Key Resources: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Gender and WASH: Policy
Governance and accountability
Gender and WASH: Practice
Organisations

Gender and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene): Policy

Women and WASH: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, Briefing Note (2013) Shamila Jansz and Jane Wilbur, WaterAid, www. wateraid.org/uk/what-we-do/policy-practice-and-advocacy/research-and-publications, (last accessed 2 May 2017), 4 pp.

This short paper provides a useful and accessible introduction to the topic of gender and WASH. Outlining the key focus areas for a gendered approach to WASH, the issues covered are: maternal and newborn health; girls’ education; menstrual hygiene; violence against women; dignity and self-esteem; inequality and discrimination; economic empowerment; and women’s rights. The paper ends with a short case study from India, describing a successful project which supported women to demand better services from their water provider, resulting in an average 20 per cent less time spent collecting water.

We Can’t Wait: A Report on Sanitation and Hygiene for Women and Girls (2013) Domestos, WaterAid, and WSSCC, http://wsscc.org/resources-feed/cant-wait-report-sanitation-hygiene-women-girls/, (last accessed 2 May 2017) 27 pp.

Another helpful introduction to the topic, this paper was published in 2013 by multinational company Unilever, in conjunction with the international NGO WaterAid, and the United Nations-hosted Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council as part of advocacy around the inauguration of International World Toilet Day. The paper outlines the scale of what it terms ‘the global sanitation crisis’, and what it means for women and girls, in particular, touching on areas such as (lack of) menstrual hygiene at home, school, and in the workplace, and the risk of ill health, shame, harassment, and violence when open defecation is the only option in the absence of safe, hygienic toilets. The paper includes useful facts and figures, and (in brief) the voices of some of those struggling to live with inadequate water and sanitation. Unsurprisingly, given that the paper comes from Unilever, there is a section on the roles the private sector can play in improving sanitation, through public–private partnerships, direct service delivery, and as advocates in countries for improved governance, financing, and capacity-building (making the point that it is national governments who are the duty bearers when it comes to the Human Right to Water and Sanitation). Final recommendations for what should be included in any forthcoming Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water and sanitation (the paper was published in 2013), can be compared with what was ultimately decided on for inclusion in SDG 6, in 2016.

Achieving Gender Equality Through WASH: GADN Briefing (2016) Kate Bishop, London: Gender & Development Network (GADN), https://static1.squarespace. com/static/536c4ee8e4b0b60bc6ca7c74/t/56f41cee2fe131a7e0b9651c/1458838767 309/Achieving gender equality through WASH – April 2016.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017), 18 pp.

This briefing paper, published by GADN partnered with WaterAid, shows that equitable and universal access cannot be achieved without specific gender equality measures in WASH policy and programming to ensure that the rights of girls and women to water and sanitation are met. The aim of the briefing is to set out the multiple links between gender equality and WASH to encourage dialogue, mutual understanding, and consensus between gender equality and WASH policymakers and practitioners. Ideally, a more detailed examination of the linkages through new research and innovative programme development will be carried out as a result.

‘Swimming upstream: why sanitation, hygiene and water are so important to mothers and their daughters’ (2010) Clarissa Brocklehurst and Jamie Bartram, Bulletin of the World Health Organization 88(7): 482–82, www.who.int/bulletin/ volumes/88/7/10-080077.pdf?ua=1 (last accessed 2 May 2017)

In this short piece, the authors describe the inter-generational effects for women and girls of inadequate WASH. Starting with problems around water collection during pregnancy, the risks to infant health from diarrhoea, a vicious cycle contributes to keeping women in ill health, out of education, in poverty, and bearing sickly children.

Insecurity and Indignity: Women’s Experiences in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya (2010) Amnesty International, London: Amnesty International Publications, www. amnesty.org/en/documents/AFR32/002/2010/en/, (last accessed 2 May 2017), 59 pp.

This report illustrates the realities of life for women in slums and informal settlements, who must contend with inadequate public services, including provision of safe and clean water and sanitation, and high levels of insecurity and violence. The report gathered evidence in four informal settlements in Nairobi, and Chapter 5, ‘Women’s Lack of Safety and Access to Essential Services’, details the lived experiences of individual women and girls who lack adequate access to toilets and bathing facilities. Crucial issues were health and privacy, and violence against women.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (A/HRC/33/49) (2016) The United Nations General Assembly,
http://www.refworld.org/docid/57cd86474.html (last accessed 2 May 2017), 21 pp.

