The Sanitation Workers Knowledge + Learning Hub is the best source for all current news, trends, articles and updates on sanitation workers rights around the world.
This study compares pit-latrine emptying businesses in Kampala, Uganda, and Kigali, Rwanda, focusing on resources, methods, and tariffs. Empirical data from Forever Sanitation and Pit Vidura show challenges with portable vacuum pumps in hard-to-reach areas, highlighting the need for formal manual emptying for some customers where mechanical methods are not viable. Manual emptying has similar …
Understanding and addressing the human resource needs and gaps in the sanitation and hygiene sector is a critical part of achieving universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene. Previous studies have attempted to map the human resource capacity and needs of the sanitation and hygiene sectors; however, these studies have focused on educated and skilled professionals, …
Sanitation workers play a vital role in maintaining cleanliness and safety within the sanitation chain, a crucial aspect of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. However, they often face poor working conditions, social and economic marginalization, and significant health risks, including the threat of infection and injury, sometimes leading to fatalities, compromising their dignity and …
Sanitation workers play a vital role in maintaining cleanliness and safety within the sanitation chain, a crucial aspect of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. However, they often face poor working conditions, social and economic marginalization, and significant health risks, including the threat of infection and injury, sometimes leading to fatalities, compromising their dignity and …
Sanitation workers play a vital role in maintaining cleanliness and safety within the sanitation chain, a crucial aspect of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. However, they often face poor working conditions, social and economic marginalization, and significant health risks, including the threat of infection and injury, sometimes leading to fatalities, compromising their dignity and …
Sanitation workers provide an essential public service to ensure cleanliness and safety along the sanitation chain. This is key to achieving the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, although poor working conditions, social and economic marginalization, high risk of infection and injury even death, mean it is often at the cost of their dignity, health and life. Strengthening social …
Sanitation workers encounter significant challenges that jeopardize their dignity and health, crucial for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite their vital role, many governments in low- and middle-income countries neglect support for this workforce due to insufficient understanding of their needs and obstacles.
The paper explores challenges faced by sanitation workers in …
Sanitation workers provide an essential public service to ensure cleanliness and safety along the sanitation chain. This is key to achieving the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, although poor working conditions, social and economic marginalization, high risk of infection and injury even death, mean it is often at the cost of their dignity, health and life. Strengthening social …
In 2019, cyclone Fani devastated Badabenakudi village, leaving its people traumatized. Many locals felt powerless and dependent on others. It was in this context that the UNICEF WASH team in Odisha and the government sought to develop the local capacity of the community and enhance awareness of WASH. UNICEF and its partners worked with the local ASHA (community health worker), schoolteacher, and …
Workshop to connect key learnings from other sectors (for example, solid waste management, waste picking) to advocacy and research on sanitation work (human waste management) across the world.
Speakers
1. Sonia Dias (WIEGO's Global Waste Expert)
2. Christy Braham (WIEGO, Belgium)
3. Lakshmi Narayan (KKPKP Waste Pickers Union, India)
4. Nalini Shekar (Hasiru Dala, India)
5. Dr …
Polite notice: This session includes detail (through the documentary film and presentations) about real-life cases of sanitation worker deaths and injuries, which some viewers/attendees may find upsetting*
Workshop to connect key learnings from the labour and human rights sectors (on occupational health and safety, formalisation, collectivisation, worker entitlements and responding to labour …
Sanitation workers provide essential services often at cost of their health and dignity. Little research has been done and there is an urgent need for evidence for policy and programs. Participants in this workshop will hear from moderators on challenges and contribute to setting a global published research agenda by proposing research questions.
Chairs: Kate Medlicott & Abisola Osinuga …
Includes reflections on the Garima Scheme in Odisha, India from G. Mathivathanan (Principal Secretary to Govt Housing & Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha, India), Manvita Baradi (Director, Urban Management Centre) and Meghna Malhotra (Deputy Director, Urban Management Centre).
About Garima
The Garima scheme for Safety and Dignity of Core Sanitation Workers was launched in …
Thousands of lives of sanitation workers are endangered and lost in low and middle income countries (LMICs) while manually cleaning confined spaces like septic tanks and sewer lines. These deaths are avoidable if we take corrective measures. Join us to discuss leading practices that cities can observe to make work safer for sanitation workers!
Speakers
Prabal Bhardwaj, PMU- SBM, Ministry of …
This session examines some of the ways in which to enhance Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) of sanitation work, via technical innovations, as well as targeted laws, policies and regulations. The speakers highlight a number of worker-centred avenues to strengthen OHS, as well as key gaps where further participatory research and advocacy is urgently needed.
