Background paper - Pro-poor sanitation and hygiene in East Africa: Turning challenges to opportunities

This paper provides a contextual background for the March 2011 East Africa Practitioners Workshop. The information presented is a synthesis of literature and our personal views. In East Africa, poverty remains one of the greatest challenges facing the people and their governments. From a water and sanitation perspective, commendable achievements for better health, water and sanitation have been realized. The public health situation in East Africa’s urban poor is greatly compromised because of inadequate sanitation and hygiene. The institutional framework for addressing urban sanitation and hygiene does not work for the poor. Sanitary conditions are particularly poor in East Africa’s slums, where a majority of residents resort to open spaces and pit latrines that are over-used and inadequately maintained. Conventional public finance in sanitation generally focuses on subsidies for household and public toilets and grants for urban sewerage and solid waste systems. Despite these challenges numerous opportunities can be discerned. These opportunities include advocacy, research, service delivery, and even programming interventions for civil society, the private sector, and the state(s). The other opportunities relate to pro-poor financing through loans or revolving funds managed through micro-finance institutions. Civil society could engage sanitation and hygiene for the urban poor and explore partnerships to support civil society participation in these crucial policy processes. While the discussion in this paper is not exhaustive or even fully representative of the current and complex sanitation and hygiene situation in urban East Africa, it shows glaring gaps for intervention. The paper will contribute to both discussions at the workshop and also provide a basis for further in-depth studies on policy, advocacy, and research on pro-poor sanitation and hygiene in urban East Africa.

10. Background paper, Pro-poor S&H in EA.pdf (828.0 kB)