A Sanitation Series paper focusing on the issue of “storage”; discussing the need for on-site sanitation to work as a system, and the potential for partnerships. In the last few years sanitation has been making a resurgence on the international development agenda. Calls for partnerships to help those without proper access to sanitation are growing apace. Yet while we increasingly understand the circumstances in which partnerships to provide urban solid waste collection or drinking water can be successful, much less is known about partnerships for sanitation. This situation prompted BPD to review five cases of urban sanitation in cities in Southern and Eastern Africa. The work served to highlight both the scale and the complexity of the challenge faced. Access to sanitation in poor communities is generally very poor, and while various stakeholders are working to address the situation, there is often little cooperation between them. Efforts are fragmented and there is little debate and even less consensus on the best way to move forward. This paper discusses the need for on-site sanitation to work as a system and debates the potential for partnerships. Much of the discussion is therefore looking, extrapolating from the existing experience on the ground in five case studies. Yet BPD’s observations do suggest some very concrete conclusions: 1) Too little attention is paid to the fact that on-site facilities are typically only one link in a broader chain of waste removal and treatment. 2) For the public goods of sanitation to become a reality, public subsidies will be often be needed. These subsidies need to reinforce rather than undermine the private and provider’s goods. 3) Manual latrine emptying needs to become a recognised part of broader solutions and the health risks must be mitigated. 4) Solid waste offers interesting parallels for on-site sanitation but disaggregated demand remains a key challenge. 5) Sludge transfer and disposal are key bottlenecks to delivering a viable sanitation system. 6) Partnerships may offer one way of reconciling the links needed, but sanitation offers challenges distinct from either water or solid waste.

Bibliographic information

Schaub-Jones, D. (2005). Sanitation Partnerships: Beyond Storage Building Partnerships for Development (BPD), Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), UK

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Faecal sludge treatment processesEnglish

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