Strengthening Systems and Realising Human Rights: Strategies to Progress Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

This book explores two frameworks for progressing structural change that supports safe, universal and equitable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): systems strengthening and the human rights to water and sanitation. As such, it elaborates and defines the intersection between these two areas. Whilst inherently interconnected, the two also represent different entry points for change, with opportunity for increased intentional integration to improve progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation.

Systems strengthening is widely recognised as foundational for ensuring access to sustainable, equitable WASH services in low- and middle-income countries, leaving no-one behind. Such systems comprise clear sector policy and strategy, effective institutional arrangements, sufficient sector financing, regular cycles of planning, monitoring and review and capacity development across the sector; as well as the people, interactions, power relations and behaviours that shape these elements.

Equally, the human rights to water and sanitation provide numerous entry points for change, both in supporting people to claim and realise their rights and in supporting and advocating for governments at all levels to respond.

Effective approaches to strengthen systems and realise the rights depend on inclusive processes that meaningfully involve people and advance equality, including gender equality. They facilitate mutual learning, capacity building and increased accountability, promote informed choice and place development in the hands of those it concerns.

In Focus – a book series that showcases the latest accomplishments in water research. Each book focuses on a specialist area with papers from top experts in the field. It aims to be a vehicle for in-depth understanding and inspire further conversations in the sector.

Editorial: Systems strengthening and human rights as entry points for WASH
Juliet Willetts; Naomi Carrard; Mohamad Mova Al'Afghani

Galvanising and fostering sub-national government leadership for area-wide sanitation programming
Mimi Coultas; Mable Mideva Chanza; Ruhil Iyer; Lambert Karangwa; Jimmy Eric Kariuki; Hodaka Kosugi; Talia Timani Meeuwissen; Emmah Mwende; Jamie Myers; Philip Son; David Katwere Ssemwanga

Beyond inclusion: practical lessons on striving for gender and disability transformational changes in WASH systems in Cambodia and Timor-Leste
Chelsea Huggett; Livia Da Costa Cruz; Fraser Goff; Pharozin Pheng; Doeurn Ton

Practical system approaches to realise the human rights to water and sanitation: results and lessons from Uganda and Cambodia
C. Kimbugwe; S. Sou; H. Crichton-Smith; F. Goff

Fighting for water in South Africa: public participation, water rights claiming and strengthening governance
Thato Masiangoako; Kelebogile Khunou; Alana Potter

Container-based sanitation in urban Haiti: how can it improve human rights as a component of citywide inclusive sanitation?
Froggi VanRiper; Kory C. Russel; Daniel Tillias; Jenna Tilt; Jessica Laporte

Assessing mutual accountability to strengthen national WASH systems and achieve the SDG targets for water and sanitation
Sarah Dickin; Abu Syed; Nishrin Qowamuna; George Njoroge; Carla Liera; Mohamad Mova Al'Afghani; Sidratun Chowdhury; Zoraida Sanchez; Abdulwahab Moalin Salad; Keren Winterford; Erma Uijtewaal; Virginia Roaf; John Butterworth; Juliet Willetts

Jakarta water supply provision strategy based on supply and demand analysis
N. Ardhianie; D. Daniel; P. Purwanto; K. Kismartini

Analysis of experience using human rights to accelerate WASH access in four countries
Louisa Gosling; Tripti Rai; Pedi Obani; Moussa Alou Traore; Landry Ouangre; Fauzia Aliu; Sonu Kumar Shah

Strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene governance: a critical review of Zimbabwe's WASH sector institutional arrangements
L. Dhoba

Evidenced transformations: using data to demonstrate improvement in school-based access to water, sanitation and hygiene in Uttar Pradesh, India
Kumar Bikram; Ram Manohar Mishra

Accountability and advocacy interventions in the water sector: a global evidence review
N. D. Hepworth; T. Brewer; B. D. Brown; M. Atela; J. Katomero; J. Kones; M. Gashaw

Achieving handwashing with Social Art for Behaviour Change: the experience of the Lazos de Agua programme in Latin America
Anna Zisa; Kristina Nilsson; Raisa Mirza; Tania Vachon

Scorecard diagnostic tool for the enabling regulatory environment of faecal sludge management
H. N. Mbogo; P. G. Home; J. M. Raude; R. W. Mwangi

Strengthening country-led water and sanitation services monitoring and data use for decision-making: lessons from WaterAid experience in four countries
Ceaser Kimbugwe; Tim Davis; Fraser Goff; Ellen Greggio; Sokhadeva Chanthet; Benjamin Kiap

E-learning for WASH systems strengthening: lessons from a capacity-building platform
A. Leal; A. Saleh; J. Verhoeven

A systems approach to improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools in Odisha, India
Narendra Singh Chouhan; Monika Oledzka Nielsen; Pratibha Singh; Swathi Manchikanti; Vivek Pandey; Jeffrey P. Walters; Karishma Kadyan

Working with local governments to increase access to WASH services: a case of WaterAid's participatory approaches in Nigeria
Tariya Sarauta Yusuf; Anna Murray; Chukwumerije Okereke

Bridging the rural–urban divide in sanitation with a cluster-based approach to faecal sludge management: a case study from Dhenkanal district in Odisha, India
Shipra Saxena; Narendra Singh Chouhan; Sujoy Mojumdar; Monika Oledzka Nielsen; Swathi Manchikanti; Anindita Mukherjee; Neha Agarwal; Megha Rani; Anwesa Dutta; Rajendran Vignesh; Jeffrey P. Walters

Increasing access to piped water for poor households: an analysis of water connection subsidy projects implemented by the GRET
Terra Michaels; Chanmeakara Suong; Chanrith Chi; Lyheang Morm; Phanit Mab; Justine Denis