Sanitation Policies
Updated - Wednesday 18 April 2007
To find out what this TOP is about, you may read the Summary. As you read, you will find various temptations to link to other documents with useful and more detailed advice or experiences. In most cases, the underlined link will take you first to an abstract on this website telling you more about the linked document. You may then decide whether to let your browser take you to the full reference for reading, printing or downloading.
IRC's Thematic Overview Papers (TOPs) aim to give their readers two kinds of help:
- Easy access to the main principles of the topic - in this case Sanitation Policies - based on worldwide experiences and views of leading practitioners. (Please note that this TOP is based on the larger EHP document on Guidelines for Assessing National Sanitation Policies [327 KB]);
- Direct links to more detailed explanations and documented experiences of critical aspects of the topic on the world wide web.
Introduction
More than 2.4 billion people currently lack access to adequate sanitation and are forced to dispose of their excreta in unimproved and unsanitary conditions. Those who suffer from the lack of this most basic human need, also tend to be victims of poverty, ill health and an overall poor quality of life.
Sanitation is a critical intervention needed to improve living conditions among the world's poor and to reduce or prevent diarrhoea and other seriously debilitating conditions, especially among children.
The absence of supportive policies to provide the basis for planning and implementing sanitation programmes is a missing link to improving coverage at a large scale. This Thematic Overview Paper (TOP) focuses on policies designed and implemented to effectively close this gap. Its aim is to present an overview of recent experiences and trends along with ready-to-use references to links and important publications on the subject.
- - Download:
- sanpolicy.pdf (111.2 kB)
Summary
The starting point for this TOP is the demonstrable reality that, despite the best efforts of the global water sector over several decades, a major part of the developing world continues to lack adequate sanitation.
Importance of Policies and Key Concepts
Sanitation policies have often been unclear, contradictory or non-existent. With a few exceptions national level sanitation policy frameworks, within which national, state and municipal government agencies and the private and non-profit sectors operate, have not been adequate.
Case Examples of Sanitation Policy
Concerns for national sanitation policies are evident in most countries despite wide variations between countries. It is widely accepted that, without political will, sanitation policies will not be effective. The importance of clearly defined institutional roles and responsibilities is also widely accepted. Other aspects of sanitation policies are country-specific, for example, levels of service, the nature and level of subsidies, or views on what responsibilities should be assigned to different levels of government.
Nature of Policy
A series of key elements has come to be recognised as defining in outline the essential ingredients of good sanitation policies.
Issues to Consider
This section addresses some issues to consider in working with national sanitation policies, including the importance of policy process. Topical issues, the "drivers" of a particular policy-making effort, will change over time, though a number of important dimensions to sanitation policies appear particularly relevant.
TOP Resources
TOP Resources are divided into three parts. These three parts will be described in the following text.
