WASH: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

World Water Day 22 March, 2014

THP Perspective: Access to clean water is widely seen as the challenge of the 21st Century, and is a critical component of good nutrition. Traditional top-down, service delivery approaches have not produced sustainable results or led to the behavioural changes necessary, particularly in halting open defecation – a major cause of water-borne disease and malnutrition.

Safe sanitation is a gender issue – men rarely see it as a priority, yet around the world women are forced to get up before dawn to relieve themselves without risking sexual assault – a profound violation of human rights and basic human dignity. Lack of safe sanitation facilities is a reason why thousands of girls are kept out of school.

Key Interventions:

• The Hunger Project communities, and particularly The Hunger Project’s trained women leaders, place high priority on WASH and mobilise their communities in mass-action campaigns for total sanitation.
• CLTS: community-led total sanitation is the methodology developed at IDS.

Key messages:

• Investing in sanitation is one of the most efficient investments for poverty reduction.
• What medical discovery has saved more lives than any other? Soap.

Global Campaigns and Initiatives:

• World Water Day – March 22
• World Toilet Day – November 19

Key agencies:

• UN-Water comprises representatives from 31 UN Agencies
• The UN Human Rights Commission has a Special Rapporteur on the right to clean water and sanitation.
• WaterAid is a leading NGO in the sector, and works closely with THP.
• Water for Humans is an innovative NGO that partners with THP-Mexico.

Key reports and data sources:

• The World Water Development Report (WWDR) is an annual and thematic report that focuses on different strategic water issues each year
• The Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) reports on the capacity of countries to make progress towards the MDG water and sanitation target and on the effectiveness of external support agencies to facilitate this process.

• Malaria Maps Reveal that 184 million Africans still live in extremely high-risk areas (The Lancet)
• The Importance of Multi-sectoral and Integrated Nutrition Strategies
• World Water Day 2014
• Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Approaches to Creating Open Defecation Free (ODF) Community
• Care for Child Development: Improving the care of young children (UNICEF and WHO)
• New Freshwater Conservation and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Integration Guidelines by Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG)
• We Can’t Wait: Women, Sanitation and Hygiene 2013
• Social Mobilisation and WASH

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