Key concepts

Sanitation here refers mainly to the facilities and hygiene principles and practices related to the safe collection, reuse and/or disposal of human excreta and domestic wastewater. Policies should also address the public health aspects of dealing with solid household wastes and wastes from animals even though separate policies might be planned to cover removal and reuse of these residues.

Policy is the set of procedures, rules and allocation mechanisms that provide the basis for programmes and services. Policies set priorities and often allocate resources for their implementation. Policies are implemented through four types of policy instruments:

1. Laws and regulations. Laws generally provide the overall framework. Priorities and regulations provide the more detailed guidance. Regulations are rules or governmental orders designed to control or govern behaviour and often have the force of law. Regulations for sanitation can cover a wide range of topics, including the practices of service providers, design standards, tariffs, discharge standards, environmental protection and contracts. These regulations, and especially design and discharge standards, have to be carefully adapted to local conditions and cannot be copied from regulations applied in the industrialised North. National agencies may also issue official guidelines that serve to define policies.
2. Economic measures. Examples of economic measures are user charges, subsidies, incentives, and fines. User charges, or tariffs, are charges which households and enterprises pay in exchange for the removal of human excreta and wastewater. Subsidies are allocations in cash or kind to communities and households for establishing recommended types of sanitation facilities or services. Creating the right economic incentives is often the most efficient way to find appropriate solutions. Fines are monetary charges imposed on enterprises and people for unsafe disposal, emissions and/or risky hygiene behaviours and practices, which are a danger to people and to the environment.
3. Information and education programmes. These programmes include public awareness campaigns and educational programmes designed to generate demand and public support for efforts to expand sanitation services.
4. Assignment of rights and responsibilities for providing services. National governments are responsible for determining the roles of national agencies and the appropriate roles of the public, private, and non-profit sectors in programme development, implementation, and service delivery. Although the focus here is on national policies, sub-national policies must also be considered, especially in large countries.