Speakers
1. Froggi VanRiper …
This session examines the multiple ways in which Covid-19 has affected sanitation workers at their workplace and in their personal lives. The speakers highlight how the pandemic disproportionately impacted sanitation workers who were on the 'frontline', yet often had little to no personal safety equipment, work protections or faced intense work pressure. We discuss potential opportunities arising …
*French with English translation*
This session examines the intersectional dimensions of sanitation work relating to gender, caste, class, race and age (including inter-generational change). The speakers cover particular challenges for women sanitation workers in India, Côte d'Ivoire, Madagascar and Senegal, and explore ways in which to visibilise often hidden or unseen working practices and …
A pre-recorded conversation between Dr Jen Barr and consultant, researcher and photographer Dr CS Sharada Prasad, who is behind many of the striking images used by international agencies to highlight the everyday lives of sanitation workers (especially those involved in manual pit latrine, septic tank, sewer, drain or dry latrine cleaning) across India.
In this recording, Dr Prasad reflects …
A pre-recorded conversation between Dr Sally Cawood and activist, writer, researcher and teacher Dr Hemangi Kadlak (Assistant Professor, Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu and Strivajin Foundation).
In this recording, Dr Kadlak discusses the motivations for her research on sanitation workers and manual scavenging in India, with important takeways for us all.
This session explores the changing nature of sanitation work from a global and historical perspective. It sets out to challenge misconceptions that sanitation work (including hazardous forms) is confined to the so-called 'Global South', or that the 'Global North' has found the 'solutions' to safe sanitation for all. Drawing on experience in India, Pakistan, the USA and Nigeria, the session …
This session explores the realities of sanitation work in urban settings across India and Kenya. Whilst distinct historically, socially, politically and geographically, hazardous forms of sanitation work (including manual pit or manhole emptying) persist in both countries. Speakers explore the changing realities of sanitation work in each country, including ways to improve working conditions for …
This session focuses on the changing terminology to describe sanitation work and workers, and persistent forms of stigma and discrimination that many workers face today. The speakers raise important questions about representation of workers in global and national-level advocacy, and the ongoing struggle to be recognised as an essential workforce.
Speakers
1. Dr. Sheeva Y. Dubey (Assistant …
The overall aim of the project was to identify the ways in which sanitation workers can improve and/or move out of hazardous and degrading forms of sanitation work – specifically pit latrine, septic tank, drain and sewer cleaning and emptying – in urban areas (small towns and large cities). The dire working conditions of sanitation workers – men, women and children engaged in the handling …
It is now globally recognized that sanitation workers face a fatality risk that is 10 times higher than workers in all other industries, and their injury risk is 2.5 times higher than that of miners. Pakistan is the most urbanized country in South Asia and most of the urban population resides in 10 large cities of which five are in the province of Punjab. In Punjab province, these big cities are …
The COVID-19 pandemic reached South Asia at the beginning of 2020 and by March most of the countries in the region had imposed lockdowns in an attempt to curb the rampant spread of the disease. Severe restrictions on movement were introduced and businesses were closed. Only the provision of essential services – including sanitation and waste management – were permitted to …
Bangladesh has been identified as one of the 20 most vulnerable countries to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its high population density, poor infrastructure, and low levels of awareness of basic preventive measures culminate in a highly vulnerable and fragile country on the brink of a major crisis, with severe ramifications for public health, the economy and social cohesion. The recent …
Sanitation and waste workers in Bangladesh are generally marginalised, living in congested colonies, slums or informal settlements with limited access to basic services. Lower caste and religious minorities are more likely to engage in collecting garbage and cleaning toilets, emptying pits and septic tanks, often face social exclusion and rampant discrimination. These workers face a greater risk …
The rapid assessment attempts to collect information on the knowledge and awareness about transmission, symptoms, prevention and treatment of coronavirus, hand hygiene practices and concerns of sanitation workers and solid waste collectors about Covid-19 pandemic, the kind of safety measures put in place to protect these workers and the gaps that exist in terms of safety measures. Using …
WaterAid Pakistan commissioned this rapid assessment research on the knowledge, practices and perspectives of sanitation workers and solid waste collectors about Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan. The specific objectives of research were to understand the knowledge, practices and concerns of sanitation and waste workers regarding coronavirus, and; to find out the gaps and come up with recommendations …
Nepal imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 25 until June 14, 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Sanitation and waste workers had to continue providing essential services during the lockdown despite the risk of exposure to coronavirus prevailed. This added risk to occupational and environmental health hazards they regularly face, including illness, injury, and even death. Although these …
The Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) has been supporting the Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN) in achieving total sanitation in the state, and are demonstrating innovations in two model urban locations – Tiruchirappali Corporation, and Periyanaicken-palayam (PNP) and Narasimhanaicken-palayam (NNP) town panchayats. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting …
Sanitation workers provide services that are essential to public health, but often under terrible and hazardous working conditions. WaterAid Tanzania’s assessment highlighted the challenges they face and put forward the following recommendations for the Government and sanitation stakeholders:
• Advocate for the recognition of sanitation workers.
