Lighting should be provided for WASH facilities in Humanitarian contexts according to several standards. Evidence for this and the practical budget, operational and management responsibilities are less clear. A three-country research project looking at the impact of lighting on WASH use and Gender-based Violence (GBV) required a multi-disciplinary approach, combining OXFAM’s practical implementing expertise with WEDC’s research-orientated approach. The research showed how much more is needed for safe sanitation than just building latrines. Lack of usage of latrines had implications for environmental health. A reason for not using latrines was due to fear of many things, including GBV. The location of the facility was a common concern, but simple lessons are not easy to distill as the context varies between settlements and changes rapidly over time. The provision of lighting was welcomed by a wide range of stakeholders, but other factors still affect both GBV and WASH outcomes.
Reed, B., Hastie, R., Vidal, J., Bastable, A., Akers, K., Fisher, J. & Lafrenière, J. (2018). Shedding light on humanitarian sanitation conference paper WEDC, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
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