Programme, presentations and papers

Programme, presentations and papers -abstracts as well as full papers- presented at the IRC symposium ‘Sanitation for the Urban Poor: Partnerships and Governance’, 19 – 21 November 2008, Delft, the Netherlands.

Author: Syed Ayub Qutub.Rapid urbanisation has increased the need for an adequate sanitation system in Quetta, Pakistan’s 12th largest city but inadequate institutional capacities have hindered the development of one. This has caused chronic problems in the city’s 47 Katchi Abadis (informal settlements).

Building inclusive sanitation markets for the poor

Author: Malva Rosa Baskovich, Peru . The “Alternative Pro-poor Sanitation Solutions in Peru” (APSS) initiative proposes a market approach to sanitation based on the interaction of: a) a demand who gives priority to sanitation, because identifies tangible benefits (e.g. value of their housing investments and their social status), b) a competent, articulated and profitable local-national supply, able to provide an integrated sanitation package (sanitation options, installation and maintenance services, financial facilities and post-purchasing advice and support), c) a micro-credit system which includes financial products for sanitation; and d) key local actors committed to sustainable sanitation management, as well as to the promotion and regulation of this market.

A new revolution for urban sanitation: lessons from the nineteenth century

Authors: Maggie Black; Ben Fawcett. The sanitary revolution that occurred in Britain and the industrializing world in the latter half of the nineteenth century has several valuable lessons for the similar revolution now needed to enable 40 per cent of the world’s population to access toilets and sanitation services. Among the most important are those concerning governance.

Monitoring environmental sanitation by city-dwellers in Vila Machado, a peri-urban bairro of Metro São Paulo

Authors: M.L. Borba; D.V. de Souza, Brazil. The Paiva Castro reservoir is part of the Cantareira Water System. Coordinated by SABESP, the São Paulo State Basic Sanitation Company, the System generates 33m3 of water per second in order to meet the demand of nine million city dwellers for treated water in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, Brazil. At the reservoir’s shores, Vila Machado, a low-income neighbourhood, has 95% of its houses connected to SABESP’s water supply network. Residents are happy with the water supply system but frustrated with the lack of a sewer collection network.

Rethinking sanitation improvement for poor households in urban South Africa

Author: Kathy Eales. The massive acceleration in sanitation provision in South Africa has been to the credit of all involved since democratisation. But it comes attended by huge problems which render the situation unsustainable in many locations. The principle parameters are a combination of water scarcity and declining quality arising from an inability to treat increasing amounts of sewage.

Creating access to credit for water and sanitation: women's self-help groups in India

Authors: Heather Arney; Sait Damodaran; et.al. This paper looks at the development of a water and sanitation loan fund deployed through a network of women’s self-help groups in Southern India. The success of the loan fund reduced barriers to credit from formal lending institutions and increased investment in water and sanitation facilities.

Social Marketing for Scaling Up Sanitation for the Urban Poor – a case of slum communities in Kawempe Division, Kampala City

Authors: I T Kamara; et.al. The paper presents experiences of using social marketing to improve sanitation in urban slum areas to scale up improved sanitation and hygiene practices.

Sanitation in peri-urban areas in Africa

Author: M.A. Keijzer et.al. The sanitation situation in the poor peri-urban areas in Africa is extremely bad. The inhabitants of these areas suffer from inconvenient, dangerous and unhygienic sanitation. The relevant utilities in these cities have no or very little involvement in sanitation in the poor peri-urban areas where the houses are not connected to sewerage systems. The absence of safe and private toilet facilities at walking distance has a significant negative impact on the dignity, health and well being of the inhabitants.

A $0.14 home: financing the urban sanitation through group savings

Author: Robertson Khataza. Malawi is one of the countries with the highest rate of urbanisation estimated at 6.4%. The country faces serious challenges associated with the rapid growth of urban slums and informal settlements. Nearly 90% of urban residents in the traditional housing area live in overcrowded slum conditions under excruciating effects of poverty. On average, there is too little plot space left to accommodate further excavation of pit-latrines.