Below are links to the full-text of 11 2009 reports from USAID, WaterAid, WSP and others on urban water and sanitation issues. I found these when responding to an information request and searching IRC’s Digital Library which is a great resource.
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1 – Rogers, J; Karp, A.; Nicholls, R.; Sukarma, R.; Bimo and Andharyati M., P.
(2009). USAID Indonesia – Support on water and sanitation sector analysis and program. Washington, DC, USA, USAID
The purpose of this report is to provide input for the water and sanitation portion of USAID’s five year development assistance strategy for Indonesia, including a proposed set of programmatic technical assistance activities that could constitute a USAID Water and Sanitation portfolio for the next five year period (2009-2014). Interventions would include PDAM capacity building; Finance activities including microfinance and utility/local government finance; Community Mobilization for water, sanitation, and hygiene; National and sub-national Advocacy Strategies to increase political and financial commitment; Strategies to address Sanitation (advocacy, infrastructure, and behavioural); Increase Access to water services among poor households in urban/peri-urban areas; Rural approaches to improving access to drinking water; Sanitation in coastal areas including technology and behavioural innovations; Household alternative POU methods; Watershed activities impacting water quality and quantity ; Water Quality Testing and reporting. The authors recommend that seventy percent of the USAID funded project budget be directed to water, with thirty percent applied to sanitation and hygiene promotion. It is also recommended that the sanitation and hygiene promotion activities be implemented in a manner that will reduce associated risks, beginning with selection of communities where the likelihood of successfully benefiting the poor is greatest.
2 – Water and Sanitation Program
(2009). Global experiences on expanding services to the urban poor. (pdf, 1.73MB)
Report on the research initiated by the Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia in 2006–2007 to identify barriers to service delivery for the urban poor. The research included a review of various initiatives from across the globe that have resulted in improved service delivery for the urban poor and consultations with the urban poor communities. This report supports the Guidance Notes on Improving Water Supply and Sanitation Services for the Urban Poor in India. It is divided into two sections: Case studies of 18 initiatives from South Asia, Africa, and Latin America and Consultations with urban poor communities across four major Indian cities, namely, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Vadodara, and Delhi.
3 – Triche, T. and McIntosh, A.
(2009). Improving water supply and sanitation services for the urban poor in India. New Delhi, India, Water and Sanitation Program – South Asia. (pdf, 3.76MB)
Findings of the research to identify barriers to service delivery for the urban poor, initiated by the Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia in 2006–07. The Guidance Notes provide a systematic analysis of the barriers to service delivery for the urban poor and recommend practical solutions and strategies for overcoming these barriers. The Guidance Notes are based on an in-depth research of various initiatives from across the world (including South Asian, African, and Latin American countries) and consultations with urban poor communities across four major Indian cities (Mumbai, Bengaluru, Vadodara, and Delhi). An accompanying volume, Global Experiences on Expanding Services to the Urban Poor, is a documentation of ‘Global and Indian Case Studies’ and ‘Consultations with Urban Poor Communities’.
4 – Colin, J.
(2009). Urban sanitation in Indonesia : planning for progress. (Field note / WSP). (pdf, 1.14MB)
Urban sanitation planning needs to be more than a voluntary activity if it is to be undertaken nationwide. Government needs to develop both incentives and obligations for municipalities to adopt comprehensive strategies, by linking funding to the adoption of city-wide sanitation plans.
5 – WaterAid -Kathmandu, NP
(2009). Nepal: Is menstrual hygiene and management an issue for adolescent school girls? Kathmandu, Nepal, WaterAid. (pdf, 2.05MB)
This small scale study was undertaken with the objective of determining the prevailing knowledge and experiences of menstrual hygiene and management, and their implications, among adolescent school girls in rural and urban settings of Nepal. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in which mixed methods were applied. Data was collected from 204 adolescent school girls from four government secondary schools, one in each of Dhading, Morang, Lalitpur and Kathmandu districts, using self-administered structured close-ended questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGD), and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Four main recurrent themes have been identified in the analysis: a) knowledge and beliefs b) experiences during menstruation c) seclusion, exclusion and absenteeism and d) hygiene practices. Restrictions during menstruation that limit daily activities and routine are widely practiced. Further, lack of small things required for maintaining basic hygiene during menstruation, like privacy, water supply and waste disposal compound the situation. Conscious efforts need to be made to address lack of privacy, which is an important determinant for proper practice of menstrual hygiene and also school attendance.
