Women, Wellbeing, Work, Waste and Sanitation (4WS) - completed project

Woman, Wellbeing, Work, Waste and Sanitation, known as 4WS, is an action research project on alternative strategies of environmental sanitation and waste management for improved health and socio-economic development in peri-urban coastal communities in South Asia. This is an INCO-DEV project from the EU.

4WS: The final report

The 4WS (Women, wellbeing, work, waste and sanitation) project could virtually meet all its objectives. Both toilet provision and solid waste segregation and reuse by women proved to be socially and economically viable in Bangladesh and Kerala. In Sri Lanka, alternative types of work were found for 60 young women, as women’s work as masons did not work out. Contrary to project planning, only young unmarried women had come forward to be trained. They did not continue after marriage.

Read more or download 4WS PROJECT FINAL REPORT for EU.pdf (1.0 MB)

EU flashes Women, Well-being, Work, Waste and Sanitation (4WS) results

On the occasion of World Water Day 2007 the EU flashed on its Asian web page results from the collaborative research project Women, Well-being, Work, Waste and Sanitation (4WS) in which IRC is active. On top of that the EU press department also put out a mid-day news flash on the project results.

Women, well-being, work, waste and sanitation action research input for new EU policy paper

One page with highlights from the three-year EU-funded action research on Women, well-being, work, waste and sanitation (4WS) by project partners from Bangladesh, Finland, India, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka is published in a new publication of the EU Water Initiative “Directing the flow - a new approach to integrated water resources management”.