Fecal sludge management: diagnostics for service delivery in urban areas - report of a FSM study in Hawassa, Ethiopia

This report summarizes the main findings of a case study on fecal sludge management in Hawassa,Ethiopia. The specific objectives of the study were: to provide quantitative and qualitative data on the sanitation situation in Hawassa from a socio-economic perspective, specifically as it relates to FSM; to do the above in such a way that the data is representative of the city as a whole but also providing a separate picture of the situation in low-income areas, primarily through qualitative means in the Hawassa case; to provide initial recommendations to guide discussions around future interventions in the sanitation sector in Hawassa, by contributing credible data and analysis; and to inform the development of analytical tools and guidelines, by road-testing draft tools using primary data collection

Why faecal sludge management matters and what needs to be done to serve poor communities better

This paper outlines findings and recommendations of a faecal sludge management (FSM) study in 12 cities, and looks at the need for FSM in poor communities. The study used secondary data from 12 cities in low and middle-income countries, to assess the institutional context and estimate outcomes in terms of safely managed faecal sludge. None of the cities managed faecal sludge effectively, although performance varied. Where the cities do address faecal sludge the solutions are partial, and tend to focus on sewerage systems which serve a minority. FSM requires strong city-level oversight and an enabling environment that drives coordinated actions along the sanitation service chain; and this was largely absent. This paper also looks at the sanitation services used by poor people and the FSM services they need, to provide an understanding of priority FSM challenges and as a means to identify solutions

Lessons from scaling up urban sanitation development in Indonesia and Mozambique

Indonesia and Mozambique are very different in terms of geography, culture, income, population and the type of sanitation used – and other aspects of development. This paper looks at urban sanitation development over the last 10 years in both countries – and the similar aspects of their development. In particular it looks at what lead to achieving national leadership: the role played by gating solid data and evidence; sanitation development models and how the critical role of effective advocacy. It ends with an overview of unresolved shared challenges and asks if these important issues provide lessons learned for other countries too

Fecal sludge management: diagnostics for service delivery in urban areas - summary report

Urban sanitation remains a significant challenge for most low- and middle-income countries. The urban population of the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) more than tripled between 1990 and 2015. While access to sanitation in LDCs has increased in relative terms, in absolute terms the number of people using unimproved sanitation has increased. Under the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is now a focus on the whole sanitation service chain from containment through to disposal. The challenge for urban sanitation under the SDGs is therefore not only to achieve universal access to toilets, but also that all excreta is safely managed along the whole sanitation service chain. This document provides a summary of the diagnostic tools developed for assessing FSM services and is based on field work carried out in the five cities of Balikpapan in Indonesia, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Hawassa in Ethiopia, Lima in Peru and Santa Cruz in Bolivia. It summarizes the tools themselves, lessons learnt about their use, and general policy recommendations

Attitudes and practises with regard to emptying of onsite systems in Maputo, Mozambique

Rapid urbanisation as well as the rising need for water from industries and agriculture is intensifying freshwater scarcity in delta cities such as Maputo, Mozambique. Environmental pollution caused through the disposal of untreated wastewater and faecal sludge is additionally increasing water competition, posing a serious hazard to public health. Safe water reuse could hereby significantly lower the pressure on freshwater resources, still cities in developing countries lack knowledge, tools and capacities to integrate reuse into the overall (waste)water and faecal sludge management. With a city-wide onsite coverage of 90% it is essential to understand prevailing attitudes and practises along the faecal sludge management chain in order to quantify the end-use potential. This issue has been addressed through a survey of around 1,200 households in Maputo conducted by a cooperation of the Technical University of Delft and the Water and Sanitation Programme of the World Bank

Diagnostics for assessing city-wide sanitation services

This paper presents results of research that has developed a set of diagnostic and decision-support tools for assessing sanitation services city-wide. It highlights features of the tools and illustrates key results from their validation through application in five cities worldwide. Collective use of these tools reveals and explains the complexities of the enabling environment and political economy within which sanitation services are delivered. Results present not only the status quo of services but also reasons for them being so. The tools have proven effective in guiding the collection, analysis and discussion of evidence, as a precursor to detailed feasibility studies, necessary to ultimately plan appropriate city-wide sanitation interventions