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Sanitation

Around the world, fewer than one in three people have access to adequate sanitation. We want to change that. See below for some of our sanitation highlights; a collection of our more popular videos and resources on the topic. 

Sanitation highlights

Animations

Systems strengthening for sanitation

Podcasts

WASH Talk Podcast - Gender equality in rural sanitation 

WASH systems academy - Challenges in strengthening sanitation services

Blogs

What we learnt from using the Faecal Waste Flow Calculator in India

How are you and how is your loo?

Changing mindsets for city-wide sanitation

Resources

Briefing note - Achieving systemic change in faecal sludge management (2015)

Working paper - Towards systemic change in urban sanitation (2014)

Tool - Faecal Waste Flow Calculator

 

WASH news and events

Search and explore all 433 articles here

winners of the Sanitation Challenge for Ghana

Sanitation Challenge for Ghana rewarding excellence

A prize to reward excellence in urban liquid waste management in Ghana.
2014 WASH Sustainability Forum

WASH events calendar

Key conferences, meetings, webinars and international days
Cover photo of SWA briefing note

A SWA briefing note on climate change adaptation and mitigation

Adapting to climate change and fostering a low carbon water and sanitation sector.
Mayor and project manager sign the project agreement in Banfora

Banfora: Health centres in the spotlight

A new project SANIYA SO+ will be implemented in the 17 health centres of the commune of Banfora.
Participants of the SANIYA SO workshop

Banfora : Les centres de santé à l’honneur

Un nouveau projet, "SANIYA SO+", interviendra au niveau des 17 centres de santé de la commune de...
Traditional standpost in rural Romania

Financing small-scale water supply and sanitation systems

Key concepts and case examples from pan-European countries were presented at the webinar ‘Don’t...
Dr Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa, director general of the NDPC Ghana

Drawing lessons from WASH success stories in Ghana

Effective WASH services are a source of resilience for communities under threat from COVID-19.
Pascal Dubik, WSMT member in Panaba

Asutifi North District: A national beacon for hope for WASH

Asutifi North district was one of the three selected districts where successes and challenges in...
Asaloko primary school in Bongo district

Bongo District: Reversing the impact of fluoride

Bongo district was one of the three selected districts where successes and challenges in the...
Sylvester Adjapong director of impact and quality for Access Development explains the Nexus purification system at Sekyere Aboab

Wassa East District: NUMA water becomes a powerful selling point

Wassa East was one of the three selected districts where successes and challenges in the provision...
Sanitation Challenge for Ghana logo

Sanitation Challenge for Ghana evaluated

Lessons from the Sanitation Challenge for Ghana have been shared in a report and animation.
Participants at the Bihar workshop, February 2020

Holistic planning: a must to ensure sustainable services

Through source security, service provision and waste management, the state of Bihar has used a...
Clean Team container-based sanitation

Sanitation Challenge for Ghana: Winning sanitation solutions

Lack of prioritisation and funding for sanitation has led to slow progress in sanitation service...
Rural village in Kabarole district, Uganda

Vulnerable people have difficulty accessing WASH services

Vulnerable groups live a dog’s life – a feature article in Uganda’s Saturday Vision.
Sanitation systems animation clip

What does sanitation systems strengthening mean?

Watch this animation and sign up for our free basic course on WASH Systems strengthening!
Two men displaying plastic sanitation products to a crowd

Call for Consultant for Sanitation Financing Research Study

IRC Ethiopia seeks to engage a well-qualified individual consultant to analyse the financing and...

Blogs, podcasts, opinions and more

Search and explore all 198 posts here

Female sanitation workers in India (photo R. Shiva)

Health and safety of sanitation workers during the pandemic

On 30 June 2020, WaterAid India and the Urban Management Centre held a webinar on the health, safety and livelihood challenges sanitation workers...
USAID Transform WASH is supporting local manufacturing and distribution of hand washing stations

Small business and WASH in the age of coronavirus

Since the coronavirus began spreading throughout the world, few things have been unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our activities to develop...
Waste disposal at healthcare facility in Kabarole, Uganda

Treating medical waste during COVID-19 in the Global South

Is hazardous medical waste sufficiently managed?
Webinar invitation Stakeholder Concerns Testing Sewage for COVID-19

Allaying stakeholder concerns when testing sewage for COVID-19

Report of a webinar organised by the SuSanA India chapter, WaterAid India, IRC and the India Sanitation Coalition.
Isaac Adita, principal enrolled nurse at healthcare facility in Foe

Five-star toilets help health centre set new standards of hygiene

Some of the cleanest and smartest toilets in the whole Bongo district are found at Foe Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS). This community...
Cynthia Azure will look after the toilet in the market

Bongo Soe: household connections and the smartest market toilets!

