Despite the urgent need for adequate water and sanitation services in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there are significant challenges in constructing development projects which provide sustainable solutions to existing problems. This post is going to describe these challenges and explore how they can be overcome.
Continuing on from last week, the first component of sustainability is effective community demand. The challenge with this is that despite the need for water and sanitation facilities being universal, the understanding of local demand for such needs is not well-known because documentation is limited. Facilitation processes are hindered due to a lack of physical and technical infrastructure in SSA communities. The second component is local financing and cost recovery. The lack of financial services poses a significant challenge. Often it discourages community members from partaking in water and sanitation activities. The third component is dynamic operation and maintenance (Montgomery et al., 2009). Unreliable and inefficient services can be a result of inadequate monetary awareness and planning and a distinct absence of accessible replacement parts or technical expertise (Hutton and Bartram, 2008).
Breaching the Barriers
Improving both access and sustainability of water and sanitation facilities in SSA is a difficult task that requires development practitioners, engineers, and policymakers to work together to assist communities in achieving their goals. In their paper, Montgomery et al. (2009) identify four steps which can be taken to overcome the challenges to establishing sustainability:
- Improving communication-idea transfer and stimulating behavior change – local priorities ought to be understood through demand assessments;
- Increasing access to capital and financial sustainability – making use of alternative means of borrowing and managing financial resources can assist communities in overcoming financial barriers;
- Establishing dynamic operation and maintenance practices – community members should play an important role in developing and enforcing an operation and maintenance plan; and
- Call for assessing sustainability in water and sanitation services – assessment of use is important to global aims and determining success of projects.
Headway towards realising and ideally exceeding the water and sanitation targets set out in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires those involved in improving the situation of access in SSA to alter their concentration from focusing solely on increasing infrastructure to focusing on attaining long-term practicality aims through improving operation and maintenance of existing systems.
SDG 6. Source: United Nations
The basic components of sustainability arguably provide a structure for involved actors to organise and apply water and sanitation enterprises. If the African population were to be equipped with the means to effectively and efficiently support water and sanitation systems, the outcome would be one of improved economic, health, and educational benefits. Montgomery et al. (2009) go as far as to suggest it would provide ‘future generations of Africans with a realistic opportunity to escape the devastating cycle of poverty.’
This blog has identified and critically assessed a number of possible solutions to development challenges regarding access and use of water and sanitation in SSA. There has been a focus on the urban and the challenges it faces, looking at case studies in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Nairobi (Kenya), and Dakar (Senegal), among others. While the rapid growth of urban populations has amplified the demand for safe water and sanitation facilities, it is impossible for me to say whether this age has brought with it solutions which quash the tension between our growing needs and what the planet can provide.
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteSustainability is essential for the development of sanitation, and without it SDG targets will most definitely not be met. It has been evidenced the ability of the private sector to produce sustainable projects, but do you also think sustainable solutions can be developed from the work of charities and the donor community?
Hi Charlie,
DeleteThere are cases of private international philanthropy which prove charities and donors contribute to sustainable development practices. With a specific regard to sanitation, one particular charity comes to mind: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This foundation, which has said it works to ‘reduce inequality’ and ‘ensure more children and young people survive and thrive’, has rightfully focused on problems of access to safe and secure sanitation services. In 2011, it initiated the “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge” to bring sustainable sanitation solutions to the billions across the world whom are without improved sanitation services.
Just because the foundation says it provides sustainable solutions to long-standing problems does not necessarily mean it is sustainable. However, in my opinion, this foundation and its initiatives are sustainable. It keeps to certain guidelines and aims to ensure that it creates independent communities, which continue to function in the long-term.
These guidelines are related to: improving health; reaching those "off the grid”, especially those in poverty; being financially viable; and acknowledging the needs of the next generation.
If you would like to find out more about this foundation, please visit the links below.
Robert
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Reinvent-the-Toilet-Challenge
Now that you seem to have finished writing your blog posts, do you feel you are better positioned to comment on whether or not we will meet SDG Target 6?
ReplyDeleteHi Ana-Lin,
DeleteI do feel as though my understanding of this topic has developed significantly since the beginning of this academic term when I started writing this blog. Saying this, my opinion on whether or not we will meet SDG Target 6 is still permeable to critique. However, I will share my thoughts with you.
On the one hand, development initiatives which are bottom-up, participatory, have continuing support (Carter et al., 1999), and consider the three components of sustainability mentioned by Montgomery et al. (2009), are more likely to ‘ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’ (UN 2015). To ensure progress towards meeting and ideally surpassing the water and sanitation targets set out in the SDGs, requires us to focus on increasing infrastructure and attaining long-term functionality of existing projects.
However, throughout this blog I have argued that we will fail to meet SDG Target 6 unless we alter the way in which we conduct development initiatives. Development practice across Sub-Saharan Africa has been predominately “top-down” and, to a large extent, continues to be practiced in this way. This approach has rightfully been critiqued by scholarship for adopting a “one size fits all” approach, neglecting individual realities (Perera and Tang, 2013).
To answer your question, I believe the likelihood of us achieving SDG Target 6 is small, unless this age of rapid urbanisation and technological advancements can bring with it solutions and opportunities to improve systems and governance, as previous MDG targets have still not been met.
Robert
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg6
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-6593.1999.tb01050.x/epdf
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ees.2008.0388?journalCode=ees
https://www.routledge.com/Transforming-Asian-Cities-Intellectual-impasse-Asianizing-space-and/Perera-Tang/p/book/9780415507394
Hi Robert, particularly enjoyed this blog post. I found your blog rather insightful and interesting, linked it in one of my posts.
ReplyDeleteOff tangent and not related to this post of yours, but what do you think of aid? (My blog has an emphasis on the development aspect of 3038)
I lean more towards it having a debilitating impact on the recipient, especially in cases of long-term aid and financing, like Escobar has alluded to. What are your thoughts regarding aid?
Hi Yx,
DeleteThanks for your comment. I’m glad you’ve been able to take something from my blog.
My thoughts on the provision of aid are mixed for a number of reasons. Aid can come from a number of different sources – including international and national governments, international and national organisations, and grassroots and non-governmental organisations – so there is a chance the rationale for the provision of aid might not be as altruistic in nature as one might expect. For instance, some aid comes in the form of private international philanthropy. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as I discussed above, is an excellent example of aid provision which brings sustainable sanitation solutions to the billions across the world whom are without improved sanitation services. However, other cases of private international philanthropy are likely to have more selfish reasons for providing aid, such as for reasons of image. Thus, initiatives might not help those whom are most in need.
Altogether, despite my negative tone, I believe aid has the potential to promote great positive change. Hence, my support for the UK Government in increasing its aid budget over the last decade is endless.
Robert