6 – Castro, V.; Msuya, N. and Makoye, C.
(2009). Tanzania: Sustainable community management of urban water and sanitation schemes : (a training manual). Nairobi, Kenya, Water and Sanitation Program.
This manual is intended to provide a trainer with the tools and information to build management capacity in the target communities in Tanzania to improve water supply and sanitation management practices. The courses in this training manual are based on participatory training methodologies, an important feature of which is to draw on the experiences of all the participants, under the guidance of an experienced facilitator. The participants will likely range from those with extensive experience to those with no experience managing a water supply and /or sanitation scheme. However, where possible, the trainer should encourage sharing of ideas and experiences throughout the training. The seven modules are meant to equip communities with the tools to eliminate or reduce the major constraints in managing infrastructure and providing services. The manual also enables the clarification of the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. It covers technical issues such as operations and maintenance activities—but also has a strong focus on institutional, managerial, and financial issues. The material is especially relevant for communities who have a relationship with the main water services provider and who are also committed to hiring an Operations Manager. The Operations Manager, the report says, should be a paid employee and their performance should be reviewed by beneficiaries. Although the manual is geared for trainers, it has also been designed to serve as a reference tool for communities who may wish to review the material on an on-going basis. Government, planners and donors will also find the manual useful for helping to ensure that communities have the appropriate skills to manage their infrastructure schemes.
7 – Locussol, A.R. and Fall, M.
(2009). Guiding principles for successful reforms of urban water supply and sanitation sectors. (Water working notes; no. 19). Washington, DC, USA, World Bank.
This report focuses primarily on improving the service provided by official water supply and sanitation (WSS) service providers, which because of limited coverage or poor performance do not always have the monopoly of provision usually associated with WSS in urban areas. Chapter 1 rapidly analyzes the data published by the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for monitoring the evolution of access to urban WSS infrastructure. It also reviews the indicators developed by the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET) for measuring efficiency, reliability, financial sustainability, environmental sustainability, and affordability of piped WSS service. Chapter 2 summarizes the methodology proposed for assessing the accountability framework of urban WSS sectors, defined as the set of mandates of its key actors, contractual arrangements that clarify both interaction between actors and the instruments used by each actor to implement their mandates. Chapter 3 summarizes recommendations for designing and implementing reforms of WSS sectors and focuses on Involving stakeholders in WSS reforms; Revisiting WSS policies; Changing the culture of public WSS service providers; Optimizing WSS asset management and infrastructure development; Improving WSS service provision through internally developed programs; Improving WSS service provision through partnerships with the private sector; Financing WSS operations in a sustainable and affordable manner; Regulating the WSS service in a transparent and predictable manner; and Implementing WSS reforms.
8 – Wodon, Q.; Diallo, A.B. and Foster, V.
(2009). Is low coverage of modern infrastructure services in African cities due to lack of demand or lack of supply?. (Policy research working paper series / World Bank; no. 4881). (pdf, 1.5MB)
The aim of this paper is to show how to measure the contributions of both demand and supply-side obstacles to better coverage of infrastructure services using household survey data. Some households may live in an area where there is access to the service, but may still be located too far from the water pipe to be able to be connected. This paper suggests how, to some extent, this type of biases can be dealt with by using regression techniques and shows that using an econometric as opposed to a statistical approach to the estimation can make a significant difference in the results. Section 2 of the paper describes and formalizes in simple mathematical notations the methodology for assessing the relative role of demand and supply-side problems to explain lack of coverage of modern infrastructure services. Results obtained with this methodology for African countries in the case of urban coverage of piped water are then provided. The next section presents an alternative econometric approach to assessing the magnitude of demand and supply-side constraints to coverage, as well as the results obtained from this alternative method
9 – Tettey-Lowor, F.
