A case study on work and environmental change

A gender approach to sanitation and drinking water supply in households combines more equality with poverty alleviation and more cost-effective projects when women are trained as masons and solid waste recyclers. Proper recruitment is very important: poor women with families have a higher need and commitment to work as masons than adolescent girls who seek gainful employment primarily to bridge the period between leaving school and marriage. The communities also need to be sufficiently large to allow generating enough demand for an income. Solid waste and urine are more easily used where there are opportunities to raise productivity, for example, in peri-urban vegetable plots and plant nurseries. Linking improved sanitation and urban agriculture is a promising strategy to reduce  poverty in low-income urban areas where poor women need to earn incomes in their direct home environments.  Lower-cost designs and construction methods, including those generated by users, and credit facilities from local government and/or savings-and-loan societies help make investments more affordable. [authors abstract]

This is a pre-publication of the article : "Adopting a gender approach in a water and sanitation project : the case of the 4 w's project in coastal communities in South Asia", a chapter in the book : "Diverting the flow : gender equity and water in South Asia".