methodology CM is based on the principle that communities should own, develop, operate, and maintain the services which they benefit from ( Harvey & Reed, 2006 ). Formally structured community committees are formed to take responsibility for these activities. Community members contribute regular fee payments and cash and in-kind resources upon service development ( Chowns, 2015 ).  Strengths Ideally, CM's first strength is in improving the technical performance of WASH services. With training, short distances, convenient communication, and staff motivation (as they benefit from better technical performance), the expectation is continuous, fast, and frequent maintenance, repairs, and tests. Secondly, CM offers a potential financial solution. Since community members can sense the effect of t...
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Underperformance of Bottom-up WASH Services - Insights from Lukaya, Uganda

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This third post will discuss the reliance on and underperformance of bottom-up WASH services.   Fig.1 : Locationing Lukaya. Lukaya is a small town in Uganda (fig.1) that has experienced rapid population growth. Lukaya's WASH services heavily rely upon  bottom-up techniques  - 95% of its households use on-site sanitation facilities, primarily pit latrines, and almost all households (>99%) use on-site water supply, primarily  hand-dug wells ( Nayebare et al. 2020 ). Underperformance of water services Fig.2 : The 2017 JMP water service ladder . According to   the JMP standard  (fig.2), none of the water services are safely managed, 10% are unimproved, and 33% are limited due to waiting times over 30 minutes -  on average, 92 households share each of the 66 water facilities . Not reflected by using the JMP standard, water storage in open containers positioned on the floor by many households  risks contamination ( Mellor et al., 2014 ) . Curren...
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Starting from the Reality – Bottom-up WASH Techniques

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This post wishes to provide an interesting account of some widely used bottom-up WASH techniques in Africa. Due to government failures in public WASH service provision, these techniques present a compromised yet essential WASH solution. Understanding these techniques allows later exploration of their weaknesses, potential improvements, and complementary solutions for successful WASH improvements. Water-accessing techniques Without adequate piped water supply,  hand-dug wells , which citizens themselves can construct and operate at low costs, are a traditional and common water-accessing technique. The water in the well can be extracted using a pulley device or, preferably, a sealed handpump.  A proper structure that prevents the seeping of surface water and filters silt and sand , illustrated by fig.1, can ensure water safety.  Fig.1 :  The structure of a hand-dug well . Comparably, despite moderately higher construction and operation costs,  boreholes  equi...
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Setting the Scene – Why Should We Care About WASH conditions Africa?

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I would like to welcome everyone onboard to my introductory blog post! Today, let's search for answers to the topical question.  Fig.1 : SDG 6 Let us first try to define each component of WASH.  The UN's definitions in SDG 6  (fig.1) provide a good starting point. "Water" stands for uncontaminated water access. A common misconception is that water accessibility equates to availability (which relates to water scarcity).  Water availability is often "idly" defined regarding river discharge but ignores other water resources and the infrastructure investment required to make them available ( Cairncross, 2003 ;  Damkjaer & Taylor, 2017 ). "Sanitation" usually concerns access to safe treatment and disposal of wastewater that prevents human contact.  Hygiene refers to individualised "practices or conditions that ensure health and prevent diseases". e.g., handwashing . The components are highly interlinked. For instance, safe sanitation acces...
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