The UN Resolution on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (see below) calls for an annual report from an independent expert – the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation – to be submitted to the UN General Assembly. In 2016, the Rapporteur’s report focused on gender equality in the realisation of the human rights to water and sanitation. The 21-page report includes discussion on gender equality in law and policies; intersectionality and multiple forms of discrimination; harmful social norms, stigma, and stereotypes; gender-based violence and psychosocial stress; availability and affordability; participation; empowerment; and accountability. The report argues that efforts to overcome gender inequality in respect of the right to water and sanitation must address women’s strategic needs, such as the eradication of harmful gender stereotypes, together with practical interventions focusing on meeting women’s material needs, e.g. adequate menstrual hygiene facilities. A leaflet summarising the key issues and challenges contained in the report (and presented in a more user-friendly style than the rather off-putting, formal report!) is available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Water/Pamplet_ GenderEquality.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017), 2 pp.

Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure Access to Water and Sanitation for All, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation/ (last accessed 21 March 2017)

SDG 6 – ensuring access to water and sanitation for all – builds on Millennium Development Goal Target 7c, which was to halve by 2015 the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The drinking water MDG target was met by 2015, but not that of sanitation. SDG 6 represents the international community’s aim of ‘achiev [ing] universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all’ by 2030. Of the eight specific targets for SDG 6, only target two makes explicit reference to gender issues, with a stated aim of ‘achiev[ing] access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls in those vulnerable situations’, and there are no explicit gender indicators included, either against this target or any others. A full list of SDG 6 targets, indicators, and further information can be found at the link above.

The Human Right to Water and Sanitation (2010) The United Nations General Assembly, http://www.onwa.ca/upload/documents/un-water-as-a-human-right.pdf (last accessed 12 July 2017), 3 pp.

While the right to water and sanitation has been included in previous United Nations (UN) conventions, covenants, resolutions, and reports, in July 2010 the right to safe and clean water and sanitation as a human right was made explicit in this stand-alone resolution from the UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/64/292). A 38-page UN factsheet, The Right to Water (2010), provides much useful information, see www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/ FactSheet35en.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017), and a four-page timeline of milestones on the road to the 2010 Resolution can be found at www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/pdf/ human_right_to_water_and_sanitation_milestones.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017).

Equity and Inclusion: A Rights-based Approach (2010) Louisa Gosling, London: WaterAid, www.wateraid.org/what-we-do/our-approach/research-and-publications/ view-publication?id=d98d98ad-b605-4894-97cf-0c7682e62b04 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 36 pp.

Designed by international NGO WaterAid to guide its own work on WASH, the Equity and Inclusion Framework set out in this report has become highly influential in the sector as a whole. The Framework first sets out WaterAid’s position and approach – defining the principles of equity and inclusion as they relate to WASH, and the application of them through the adoption of an anti-poverty, rights-based (rather than needs-based) focus, working to include the most disadvantaged people (who may include women, people with disabilities, minority ethnic groups, and people belonging to specific castes, for example) and being aware of the dynamics that cause discrimination, marginalisation, and exclusion at family, community, national, and international levels. The approach requires an understanding of why people lack access to adequate WASH, a commitment to working with duty bearers to strengthen their capacity to deliver, and a commitment to support those without adequate provision to claim their rights to WASH. The Framework goes on to provide standards and indicators for equity and inclusion, an explanation of terms, and examples of marginalised groups in relation to WASH.

Water and Sanitation for Disabled People and Other Vulnerable Groups: Designing Services to Improve Accessibility (2005) Hazel Jones and Bob Reed, Loughborough: Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), ISBN: 9781843800798, see https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/details.html?id=16357 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 322 pp.

Following the recognition that women’s specific needs were routinely being ignored in WASH provision, this path-breaking work, published in 2005, sought to extend inclusion in domestic WASH programmes to the hitherto largely ignored demographic of people with disabilities, along with others such as elderly people, pregnant women, and people living with illness. Written for WASH planners and those working on the ground to provide services, the book has a strong practical focus, combining discussion of disability and WASH, programming advice, and technical design advice.