• Develop the capacity of Local …
While sanitation workers already face several health and safety risks, financial challenges and stigma due to the nature of their work and caste-based discrimination, the COVID-19 pandemic has further added to their challenges and vulnerabilities. The Urban Management Centre and WaterAid India jointly conducted a rapid assessment to understand the health, safety and social security challenges …
Safe collection, handling and transport of fecal sludge is an integral part of septage management. Limited attention has been paid to the safe collection, transport, disposal and treatment of human excreta from septic tanks. Motorised emptying and transport involves a truck with a standalone or mounted vacuum pump along with a storage tank that is used to empty and transport septage. Typically, …
Sanitation workers are the backbone of the public hygiene and waste management system. Despite providing an essential public service, their work is often unrecognised. A majority of the workers too are unaware of the social security and welfare schemes instituted by both the Central and State governments for their wellbeing, which prevents them from availing the benefits such as pension, …
This report presents options for how to carry out a quantification and profiling through assessments of workers at city level. The report contains the suggested scope for a sanitation worker assessment, the dimensions to be assessed, questionnaires that could be used to generate data on these different dimensions, and possible options for presentation of both quantitative and qualitative data. …
Sanitation workers provide an essential public service to reach Sustainable Development Goal 6.2, but often at the cost of their dignity, safety, health, and living conditions. A key barrier to providing support for this profession is the insufficient data on sanitation workers and their work environment. As such, the aim of this assessment was to explore opportunities to support sanitation …
Sanitation workers provide an essential public service to reach Sustainable Development Goal 6.2, but often at the cost of their dignity, safety, health, and living conditions. A key barrier to providing support for this profession is the insufficient data on sanitation workers and their work environment. As such, the aim of this assessment was to explore opportunities to support sanitation …
Sanitation workers in India, usually belonging to the most vulnerable and marginalized caste groups and communities, had already been facing several challenges including health risks, low and irregular wages, financial struggles, societal discrimination, and lack of access to social security measures. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in additional struggles for them, as some of them were required …
The Sanitation Workers Project is a structured, first-of-its-kind 5-month long study of sanitation workers across India carried out by Dalberg Advisors in 2017.
The state of sanitation workers remains a blind spot, as workers face significant challenges on multiple fronts – financial, health and social. To develop a blueprint with solutions for this murky problem, we interacted with all the …
Recent researches show that Afghan women and girls face many challenges in managing their menstrual cycle or menstruation. They do not have access to sufficient facilities and face discriminatory customs and traditions in the family and society. This issue has made it difficult for them to observe proper health conditions and cleanliness during menstruation.
About 70 percent of girls do not …
Sanitation workers provide a fundamental public service. Yet they often face extreme health hazards and safety risks on the job. In many developing countries, they are informal workers with no legal protections or rights. With a lack of visibility in society, they can be stigmatized, marginalized and ignored.
Here are the stories of five sanitation workers in their own words.
• You, as a sanitation worker, are exposed to occupational health and safety hazards. The work involves risk of coming in contact with hazardous biological and chemical agents
• PPEs are a crucial barrier between you and disease-causing agents at the work site
• It has been observed that the usage of PPEs is low. Fellow sanitation workers of yours have shared major reasons for this- …
Sanitation workers have been the foundation of the sanitation improvement story of urban India.
Sanitation sector and various services provided under it are hazardous in nature — some are moderately hazardous while many of them are extremely hazardous. The working environment puts sanitation workers to a wide range of health risks and diseases due to exposure to harmful pathogens, chemicals …
This Scheme is introduced to ensure that core sanitation services undertaken in urban areas of Odisha is done in a safe and dignified manner and shall come into force from the date of its notification and continue until further orders The Scheme will be implemented by the Housing & Urban Development Department through the 114 Urban Local Bodies of Odisha.
