Nature of Policy

What makes up adequate national sanitation policies?

A series of key elements has come to be recognised as defining in outline the essential ingredients of good sanitation policies. These elements cover a range of important issues.

1. Political will
   Political will refers to the support given to policies by politicians, government officials and representatives of influential organisations. Political will may be influenced by human resource commitments, budget allocations, high profile events, or voting.
2. Development of policies that includes all stakeholders
   To be effective in guiding changes in sanitation services sanitation policies must be developed and formulated with the involvement and participation of the stakeholders. Policies have legitimacy to the extent that all stakeholders (including political leaders, government officials, donor representatives, the private sector and men and women in the general public) collaborate in their development and see them as a valid expression of current government actions and future intentions. There has to be belief in the policies and their purposes and this can only come when stakeholders have been included in formulating the policies and in participating in making informed decisions.
3. Legal framework
   A major aspect of legitimacy for sanitation policies is the legality of the policy statements. A legal basis is important and may take the form of laws, legislative acts, decrees, regulations and official guidelines. To be comprehensive this basis should encompass the full range of legal instruments, from the essential legal statutes to the practical technical guidance materials used to implement the policies. Without a legal framework to guide overall policy implementation, sanitation programmes and projects run the risk of violating societal norms and failing to address the objectives for which the policies were established.
4. Population targeting
   Sanitation services are usually designed to serve the needs of specific population groups. Three population groups generally need priority attention because of their inadequate sanitation services. These groups, which can be found in almost all developing countries, are the urban poor in large cities (especially in the poor and peri-urban areas of large cities), residents of small towns, and most of the rural population. National sanitation policies are more likely to be effective if they specifically target such groups when it can be shown that they are underserved in comparison to other groups, such as the urban elites and wealthy populations in general. Population targeting involves not only statements of priority but also meaningful action programmes and budgets.
5. Recognition of dimensions of gender and poverty
   Among households poor families are generally the last to improve sanitation, not because of differences in hygiene perception but because of reduced access to relevant information and to means of, or preconditions for, installation - such as land, or, for poor female heads of households, labour. Within households men and women have different interests in sanitation, different reasons for installing a disposal system and different roles in the installation process. In managing sanitation programmes it is also important that women and men of the different social and economic groups are equitably represented and involved. Recognising and catering for differences in means and interests, and achieving equity for women and men in the various strata, contributes to the effectiveness and sustainability of programmes. In contrast, excluding individual groups from sanitation policies, or overburdening them, may result in negative effects.