Leave No One Behind: Voices of Women, Adolescent Girls, Elderly and Disabled People, and Sanitation Workers (2015) Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), http://wsscc.org/ resources-feed/leave-no-one-behind-voices-of-women-adolescent-girls-elderlypersons-with-disabilities-and-sanitation-workforce/ (last accessed 2 May 2017), 40 pp.

This advocacy report published by the WSSCC and the FANSA, was produced for the South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) VI in 2016. Aiming to bring to the voices of those ‘who are barely visible; who rarely speak, decide or sign anything’ (p. 7) to the attention of decision-makers at this regularly held ministerial conference, the report relates the experiences of those whose needs are being ignored, including sanitation workers and waste collectors. Based on the results of consultations with marginalised groups of people – including transgender communities, plantation workers, and fisherfolk – in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the paper sets out a list of key demands (which include consultation with regard to the building of WASH facilities, and community ownership) plus a number of recommendations for bodies planning, designing, and delivering sanitation and hygiene projects and services.

Governance and accountability

Gender Practice in Water Governance Programmes: From Design to Results, WGF Report No. 4 (2014) Moa Cortobius and Marianne Kjellén, Stockholm: Stockholm International Water Institute, http://watergovernance.org/resources/genderpractice-in-water-governance-programmes-from-design-to-results/, (last accessed 2 May 2017), 30 pp.

This report assesses the strategies and results of 11 water and sanitation programmes – located in Central and Southern America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Pacific – that aimed to incorporate gender equality issues into their design. Arguing that despite the widely recognised importance of women’s role in water management (both in the household and in small-scale agriculture), the strong engineering focus of many water and sanitation programmes means integrating social concerns, particularly around gender, is challenging. Key findings of the report include the need for genuine commitment to the goal of gender mainstreaming on the part of programme leadership, and the willingness to bring in gender expertise, for example, through alliances with women’s organisations. Further, agencies and organisations involved in water and sanitation governance need to review their own structures and practices, and also improve their understanding of the power dynamics that reinforce gender inequalities more broadly. An interesting point made by the authors is the emphasis in the programmes assessed on the improved efficiency and sustainability that would derive from adopting a gendered approach. Only one of the programmes examined justified its gender work in terms of promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. This is in a context, as the authors explain, of increasing donor pressure to demonstrate cost-effectiveness and development discourse that emphasises economic and social benefits, rather than issues of justice or rights.

‘Grassroots women’s accountability mechanisms: strengthening urban governance through organising and partnerships’ (2015) Rachael Wyant and Katarina Spasić, Gender & Development 23(1): 95–111, available at http://policy-practice.oxfam. org.uk/publications/grassroots-womens-accountability-mechanisms-strengtheningurban-governance-thro-347213 (last accessed 2 May 2017)

This article details the experiences and lessons learned from an 18-month project undertaken by the grassroots women’s network The Huairou Commission, which established women’s groups to participate and monitor decision-making and basic service delivery in poor areas of the cities of Metro Manila in the Philippines, and Thankot in Nepal. The initiative was undertaken in the context of the trend towards decentralisation, which is often seen as a potential solution to the problem of poor governance and corruption, but where, the authors argue, community-driven, bottom-up strategies are needed to hold governments to account. The Nepal case study focuses specifically on women’s action to improve access to drinking water and sanitation.

Oxfam Social Accountability and WASH Case Studies (2017)

Social Accountability in Lebanon: Promoting Dialogue in Humanitarian and Development WASH Programmes, http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/social-accountabilityin-lebanon-promoting-dialogue-in-humanitarian-and-develop-620219 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 6 pp.

Social Accountability in Pakistan: Participatory Governance in Urban WASH, http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/social-accountability-inpakistan-participatory-governance-in-urban-wash-620222 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 8 pp.

Social Accountability in Sierra Leone: Influencing for Pro-poor WASH Investment in the 24-month Post-Ebola Recovery Planning, http://policy-practice.oxfam.org. uk/publications/social-accountability-in-sierra-leone-influencing-for-pro-poorwash-investment-620223 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 8 pp.

Social Accountability in Tajikistan: Enhancing Trust Between Communities and Water Service Providers, http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/socialaccountability-in-tajikistan-enhancing-trust-between-communities-and-wat- 620224 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 6 pp.

These case studies from some of Oxfam’s social accountability and WASH projects outline experiences and key learning in a variety of contexts. They provide insight into the kind of work being undertaken by international NGOs to support citizen engagement with WASH provision and governance, and all include some reference to gender issues.