This Guidance Document on Equipment & Workforce Norms for Managing Waterborne Sanitation in India is prepared keeping in view the Safai-mitra Suraksha Challenge, 2021.
All sanitary structures like sewer and septic tanks which manage sewage are susceptible to getting choked at some point of time due to ingress and settling of solids and require regular cleaning or maintenance. Cleaning of sewer …
In 2018, Wai was chosen as one of the eight cities across the globe for the City Wide Inclusive Sanitation Program (CWIS) funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The municipal council of Wai (WMC) with support from Center of Water and Sanitation (CWAS), CRDF, CEPT University (CEPT) is aiming to implement the CWIS goals
and principles in Wai.
Under the CWIS framework, one of the …
Several work activities bring workers into contact with sewage and sewage products.
Each year, some workers will suffer from at least one episode of work-related illness.
The majority of illnesses are relatively mild cases of gastroenteritis, but potentially fatal diseases, such as leptospirosis (Weil’s disease) and hepatitis, are also reported to HSE.
However, there could well be …
Faecal Sludge Plants (FSPs) require ongoing and appropriate operation and maintenance (O&M) activities in order to ensure long-term functionality. O&M activities are at the interface of the technical, administrative, and institutional frameworks that enable sustained FSPs function. “Operationdz refers to all the activities that are required to ensure that a FSP delivers services as designed, …
• Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 bans hazardous cleaning of sewer/ septic tanks.
• Definition: Hazardous cleaning by an employee, in relation to a sewer or septic tank, means its manual cleaning by such employee without the employer fulfilling his obligations to provide protective gear and other cleaning devices and ensuring observance of …
This Guidance Document on Equipment & Workforce Norms for Managing Waterborne Sanitation in India
is prepared keeping in view the Safai-mitra Suraksha Challenge, 2021.
All sanitary structures like sewer and septic tanks which manage sewage are susceptible to getting choked at some point of time due to ingress and settling of solids and require regular cleaning or maintenance. Cleaning of sewer …
This concise and practical toolkit is designed to give development practitioners the know-how they need to understand people's behaviours and to help them in designing and implementing effective behaviour change strategies. It highlights how behaviour change is key to addressing many development issues such as child mortality, food insecurity, lacking education, and gender inequality, and offers …
Many communication practitioners and development workers face obstacles and challenges in their practical work. A participatory communication strategy offers a very specific perspective on how to articulate social processes, decision-making processes, and any change process for that matter. Participatory approaches are nothing new. However, what is new is the proliferation of institutions, …
Three volumes designed to assist workers in the field who are encouraging the development of self-reliant creative communities. The book has as its basic philosophy the belief that we should all participate in making this world a more just place to live in. Training for Transformation integrates the approach of Paulo Freire and how to put his method into practice, Manfred Max Neef's understanding …
We introduce a new approach to behaviour change called ‘Evo–Eco’ because of its intellectual roots in evolutionary biology and ecological psychology. This approach is based on the inference that brains evolved to provide adaptive behavioural responses to rapidly changing or complex environmental conditions. From this foundation, we develop a model with three basic components: the …
This is the second edition of The Johns Hopkins and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Public Health Guide for Emergencies, a textbook that has been widely used in the classroom and the field. We are excited with the production of this second edition which captures both the experience of the Federation and the academic public health perceptions of Johns Hopkins …
This manual is for community health program managers, field supervisors, and others who need to monitor and evaluate their programs. Most often people who have such a responsibility, also have to collect data as one
of their tasks. The manual will aid them to train others in a simple and rapid method for collecting data to use for monitoring and evaluation of community health programs. It is …
The purpose of this qualitative participatory action research study was multi-fold: first, to identify the ecological
factors which impede and promote health and well-being among orphaned and abandoned children in Sierra Leone; second, to facilitate Photovoice, a participatory action research method, among NGO workers to identify barriers to caregiving for orphaned and abandoned children; and …
What difference are we making? How do we know? The Good Enough Guide helps busy field workers to address these questions. It offers a set of basic guidelines on how to be accountable to local people and measure programme impact in emergency situations.