(2009). Closing the loop between sanitation and agriculture in Accra, Ghana : (improving yields in urban agriculture by using urine as a fertilizer and drivers & barriers for scaling-up). (pdf, 2.4MB)
Urban agriculture is now a predominate feature within the urban ecological system but it is confronted with many challenges key amongst them is the high cost of mineral fertilizers which has led to the search for alternative fertilizers. Meanwhile the majority of the city’s populace uses the public toilet as their main means of sanitation making these places a potential source of nutrients production for urban agriculture in Accra in the form of human excreta and urine. The value of human urine as nutrient is well known amongst some of the farmers and its application has been advocated on many platforms on sustainable sanitation worldwide but its implementation on a wide scale virtually remains unknown.
10 – Ondieki, T. and Mbegera, M.
(2009). Impact assessment report on the PeePoo bag, Silanga village, Kibera, Nairobi-Kenya. (pdf, 2.57MB)
This study report is intended to be an informational tool that help project designers understand better the problems encountered in improving sanitation in Kibera Slums, Nairobi, Kenya and provide sustainable solutions. It is not meant to be a technical design manual, nor is it a comprehensive reference document on existing technologies.
The primary objective of this study is to find out if the Peepoo bag meets the objectives, expectations and perceptions of beneficiaries/end users in meeting their sanitation needs and demands, and if the product is designed in such a way that it not only biodegradable but economically viable in terms of generating organic manure for sale.
There were many women interviewed during this study and thus showing the overall high number of women to men who participated in the use of the Peepoo bag. This ratio indicates that the peepoo bag would greatly assist women and children’s sanitation in Silanga Village, Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya.
About 40% of the respondents live on less than a dollar a day as indicated by the monthly income distribution while the high monthly rent further explains the high poverty levels thus exerting pressure on the already strained sanitation services. At least 90% of the users of the Peepoo bag strongly recommended it as the absolute sanitation solution within Kibera and the same percentage also felt that the Peepoo bag is safe and clean to handle. More than 80% of the respondents were of the opinion that the Peepoo bag be sold for less than Ksh.5 (USD 0.0625) to make it affordable to the majority of the slum dwellers.
There was a significant need for Peepoo bag usage in Silanga Village because more than 50% of the respondents admitted that they throw their waste using the flying toilet approach. On the distribution of the Peepoo bag, the majority of the respondents were of the opinion that group leaders, community based organizers, church leaders, youth and village elders be used in coordinating the distribution process.
The size of the Peepoo bag ellicited concern among the respondents. Over 60% suggested a bigger bag to fit both urine and feaces at the same time. The use of the Peepoo bag would save valued time that is otherwise spent queing to access toilet facilities. It was noted that the fertilizer benefit seemed most valuable for the majority of respondents because of the implied financial benefits that such a venture would bring to the community.
The Kibera Slum areas present unique challenges to sanitation improvement. Most challenging are the characteristics that set these areas apart from the urban and rural sectors: poor site conditions, unreliable water availability, high population density, the heterogeneous nature of the population, and the lack of legal land tenure.
These characteristics are much more complex than those typifying rural and formal urban areas.
The standard technical and social solutions for low-cost sanitation currently used in rural communities are not necessarily appropriate for improving community sanitation in slum areas. Conventionally, most community sanitation problem assessments and project design efforts focus primarily on the technical feasibility of the various technical options. Experience to date suggests that these technology-driven projects often fail to meet their objectives.
This report suggests that the complexities of peri-urban settlements require that a more comprehensive interdisciplinary approach be used to understand the problem before attempting to design a project that will address peri-urban community sanitation needs. This report reviews the key public health, environmental, social, financial, economic, legal, and institutional issues that many of these settlements face which must be understood before developing a program designed to improve a peri-urban community sanitation service.
To address these problems, the project designer must deal not only with engineers but also with legal experts, financial analysts, social scientists, urban planners, and a wide range of institutions, such as the water and sanitation utility, the Ministry of Health, urban development authorities and the municipalities.
11 – Platz, D.
(2009) Infrastructure finance in developing countries—the potential of sub-sovereign bonds. United Nations.
This paper sets out to explore the potential of sub-sovereign bonds in financing infrastructure in developing countries. Taking into account the historical experience of the US, it develops a supply and demand side framework for analysis of the market for sub-sovereign bonded debt in developing countries and applies this framework to Mexico, India and South Africa. Finally, it draws lessons for countries seeking to promote markets for sub-sovereign bonds. Evidence suggests that the regulatory environment, a diversified financial sector and increased capacity for debt support and management matter most for the development of the sub-sovereign bond market.
