Capacity for local governance of sanitation services provision among poor urban communities in Honduras

Although access to sanitation in Honduras is low, with coverage of only 69%, it is well on its way to meeting the MDGs by rapidly improving the coverage. Nevertheless, these statistics do not reflect the sustainability nor use of these facilities, which would bring down the real coverage. Wastewater mostly isn’t adequately collected and treated, with increasing impact on sustainability of water resources.

One of the main reasons for this situation is the limited capacity of communities and authorities to govern sanitation services, or the way in which they engage in decision-making on the planning, implementation, monitoring and support to sanitation services. This study aimed to formulate specific recommendations for strengthening the capacity of these actors for improved local governance of sanitation in different types of setting.

Here we report on the finding from the small town of Talanga and the peri-urban areas of Tegucigalpa. Specific recommendations for both types of settings are presented, alongside more general recommendations, such as the need to extend post-construction support mechanism from water supply to sanitation and to strengthen participatory planning processes in sanitation development in urban settings.

[Paper to be presented at the IRC symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor, Delft, The Netherlands, 19 - 21 November 2008]