5. Low profile of sanitation in poverty reduction

The role of sanitation in improving livelihoods has a lower profile than water. There are many reasons for this, including:

• Low collective aspiration for improved sanitation in many low-income communities
• Difficulty in tackling intimate sanitation issues
• Lack of trust that sanitation services meet the needs of the poor
• Relatively low financial returns in comparison to the return on water investment
• Relatively low political capital for politicians, in comparison to water
• Insufficient investment from governments and the private sector
• Insufficient attention paid to the benefits of safe sanitation in public health policies and programmes
• Lack of focus on the needs of the poor in policies and institutions.

Poverty reduction has been the focus of international and national development agendas, especially of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In the water and sanitation sector, increasing volumes of waste water from rising populations and urbanisation present a serious health and environmental threat, both major factors in poverty. At the same time, there is a loss of economic value in sewerage systems and pit latrines in the wastage of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from human excreta and especially urine. Both rural and urban agriculture could use nutrients from human urine and faeces to improve people’s livelihoods.

The poor can exploit potential resources as consumers, producers, workers and citizens by making use of

• Natural resources such as human excreta, soil, sand, local material, etc,
• Physical resources such as latrines, soap, cleansing materials, spare parts, etc.
• Human resources such as skills, community knowledge and physical fitness
• Social resources such as capacity and potential for organisation, networking, mobilisation, participation, management
• Financial resources in cash, kind or labour
• Political resources such as entitlement to better sanitation, health and a clean environment.