Its 'good enough' approach emphasises simple and practical solutions and encourages the user to choose tools that are safe, quick, and easy to …
The Participation Handbook for humanitarian field workers contains detailed practical advice on the participation of affected people in humanitarian action. It has three sections: Developing a participatory approach (main issues, key factors, building mutual respect, communication methods and advice on reviewing your approach); Implementing your participatory approach at every stage of the …
The PLA/PRA approach is used with the following assumptions:
1. Rural communities form active foundation for rural development
2. Communities need committed local leaders to stir up their development
3. Communities have knowledge and information but it needs to be organized
4. Communities have resources but they need to be mobilized. They can introduce projects, acting primarily on their own …
The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) have become one of the key resources for humanitarian workers since its launch in 2012.
The CPMS have been developed to support child protection work in humanitarian settings by: Establishing common principles between those working in child protection; Strengthening coordination between humanitarian actors; Improving the …
(2020)
Three billion people – 40 per cent of the world’s population – do not have a place in their homes to wash their hands with water and soap. Threem quarters of those who lack access to water and soap live in the world’s poorest countries and are amongst the most vulnerable: children and families living in informal settlements, migrant and refugee camps, or in areas of active conflict. This …
Jaitpur Village (Figure 2) 28°30'25.0"N 77°19'48.7"E is located in the Urban Limits of National Capital Region (NCR) Area near “NTPC’s Eco Park”. It comes under the Badarpur Constituency Ward No. 98-S (Figure 2) where an overall population of 125,000 resides in an area of 3.76 sq.km1 giving a population density of 15,775 person/sq.km1. The Village lies in a mid-gap of Yamuna River and …
The Tarabo Municipality is 14 km away from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This sub-district town is recognized as the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO. Tarabo Municipality is adjacent to the Shitalakkha river and the Dhaka-Sylhet highway has passed through the town. Within the last few decades, the sub-district town has been turned into an industrial zone of more than …
Safe collection, handling and transport of fecal sludge is an integral part of septage management. Limited attention has been paid to the safe collection, transport, disposal and treatment of human excreta from septic tanks. A study was conducted in two cities in India to understand the current desludging practices, the underlying reasons for current occupational practices and hazards, relevance …
Safety of sanitation workers remains an often-ignored aspect in Fecal Sludge Management. While shifting workers from manual to mechanical means of de-sludging remains a priority, this paper highlights that there are a number of safety issues, including exposure to sludge, faced by sanitation workers, even in a mechanised context, where de-sludging trucks are utilised to provide de-sludging …
Voices of youth, women, older persons, persons with disabilities, persons living with HIV, transgenders and LGBTIQ, sex workers, manual scavengers, Dalits, Adivasis, farmers, urban shanty dwellers, urban homeless, migrants and refugees. Leave No One behind is the core principle of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. A consultation was held in India in late 2019 involving 14 groups identified by Niti …
Foreign sex workers in Denmark are triply marginalised - due to their profession, legal status, as well as in matters related to menstruation. This pilot project aimed to assess the acceptability of the menstrual cup (MC) as well as education in menstrual health management (MHM) amongst 26 women from this group using the 'Nest International’' centre, who volunteered to be part of the project. …
Demonstration of Pro-poor Market-based Solutions for Faecal Sludge Management in Urban Areas of Southern Bangladesh is a project implemented by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in partnership with Khulna City Corporation, Jhenaidah and Kushtia Paurashavas. Improvement of working conditions in sludge emptying and transportation is identified as a major area of action under the project. In …
In Bangladesh, the most commonly used sanitation options such as pit-latrines and pour-flush latrine use pits or septic tanks for containing faecal sludge (FS) for a certain period of time which require regular emptying when the tanks or pits become full. This emptying and disposing of faecal sludge is usually performed in a traditional (manual) way by a certain group of people in the society …
The purpose of this book is to increase the effectiveness of relief works in providing humanitarian assistance during an emergency. To achieve this purpose, the book provides practical information relevant to the field workers, with a minimum of supporting theoretical background. The book does not aim to set out specific policy guidelines relating to humanitarian assistance- each agency will have …
This compendium presents low-cost technologies to improve the accessibility of household water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities. It is designed for use by people working directly with communities in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, including health workers and community volunteers.
Most of the ideas are designed to ensure access for disabled and older people, but are suitable for …
Sanitation workers are a vital workforce, key to Sustainable Development Goal 6, and yet they are often denied their rights to safe work. But how can working conditions be improved, if authorities know nothing about them?
This report presents options for how to carry out a quantification and profiling through assessments of workers at city level. The report contains the suggested scope for a …
This SWA Briefing Paper explores actions that can be taken by SWA partners that will improve gender equality in all aspects of their work.
