Sanitation

Sanitation refers to issues around human excreta: disposal, collection, treatment, transfer and re-use in whatever form. Safe sanitation refers to the secure and effective management of human excreta, including treatment and re-use, and widespread usage of safe toilets. On this page you will find news updates on sanitation, as well as information on:

- Sanitation for the Urban Poor: IRC Symposium 2008
- Learning and Sharing Workshops
- IRC Track Record on Sanitation
- Projects
- Publications

Sanitation Updates

This news feed on sanitation is maintained by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and by USAID’s Environmental Health knowledge management activity and the Hygiene Improvement Project. It was originally set up to promote the 2008 International Year of Sanitation and continues to provide news, information and resources in support of achieving the goal of sanitation for all.

Sanitation for the Urban Poor

The IRC symposium ‘Sanitation for the Urban Poor: Partnerships and Governance’ (19 – 21 November 2008, Delft, the Netherlands) brought together a wide range of experts and practitioners to provide a platform to share good practices and explore new ways forward. Ensuring sustainable sanitation services to the urban poor poses many challenges for which answers have not yet been found.

“The worst job in the world”

About 1.3 million Indians are still trapped in the degrading and dangerous job of manual scavenging of human excreta sixteen long years after the country passed a law to make the health threatening job illegal.

Learning and Sharing Workshops

In 2007 IRC started organising regional learning and sharing workshops on sanitation and hygiene. One of the main objectives of such a gathering is to get key players and practitioners to focus on “what works” and “what doesn’t work” in the area of sanitation. These workshops are a potential first step in the development of a community of practice on sanitation and hygiene.