Bongo district is increasing its reliance on small town water systems to provide safe water in areas where the population is more concentrated. Deep...
Asoloko schoolchildren

How safe water and sanitation brought new life to Asaloko

Asaloko is a small community in the Bongo district where lives have been transformed through the introduction of safe water and effective sanitation...
Phileman Azura, aged 15, a student at Foe Junior High School B at the solar mechanised water point

Bongo works with partners to resolve fluoride legacy

Bongo district in the Upper East Region of Ghana became known throughout Ghana for the quality of its water –for the wrong reason. The district is a...
Omanhene Nana Agyei Twum II

Omanhene welcomes new water supply for Wamahinso

The Omanhene (chief) of Wamahinso in Asutifi North, Ghana, has welcomed the new water supply in his town and called for more households to build...
Festus Boadi, WASH Field Officer for World Vision

Menace of solid waste and open defecation harder to tackle

Asutifi North is making giant strides in providing water services for its citizens – but progress on sanitation is proving much harder and slower.
Janet Wilson collecting water close to her house in Agravi, Ghana

Asutifi North: Collaboration makes water flow

Examples of how Asutifi North has become a beacon of hope for water services in Ghana.
Digni-loo (copyright globalcommunities.org)

Wassa East: Six communities become open defecation free

In 2015, Wassa East had very low levels of basic sanitation. But when the District Assembly launched a campaign to promote household latrines it...
Assefash Tadesse, sanitation entrepreneur

How an 8th grade dropout sanitation entrepreneur is saving lives

Becoming a sanitation entrepreneur against the odds in Ethiopia.
Faecal sludge management in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Citywide inclusive sanitation: applying systems thinking

Two major development players simultaneously publish papers supporting a more 'systems' based approach.
Covid-19 - what's missing

COVID-19–why the gaps in available data are far more terrifying

Who'd have guessed the biggest news item so far in 2020 would involve being told how to wash your hands? Yet it has been – at least for those of us...
A stormwater drain in Mumbai, India filled with sewage and floating trash (photo: Giacomo Galli)

What the shit is WASH doing about waste?

Seven reasons why the WASH sector should join forces with solid waste programmes.

Resources

Search and explore all 562 resources here

Ethiopia’s business environment and how it influences WASH market development

2020

Good practice for WASH in Ghana : meeting the targets for water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030

2020
The NDPC selected three districts in Ghana -...

Testing sewage for early warnings about COVID-19 : thematic discussion synthesis

2020
The challenges of developing an 'Indian' protocol...

An assessment of health extension workers and sales agents in creating demand for sanitation...

2019

Case Study: Strengthening the One WASH National Program for effective WASH implementation, Aleta...

2019

An assessment of demand creation of sanitation products and services

2019

Should sanitation be taxed?

2019
Ensuring that sanitation products and services...

The sanitation business of the Hand Pump Mechanics Association in Kabarole District

2019

Sanitation Challenge for Ghana : SC4Gh at a glance : contest for local assemblies

2019
Profile of liquid waste management strategy...

Leaving no one behind : identifying and addressing barriers to WASH service delivery in Uganda

2019
Nearly 10 million Ugandans face multiple...

Comptes nationaux du secteur eau, hygiène et assainissement

2019
Comptes nationaux du secteur eau, hygiène et...

Evaluation of water, sanitation, hygiene and environmental conditions in 40 healthcare facilities...

2019
The report gives recommendations on what needs to...

All systems go! WASH systems symposium : proceedings part 2

2019
All systems go! was the first event of its kind...

Sanitation and hygiene sector trends

2019
Unsafely managed sanitation, especially in rural...

Replication guideline to SEHATI programme approach (Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for...

2019
This book showcases an approach to expand the...

Role of youth in sanitation : synthesis document

2019
An expert panel highlighted the role of youth as...

Videos

Colloque Assainissement et Hygiène - IRC & UNICEF Burkina 2018
Starting a business to make slabs for latrines
Patrick's Poo
Getting to 100% universal access in Bhutan
From door to door
WASH goes to school
The importance of latrines in rural areas: a woman’s point of view
Giving Voice to Health: sanitation and safe water - music for social justice in Liberia
BRAC WASH faecal sludge management
Using Life Cycle Cost Approach (LCCA) helps the programme become more sustainable
WASH Stories from BRAC
BRAC WASH Programme
Marketing the Kayonjo latrine
WASHTech
Bangladesh pit latrines will power a business not a crisis
WASHCost Mozambique