While there has been significant progress over the last few decades, gender inequality continues to be one of the most pervasive human rights violations throughout the world. Despite considerable attention and commitment, including through the SDGs’ …
This handbook supports the implementation of health programmes in deprived environments, in particular in closed settings like refugees and displaced persons camps, in health structure. The purpose is to increase the effectiveness with which relief workers can provide sound water, hygiene and sanitation assistance in precarious situations.
(2006)
This manual has been prepared to cover installation and maintenance aspects of the Afridev
Handpump. This document results from several years of work carried out by Water & Sanitation Program
(WSP) in partnership with SKAT – RWSN (former HTN), NGO’s, handpump field workers and
the private sector in several countries. The experience gained in recent years has been incorporated into this …
Sanitation has been declared one of the essential services during the COVID-19 crisis. Sanitation workers are an integral part of sanitation service delivery and TNUSSP team has been engaging with them with the objective of improving their safety, health and welfare. In response to the current public health crisis, TNUSSP has developed a set of guidelines for different categories of sanitation …
To celebrate the occasion of International Women’s day on March 8 th , the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) has launched a social media campaign on women in sanitation. The stories being shared on social media raises important questions, not just to women but also to men who are playing different roles across the full …
Safe collection and safe disposal of fecal sludge is a critical component of septage management in which desludging operators play a central role. In order to understand their work, consultations were conducted with desludging operators in the Periyanaicken Palayam and Narasimhanaicken Palayam town panchayats of Coimbatore district. These consultations aimed to understand the current desludging …
The report identifies major global gaps in WASH services: one third of health care facilities do not have what is needed to clean hands where care is provided; one in four facilities lack basic water services, and one in 10 have no sanitation services. This means that 1.8 billion people use facilities that lack basic water services and 800 million use facilities with no toilets. Across the …
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As the UN Migration Agency, IOM acts with its partners in the international community to assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development through migration; …
The world is alarmingly off-track to deliver sanitation for all by 2030. Despite progress, over half of the world’s population, 4.2 billion people, use sanitation services that leave human waste untreated, threatening human and environmental health. An estimated 673 million people have no toilets at all and practise open defecation, while nearly 698 million school-age children lacked basic …
The 30th SuSanA meeting - the first virtual of its kind - took place from August 17th to August 28th 2020. It was organised by the SuSana Secretariat with support and contributions from SuSanA Partners, Members, Working Groups and Regional Chapters.
This entry is the collection point of the different resources from the SuSanA Meeting, including recordings, presentations, flyers and program …
Make Me a Change Agent: An SBC Resource for WASH, Agriculture, and Livelihoods Activities is an adapted version of the Make Me a Change Agent: A Multisectoral SBC Resource for Community Workers and Field Staff guide (produced in 2015 under The TOPS Program) and was co-created by the USAID Office of Food for Peace (FFP)-funded SCALE and PRO-WASH awards.
This adapted Make Me a Change Agent …
As part of the BCC component during Phase 1 of TNUSSP, a range of activities were undertaken in Tiruchirappalli and PNP – NNP. This included activities with general public, school children, sanitary workers and with Government officers of the ULBs. An assessment was carried out to understand the effectiveness of these activities, the findings of which are presented in this report.
Tiruchirappalli is a partially sewered city and a vast majority of the households are dependent on on-site sanitation systems. The city is serviced by nearly 30 private desludging operators and few urban local body owned trucks. In-depth interviews with desludging operators were conducted to understand their business, operational practices and challenges. This report presents the findings from …
This publication summarizes the sanitation and hygiene hopes and aspirations of thousands of women and men of different ages and physical ability, across rural and urban areas in eight South Asian countries. In these countries, over a billion people are without safe sanitation. They represent individuals and groups rarely heard because they are seldom asked what their constraints are, what they …
In this library entry we have grouped together up to five documents that we think are important "first reading" materials for anyone wishing to obtain a quick overview of this topic. For more details, please see the external links to the discussion forum below.
The documents listed in this library entry in reverse chronological order already exist as individual library entries but have been …
The sanitation workforce provides an essential public service to all. They clean and empty pit latrines, septic tanks, sewers and other sanitation systems, transport faecal sludge, remove contaminants from the sludge and process the sludge for disposal or reuse. Constantly exposed to faecal microorganisms, hazardous waste and harsh chemicals, sanitation workers are susceptible to several …
(2019)
Building on the success of the first four International FSM Conferences in Chennai (2017), Hanoi (2015) and in Durban (2011& 2012), the FSM5 conference brought together professionals working in the sector, including utilities, service providers, cities, governments, academics, scientists, consultants, donors and industries, to support the global initiative of disseminating sustainable solutions …
Every year, the human race produces over 350 million tonnes of poo – that’s enough to fill 140,000 Olympic swimming pools! Unless that human waste is properly dealt with, every single gram will pose a significant health risk to us and our planet.