A Political Ecology of Women, Water and Global Environmental Change (2015) Stephanie Buechler and Anne-Marie S. Hanson (eds.), London and New York: Routledge, ISBN: 9781138232242

With a focus on environmental issues, this edited volume examines rural and urban livelihoods dependent on rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal locations, and illustrates the ways in which gender interacts with other social and geographical factors in water use, management, and governance. With case studies from Central and South Asia, Northern, Central and Southern Africa, and South and North America, the book makes clear the gendered nature of policies and practices around water management and climate change, water pollution, large-scale development and dams, water for agricultural use, and knowledge production, globally. Case studies also provide examples of women-led adaptation to pressure on water resources in the face of global environmental change.

Gender and WASH: Practice

Gender in Water and Sanitation (2010) The Water and Sanitation Program, Nairobi: WSP and World Bank, www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/WSPgender-water-sanitation.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017), 40 pp.

The Introduction to this paper makes clear the disproportionate effect on women and girls of inadequate WASH provision, and how this both causes and reinforces gender equality, and hampers countries’ long-term economic development. Aimed at those working to mainstream gender in the sector – government ministries, NGOs, WASH providers, donors, etc. – the paper discusses adopting a gendered approach in policy; in WASH provision in the workplace, and urban and rural areas; in monitoring and evaluation; in civil society initiatives; in hygiene promotion; and in relation to WASH and HIV/AIDS. With checklists and examples of good practice accompanying each section, the paper is a practical guide for planning and reviewing gendered WASH responses across the sector.

Violence, Gender and Wash: A Practitioners Toolkit: Making Water, Santitation and Hygiene Safer Through Improved Programming and Services (2014), Sarah House, Suzanne Ferron, Marni Sommer, and Sue Cavill, SHARE Consortium, http://violence-wash.lboro.ac.uk/ (last accessed 2 May 2017)

This comprehensive toolkit contains a wealth of information and practical materials designed to address the increased vulnerabilities that can arise from lack of access to adequate WASH services. Intended for use by WASH practitioners in development, humanitarian, and transitional contexts, it is also of value for those working on gender-based violence, gender, protection, health, and education. Content is organised into briefings on improving WASH programming in relation to violence; institutional commitment and staff capacity; and the protection sector and WASH. Eight tool sets provide, for example, methodologies on working with communities, case studies of violence, gender and WASH, and case studies of good practice in policy and programming. Because of the sheer volume of content, the toolkit takes a little bit of time to get to grips with in terms of its organisation. However, it is a resource of major importance to all those working to counter violence in the WASH sector and beyond.

Menstrual Hygiene Matters: A Resource for Improving Menstrual Hygiene Around the World (2012), Sarah House, Thérèse Mahon, and Sue Cavill, London: WaterAid, www.wateraid.org/what-we-do/our-approach/research-and-publications/viewpublication?id=02309d73-8e41-4d04-b2ef-6641f6616a4f (last accessed 2 May 2017)

Aimed at improving practices for women and girls in lower- and middle-income countries, Menstrual Hygiene Matters is a major resource not only for WASH practitioners, but for anyone wishing to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issue. Hugely informative and accessibly written and presented, it comprises nine modules, which cover key aspects of menstrual hygiene in different settings, including communities, schools, and emergencies. Each module is accompanied by its own toolkit, which includes checklists, technical guidance, case studies, further information, and a bibliography. It is downloadable as a single document, or as individual modules and toolkits.

Resource Guide. Working Effectively with Women and Men in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programs: Learnings from Research on Gender Outcomes from Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Projects in Vanuatu and Fiji (2010), Gabrielle Halcrow, Claire Rowland, JulietWilletts, Joanne Crawford, and Naomi Carrard, Sydney: International Women’s Development Agency and Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, http://www.genderinpacificwash.info/system/resources/
BAhbBlsHOgZmIjoyMDExLzAxLzI0LzE5LzA0LzQyLzkzMS9XQVNIX2ZsYXNo
Y2FyZHNfZmluYWw0d2ViLnBkZg/WASH_flashcards_final4web.pdf
 (last accessed 2 May 2017), 68 pp.

