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DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Offers New Political Profile for Sanitation

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 7 2009 (IPS) - When the United Nations concluded its International Year of Sanitation (IYS) last December, it left behind some 2.5 billion people worldwide waiting in line for toilets that did not exist or were in short supply.

The most “positive outcome” of IYS is that it raised the profile of sanitation and gave it more political prominence, says David Trouba of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) in Geneva.

In an interview with IPS, Trouba said: “The IYS also highlighted the fact that sanitation work is changing from a government-led minor service provision sector to a huge market-driven human activity.”

During IYS in 2008, he pointed out that governments allocated more funding to sanitation; parliaments made commitments to incorporate sanitation as a basic human right in national constitutions; and policies and action plans on sanitation were signed in many developing countries.

Doing sanitation right takes time, so you don’t see progress automatically overnight, Trouba said.

“It is difficult and hard work, combining social sciences, political, institutional and technical work. It is slow steady work, house by house and community by community.”

“I feel, however, that the IYS acted as a springboard which in the end will accelerate progress on the ground for those 2.5 billion people without adequate sanitation,” Trouba added.

The 2.5 billion people – a figure that keeps popping up in endless U.N. studies on health care – comprise about 38 percent of the world’s population, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.

The worrying conclusion of a 2008 report of the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) – authored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF – is that at the current rate, the world will miss the sanitation target in the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by more than 700 million people.

Of the countries not yet on track to meet the sanitation target – but making rapid progress – five are in sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Cameroon, Comoros, Mali and Zambia, according to JMP.

“If we are to reach the MDG target, we need to provide at least 173 million people per year with access to improved sanitation. And to do that, commitments must become the day-to-day reality of the sector,” said Trouba.

Meanwhile, the Geneva-based Global Sanitation Fund (GSF), created in March 2008, is trying to boost progress on sanitation – particularly towards MDGs and beyond.

The eight MDGs, which also include reduction of poverty and hunger by over 50 percent, have a target date of 2015.

But according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the MDGs are being undermined by the ongoing financial and food crisis.

Jon Lane, executive director of GSF, told IPS the Fund is just getting underway, so its difference-making contribution is probably a year or two down the road. “Symbolically, it showed that there can be creative financing mechanisms in sanitation – something which is necessary.”

In operation, he said, the GSF will not embark on the construction of kilometres of sewerage pipes and other huge construction projects, since top-down investments in the sanitation sector don’t reach the poorest people.

Instead, it will support programmes that have been developed through decision-making processes involving local communities, and will concentrate on hygiene education, raising awareness and creating demand.

“The GSF has an aspiration to grow to around 100 million dollars per year – large enough to make a difference on the ground for millions of people and also large enough to show what works, and thus attract more investment in sanitation, either through the GSF or other mechanisms,” Lane added.

As part of several pilot projects, the GSF has provided assistance to at least seven countries: Burkina Faso, India, Madagascar, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, and Uganda.

But several other developing nations have also been knocking at the GSF door seeking assistance.

Asked about the major shortcomings in meeting the sanitation needs of developing nations, Trouba said that in the past, shortcomings have been many: lack of political will; the subject of sanitation does not have the appeal of its better-known cousin, water; insufficient funding; top-down, government-led, subsidy-driven programmes.

The sanitation sector is wide and complex. It involves many stakeholders and is marked by a major feature: the need for habit and awareness change at all levels, from households to donors to presidents, Trouba noted.

Supply-driven centralised policies are singing their last swan song. The winds of change – for demand-creation and hygiene – are blowing.

“We know that sanitation is vital for human health, generates economic benefits, fosters social development, protects the environment and is doable,” Trouba said. “I think you will see more focus on sanitation and progress in the sector in the years to come,” he predicted.