Ensuring that our contact with human waste ends when we leave the toilet is one of the most important jobs in society, and yet around the world …
The global sanitation workforce bridges the gap between sanitation infrastructure and the provision of sanitation services. Sanitation workers provide an essential public service but often at the cost of their dignity, safety, health, and living conditions. They are some of the most vulnerable workers. They are far too often invisible, unquantified, and ostracized, and many of the challenges they …
WoMena’s SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Which, and how many, products are used?
This FAQ focuses on disposable or reusable products, which are commercially available. Little information is available on traditional or homemade products. Estimates of how many products are used differ widely. Some estimates from High-Income Countries indicate around 30 products per cycle (390 annually), …
This compendium is designed for use by staff working directly with communities - e.g. health workers and community volunteers working with disabled and older people and their families in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. A few examples of technologies are presented that families can adapt to suit their needs and budgets. Many more options are possible. Most of the ideas are suitable for disabled …
The Sanitation Project
In 2017, Dalberg Advisors carried out a study of sanitation workers across India – the first of its kind – to understand the issue both from a worker perspective as well as a supply-side or institutional perspective
The Sanitation Workers Project is a structured, first-of-its-kind 5-month long study of sanitation workers across India carried out by Dalberg Advisors …
November 19 is World Toilet Day. Enormous progress has been made in the global effort to provide safe and affordable toilets for the world’s poorest citizens since World Toilet Day was first declared in 2001. Significant strides have been made in “reinventing” toilet designs for low-income, water-short, unsewered urban zones; celebrites such as Bill Gates and Matt Damon have brought this …
The responses provided a canvas of problems with sustaining ODF that covers technical, behavioural and physical issues. These issues, persistent since before SBM, must be overcome before India could move onto ODF+, ODF++ and ODF-S. All the issues were related to the ODF-centric approach of SBM that focussed only on toilet coverage.
The technical problems concerned the quality of construction …
This handbook has been prepared to guide the community health motivators, health and sanitation workers as well as community leaders to adopt and facilitate the CLTS approach in communities where sanitation programmes are being implemented. It is believed that this will help the concerned individuals to get a clear concept of CLTS and guide them to adopt its methods at the community level.
The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) for Health (W4H) Program has put together a comprehensive package of materials for you to use in your communication sessions. These materials have been developed to help you change WASH behaviours in your communities. The following is a list of the types of materials contained in the WASH for Health Communication Package. Materials have been developed for …
UNIQUE VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER LTD.
Unique Vocational Training Center Ltd. (UVTCL) started its operation at the end of 1999 under the title of “Guan Choun Unique Vocational Training Center” with active support of Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore. Registered with the Board of Investment (BOI), this Overseas Training Center (OTC) was established to match the quality of …
The Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Health, launched the Community-Based Environmental Health Promotion Programme (CBEHPP) on 17th December 2009. The purpose of this programme is to significantly reduce, by 2012, the debilitating national disease burden that currently exists and, in so doing, will contribute significantly to poverty reduction outcomes. CBEHPP will strengthen the …
Nepal Government, Ministry of Education implemented the Letter grading system in SLC.The door of TSLC program is open for those who have appeared 10th grade exam and achieved any GPA and any grade in any subject. Focusing on such students the curriculum of TSLC of 29 months and 15 months has been converted into 18 months.
