Monday, November 19, 2018

World Toilet Day


November 17th 2018 was World Water Day – a yearly initiative to promote the awareness of global sanitation. I think we take using toilets for granted in Britain… the worst I have had to deal with was not having a toilet whilst hiking in the Scottish Highlands for five days completing my Gold Duke of Edinburgh award. However, women in Africa do not have an easy situation at all.

Montgomery et al (2009) published an interesting paper that indicates how sanitation programmes can more made more sustainable. They note three clear components to aid in the longevity of projects. These are: ‘effective community demand, local financing and cost recovery, and dynamic operation and maintenance’.  (Montgomery et al 2009: 1019). The paper further acknowledges that these factors face many problems. These problems are wide ranging and include simply the fact that some villages are isolated and will be harder to reach, or reasons related to the culture found in certain areas such as the fact there is no incentive to build new sanitation project, a mistrust of different sanitation projects, or a lack of funding services for women. However many of these issues can be overcome with the correct grassroots funding and training.

I came across a charity that I believe does important work in Africa for women and sanitation. The Global Women’s Water Initiative train and education women as technicians to maintain sanitation facilities in Africa through a four-year programme. The programme also allows them to educate others in hygiene and water practices, further spreading applicable knowledge.

Montgomery, M., Bartam, J. and Elimech, M. (2009) ‘Increasing Functional Sustainability of Water and Sanitation Supplies in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa’, Environmental Engineering Science, 26, 5, 1017-1023.


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Closing Thoughts

I have enjoyed learning about the water and gender issues in Africa and it would appear that there is much evidence now b...