Background

Why focus on WASH in institutions?

Basic WASH services in settings like schools, health care facilities and workplaces are critical to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on education and health. Aligning the work of WG 7 with the SDGs, it is therefore a logical step for WG 7 to extend its focus to WASH in institutions (i.e. schools, healthcare facilities, workplaces, religious settings, prisons) with the goal of strengthening water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools and other institutions within community structures.

Doing so, WG 7 can build on its past activities in the area of WASH in schools, which as of now will remain the focus of its work. The Three Star Approach to WASH in Schools (UNICEF/GIZ 2013), for example, even though conceived and implemented long before the adoption of the Agenda 2030, addresses a number of SDGs and brings them to life in an integrated, yet simple framework.

In order to delve into other institutional settings, it is suggested that experts from the health sector are invited as observers to the next SuSanA meetings (SuSanA Anniversary, WG Meeting Minutes, 01/2017).

Why focus on gender equality?

Taking gender aspects into account is essential for sustainable sanitation and hygiene. Targets 6.1. and 6.2 (“equitable access”, “equitable sanitation and hygiene”) are prerequisites for wider improvements in gender equality (SDG 5). In turn, gender inequality becomes particularly apparent when looking at water, sanitation and hygiene issues in developing countries.

The provision of hygiene and sanitation is often considered a woman’s task. Women’s hygienic needs are often silenced or ignored: menstruation, for instance, is considered a taboo in many societies, resulting in insufficient menstrual hygiene management (MHM). Moreover, women are non- or at best underrepresented in decision-making processes regarding toilets, sanitation programs or projects which oftentimes results in female concerns with regard to sanitation practices being rarely addressed. Yet in order to achieve SDG 6 (as well as SDG 4 and 5), the needs of half the population cannot be ignored.

The goal of WG 7 is therefore the mainstreaming of gender into sanitation programs and the involvement of men and women into sanitation projects.