This is the competency based and market oriented curriculum guide for …
This Irrigation and Drainage Paper is intended to provide guidance to national planners and decision-makers, agricultural and municipal managers, field engineers and scientists, health and agricultural field workers, wastewater treatment plant operators and farmers. Consequently, it covers a broad range of relevant material, some in considerable depth but some more superficially. It is meant to …
The broader objective of the Participation Oriented Safety Training (POST) manual is to support emptiers and employers involved in this field to improve their knowledge of occupational health and safety in both manual and mechanical operations. The present training manual aims to address the risks involved in faecal sludge handing and emptying operations through the implementation of …
Pit latrine linings for emergency sanitation facilities require different performance criteria from those for pits used in longer-term development work. Various international initiatives are currently under way to develop new methods of supporting the pits used for latrines in emergencies, but before a solution can be found, the problem needs to be defined. Current field guidance lacks the level …
On-site sanitation is a desirable option in many contexts and various on-site technologies have been rolled out in South Africa, as well as other countries, as a basic standard of adequate sanitation. Most on-site sanitation
systems accumulate sludge in a collection chamber which eventually becomes full and needs to be
emptied; the system can then be recommissioned for another cycle of use. If, …
Community-led total sanitation (CLTS) is a participatory approach to addressing open defecation that has demonstrated success in previous studies, yet there is no research on how implementation arrangements and context change effectiveness. We used a quasi-experimental study design to compare two interventions in Ethiopia: conventional CLTS in which health workers and local leaders provided …
This report seeks to understand:
(1) the current state of girls’ experience with menarche and MHM in Kenya,
(2) the donor, government, and NGO responses to girls’ needs, and
(3) opportunities for research, advocacy,
and programming to better address these needs.
This complements a Global Landscape Analysis and is one of three Country Landscape Analyses focused on India, Kenya, and …
This report seeks to understand:
(1) the current state of girls’ experience with menarche and MHM in India,
(2) donor, government, NGO, and company responses to girls’ needs, and
(3) opportunities for research, advocacy, and programming to better address these needs.
This complements a Global Landscape Analysis and is one of three Country Landscape Analyses focused on India, Kenya, …
This report seeks to understand:
(1) the current state of girls’ experience with menarche and MHM in Ethiopia,
(2) the donor, government, and NGO responses to girls’ needs, and
(3) opportunities for research, advocacy, and programming to better address these needs.
This complements a Global Landscape Analysis and is one of three Country Landscape Analyses focused on India, Kenya, and …
This discussion paper reviews the extensive literature on sanitation to show that inadequate access to this basic service prevents the realization of a range of human rights and of gender equality. We recognize that “dignity” is a highly culture- and gender-specific term; we therefore argue that sanitation for all—sanitation that serves all genders equally—must be designed and planned …
The underlying purpose of sanitation interventions is to protect public health. Management and investments in improvements on sanitation systems should be made based on adequate understanding of the actual health risks posed by the systems and how these risks might best be controlled.
Sanitation Safety Planning (SSP) is a risk based management tool for sanitation systems. This manual focuses …
(2015)
GIZ carries out water projects in around 50 different countries, acting at the municipal, national, regional, and global levels. GIZ teams often work on the ground with ministries, regulatory authorities, regional governments, water associations, and also directly with water utility companies. GIZ develops forward-looking concepts for the water sector in cooperation with UN organisations, the …
The Third International Faecal Sludge Management Conference was held in Hanoi from the 18th to the 21st of January 2015. More than 700 delegates from around the world shared ideas and discussed challenges and opportunities in on-site sanitation.
Below you find the list of papers in chronological order by day (Day 1-3) and room (room 1-3 ). In order to search by author, simply press "Ctrl+F" …
This library entry contains background documents for a grant that Mbaye Mbéguéré is leading and which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Further information and a discussion is available on the SuSanA discussion forum, see the link below.
Short description of the project (and goals):
The National Office for Sanitation in Senegal (ONAS) has received a $17,070,000 grant …
This book is a collection of case studies on sanitation and hygiene initiatives in South East Asia and the Pacific and provides an opportunity for those in the region who work in sanitation to share
their experiences — whether they started out as engineers, educators, public health workers, marketers, anthropologists or development generalists. I hope that by doing so, it will help to develop …
(2010)
"Use of urine" is the thematic topic of the third issue of Sustainable Sanitation Practice (SSP). If urine is collected separately, treated and converted to agricultural usage, the biggest step towards nutrient reuse and highly efficient water protection is taken.
Issue 3 contains the following articles:
Opening minds and closing loops – productive sanitation initiatives in Burkina Faso …
This volume of the WHO's Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater describes the present state of knowledge regarding the impact of excreta and greywater use in agriculture on the health of product consumers, workers and their families and local communities. Health hazards are identified for each group at risk, and appropriate health protection measures to mitigate the …
Volume 2 of the Guidelines explains requirements to promote safe use concepts and practices, including health-based targets and minimum procedures. It also covers a substantive revision of approaches to ensuring the microbial safety of wastewater used in agriculture. It distinguishes three vulnerable groups: agricultural workers, members of communities where wastewater-fed agriculture is …
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