Essays on urban sanitation
For the IRC symposium on Sanitation for the Urban Poor (19-21 Nov 2008, Delft, The Netherlands), IRC has invited five authors to write an essay that provides an overview of the concurrent thinking around five selected topics: improving local governance; partnerships for sanitation; dynamics of urban settlements; financing sanitation for the urban poor; and effective urban sanitation technologies for the poor. The authors have been asked to provoke discussion, and therefore to formulate strong but well argued conclusions.
The authors are selected on the basis of their proven track record in each of the particular fields.
Financing sanitation in poor urban areas
15 Nov 08
This essay addresses innovative ways of financing safe sanitation in poor urban households and neighbourhoods. Although sanitation comprises several components, this paper focuses only on human excreta disposal. It is argued that the urban poor already finance their sanitation, mostly in loss of time, energy, dignity, health, income and development opportunities. To turn these losses around and fulfil basic human rights, creative financing systems are needed. Using a combination of literature review, personal and documented experiences, the authors present an overview of traditional and innovative financing approaches and mechanisms for urban poor sanitation, and discuss their advantages and limitations.
Authors are senior programme officers at IRC: Christine Sijbesma, Carlos Diaz, Catarine Fonseca and Christelle Pezon.
Sijbesma_Essay-Sijbesma_et_al_IRC_Financing-sanitation.doc (206.0 kB)
Urban sanitation technologies: the challenges of reaching the urban poor
05 Oct 08
In the densest urban areas of the world, it is impossible to treat and manage excreta and greywater on site. The problem of delivering sustainable sanitation services in these conditions is one of scale, to deal with the excreta and greywater from millions of people. This paper discusses the various technical options and makes recommendations for how to minimise risks as far as possible so as to maximise the health benefits to the residents. Author Richard Holden was invited to write this essay as a contribution to the IRC symposium, Sanitation for the Urban Poor. Richard Holden is a business analyst with the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority in South Africa looking at transformation in the bulk water sector. [Format of the essay is based on WEDC conference paper´s format]
Holden_Essay-Richard_Holden_Sanitation-technolgies-for-the-urban-poor.doc (141.0 kB)
Partnerships for sanitation for the urban poor: Is it time to shift paradigm?
30 Jul 08
A small but growing number of successful partnerships are supporting sanitation improvement for poor urban households, but the sector should be cautious in assuming that models that have worked well for water can be extrapolated to sanitation. Partnerships are not a substitute for action by government, nor do they absolve government of responsibility for investing in service provision. They do hold the potential to harness fresh approaches to achieve public sector objectives, leverage capacity and broker the relationships needed to overcome mistrust, disengagement, poor accountability and the fragmentation that often characterises the sanitation sector.
Author Kathy Eales has been invited to write this essay for the IRC symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor. She is currently an independent consultant in the South African water and sanitation sector . She has wide-ranging experience in sanitation improvement in a range of settlement contexts, and has worked in policy development, service provision and regulation, working in national government, local government, the NGO sector and in research. She has a particular interest in informal settlements.
[Format of the essay is based on WEDC conference paper´s format]
Eales_Essay-Kathy_Eales_Partnerships-for-urban-sanitation.doc (115.5 kB)
Moving down the ladder: governance and sanitation that works for the urban poor
16 Jul 08
The paper argues that the widespread privatisation of basic services in the 1990s has in turn led to a redefinition of the role of an ‘instrumentalised state’, in which the traditional functions of legislation, regulation, direct provision and investment have been significantly redefined, in many cases bringing the role of the state closely aligned with the creation of “new business opportunities for transnational corporations”
Author Adriana Allen has been invited to write this essay for the IRC symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor. She is Senior Lecturer Director, DPU Research Programme and MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development at the London University. Adriana Allen has almost 20 years of experience of teaching, research and consultancy in urban and regional environmental planning and management (EPM), institutional development and capacity building for sustainable development.
[Format of the essay is based on WEDC conference paper´s format]
The political and administrative context of slum improvement : two contrasting Indian cases
14 Jul 08
This essay describes two entirely different approaches to slum improvement implemented in comparable contexts. The first case concerns slum improvement projects in two rapidly growing million-plus cities in Andhra Pradesh. The second case is that of the ten-year experience in the construction of toilet blocks in Indian urban slums by urban poor federations and women's cooperatives, with the support of the NGO SPARC.
Author Robert-Jan Baken has been invited to write this essay for the IRC symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor. He has done a PhD on the land markets in two cities and has authored a number of publications on the same topic. For his PhD he has done extensive research in all informal settlements of two cities in India – Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam.
[Format of the essay is based on WEDC conference paper´s format]