With a focus on Pacific Island countries, this is a resource aimed at WASH practitioners, to enable them to ‘[r]ecognise, plan for, support and monitor social outcomes for women and men as part of WASH projects’ (p. 5). With a strong emphasis on community participation, this is essentially a short ‘how to’ guide to understanding and implementing gender mainstreaming in WASH programmes, which could perhaps equally be used for staff training in the area of gender and WASH. Indeed, Part 3 of the guide, ‘People & Organisations’, focuses on those implementing WASH programmes, and the importance of looking at attitudes, policies, and practices relating to gender equality within their own institutions. For those not used to or unhappy dealing with technical-looking manuals, checklists, and charts, the guide provides a very good introduction to gender and WASH programming.

Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH): IASC Gender Marker Tip Sheet (2012), InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC), http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/ resources/WASH2012TipSheet.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017), 2 pp.

The IASC is a body co-ordinating humanitarian assistance between UN and non-UN organisations, and produces guidelines and tools for use in the humanitarian sector. The IASC Gender Marker is a tool used to assess how well gender is integrated into a project. ‘Tip sheets’ on gender equality in various aspects of humanitarian response, e.g. food security, health, and so on, form part of the tool, and this two-pager deals with gender equality in emergency WASH interventions. A checklist sets out key questions and considerations for needs assessments, and project activities and outcomes, and sample activities and indicators are provided to support project analysis and implementation.

‘A framework for exploring gender equality outcomes from WASH programmes’ (2013), Naomi Carrard, Joanne Crawford, Gabrielle Halcrow, Claire Rowland, and Juliet Willets, Waterlines 32(4): 315–33 (a pre-print version of this article is available at https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/37894/1/Carrardetal2013_ GenderOutcomesfromWASH_WaterlinesPreprint.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017)

Aiming to assist practitioners and researchers in planning, identifying, and documenting the gender outcomes of WASH programmes, the authors of this paper put forward a conceptual framework for classifying gender equality changes arising from WASH interventions. They argue that with gender outcomes that have been attributed to WASH initiatives encompassing those directly related to improved services as well as outcomes connected to relationships, power, and status, more work needs to be done in order to gain a better picture of the links between WASH and gender. Their framework is based on outcomes reported in WASH literature to date, empirical research in Fiji and Vanuatu, and insights from gender and development literature.

Infrastructure for All: Meeting the Needs of Both Men and Women in Development Projects – A Practical Guide for Engineers, Technicians and Project Managers (2007) Brian Reed, Loughborough: Water, Engineering and Development Centre, University of Loughborough, http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/resources/books/ Infrastructure_for_All_-_Complete.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017), 227 pp.

This is an excellent guide for those working on physical WASH infrastructure development, designed to help engineers and other technical staff understand the need for gender analysis in WASH projects. Seeking, as the book’s foreword states, ‘to give the “civil” aspects of their work equal weight with the “engineering” aspects’, the book explains why an understanding of gender and other social relations will improve design, implementation, and use of engineers’ technical interventions, and provides examples in the areas of water resources, water supply systems, and environmental sanitation, of infrastructure that has considered the needs of both women and men.

‘Combining sanitation and women’s participation in water supply: an example from Rajasthan’ (2010) Kathleen O’Reilly, Development in Practice 20(1): 45–56

In this fascinating paper, the author describes a project where the well-intentioned, if illdefined, aims of women’s participation and empowerment went awry. Because of a lack of attention to men’s and women’s different access to village and household spaces, a sanitation programme – in the form of the provision of household latrines – marketed as promoting women’s empowerment and mobility, ended up (where the latrines were actually used, which was not always the case) creating reasons for women to remain in seclusion at home.

“Now we feel like respected adults”: Positive change in gender roles and relations in a Timor Leste WASH program (2012) Di Kilsby, ACFID, WaterAid, IWDA, https://acfid.asn.au/sites/site.acfid/files/resource_document/Positive-change-in-genderroles-and-relations.pdf (last accessed 2 May 2017) 36 pp.

Published by the Australian Council for International Development, WaterAid and the International Women’s Development Agency, this paper assesses the gendered outcomes of WaterAid’s WASH programming in Timor Leste. Significant changes in both women’s and men’s lives were identified, and for women, positive changes in both their practical and strategic gender needs were found to have taken place. Some interesting differences were apparent in how women and men perceived and valued different kinds of change, with women, for example, valuing increased harmony in the home (deriving from reduced tensions around water provisioning), while this was barely noted by the men.

‘Gender mainstreaming and water development projects: analyzing unexpected enviro-social impacts in Bolivia, India, and Lesotho’ (2017) Maryann R. Cairns, Cassandra L. Workman and Indrakshi Tandon, Gender, Place and Culture 24(3): 325–42

Using recent case studies from Bolivia, Lesotho, and India, the authors of this paper seek to address three questions: firstly, is mandatory inclusion of women in water governance and decision-making effective? Secondly, do water development projects provide equal benefits and burdens for women and men? And thirdly, in what ways are water projects affected by, and affecting, their gendered locations? Identifying major themes from all three contexts, the authors find that gender mainstreaming efforts are continuing to fall short in their aim of the equitable inclusion of women in their programming, and that specific geographic, environmental, and socio-cultural spaces are intimately related to how these equitability issues play out. Finally, the authors provide practical recommendations on how to address these issues.

Organisations

IRC, Bezuidenhoutseweg 2, 2594 AV, The Hague, The Netherlands, tel: 31 70 304 4000, email: via the website, website: www.ircwash.org

Founded in 1968 by the World Health Organization and the Dutch government as the International Reference Centre for Community Water Supply, IRC works as an international ‘think-and-do tank’, carrying out WASH programmes on the ground in 25 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and policy and advocacy work with NGOs, governments, and others, with an emphasis on providing long-term, sustainable solutions to the global crisis in WASH.

Rural Water and Sanitation Network (RWSN), c/o Skat Foundation, Vadianstrasse 42 St Gallen, CH-9000, Switzerland, email: ruralwater@skat.ch, website: www.rwsn.ch

RWSN is an international network of WASH professionals working in rural contexts. The network aims to share and develop knowledge and evidence, and raise standards in technical and professional competence, policy, and practice, with a particular focus on technologies and approaches that improve rural water supply.

Simavi, Naritaweg 135, 1043 BS Amsterdam, The Netherlands, tel: 31 88 313 15 00, email: info@simavi.nl, website: https://simavi.org

Working in the areas of WASH and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in marginalised communities in Africa and Asia, this Dutch NGO focuses its programme work on behaviour change communication, menstrual hygiene management, maternal mortality audits, sustainable WASH services, and faecal sludge management.

WaterAid UK, 47–49 Durham Street, London SE11 5JD, UK, tel: 44 (0)20 7793 4594, email: supportercare@wateraid.org, website: www.wateraid.org/uk

Now part of a global confederation of WaterAids (with WaterAid Australia, WaterAid Sweden, and WaterAid America) the NGO WaterAid began in the UK in 1981. The organisation has become internationally recognised as a leader in the field, having developed much influential policy and practice on WASH. The website’s Publications Library provides free access to many WaterAid resources, including research reports, training manuals, and policy briefings.

Water for People, 100 E. Tennessee Ave, Denver, CO 80209, USA, tel: 1 720 488 4590, email: info@waterforpeople.org, website: www.waterforpeople.org

This US-based NGO works to develop high-quality water and sanitation provision that is accessible to all, in nine countries – Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and India. Water for People’s project model aims to provide 100 per cent WASH coverage in a specific, targeted region of a country, then replicate that in new regions, developing a scaleable strategy for providing sustainable services to communities that currently lack adequate WASH provision.

Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), 15, chemin Louis Dunant, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, tel: 41 (0)22 560 81 81, email: wsscc@wsscc.org, website: http://wsscc.org

WSSCC is hosted by the United Nations Office of Project Services, and is a global membership organisation made up of WASH professionals working through programmes and policy and advocacy development, to ensure sustainable WASH provision for all, with a focus on the poorest and most marginalised members of society in low- and middleincome countries in Africa and Asia. As well as providing a forum for collaboration and knowledge-sharing in the sector, WSSCC operates the Global Sanitation Fund, which is funded by donor governments, and has provided over US$112 million to WASH programmes in 13 developing countries since its inception in 2008.

Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), School of Civil and Building Engineering, The John Pickford Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK, tel: 44 (0)1509 222885, email: wedc@lboro.ac.uk, website: http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk

WEDC is an academic and research institute, with a global reputation in the field of WASH. It offers Masters and PhD-level teaching and research, with a focus on developing knowledge and capacity in water and sanitation for low- and middle-income countries. The annual WEDC Conference is a major international event for WASH-sector professionals, and serves as a learning event providing knowledge exchange and continued professional development for those working in the sector.