Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

589 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

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Wastewater? From Waste to Resource in a Circular Economy Context: Latin America and the Caribbean Region

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-08-30) World Bank Group

The World Bank, with contributions from the CAF - Development Bank of Latin America, is promoting a paradigm shift, moving away from considering wastewater as a waste and recognizing its inherent value. As part of this collaboration, both organizations have co-organized sessions with key stakeholders at the World Water Forum and Latinosan, to encourage the water community to move towards a circular economy model. This joint note summarizes the main findings of this collaborative work.
WASH for Human Development: Can Scaling Up Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions Help Children Grow in Tanzania?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-09) World Bank Group

In Tanzania, chronic undernutrition is at 35 percent among children under five. This makes the country home to the third highest population of children with chronic undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, just after Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This brief provides an overview of the trends in undernutrition, as indicated by stunted growth, over time and by subgroups of gender, age in months, rurality, geography, and poverty. It also provides a geo-spatial stunting map which shows 1km x 1km pixel-level estimations of stunting rates. Using the UNICEF Synergies Approach (1990) and drawing on existing scientific literature, the brief then outlines the theory behind different pathways to chronic undernutrition through inadequate food, care, environment, and health services. Further econometric analysis has been conducted on the DHS 2016 data using Shapley decomposition, to identify the relative contributions of various determinants including water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) variables in determining stunting rates, and hence chronic undernutrition in the Tanzania. The relative contributions of other factors such as poverty, the child’s characteristics, mother’s characteristics and location are also highlighted. Finally, it provides operational and policy implications along the lines of multisectoral and nutrition-sensitive approaches for intervention design to reduce stunting in Tanzania.
Knowledge Brief: When, Why, and How Water and Sanitation Utilities Can Benefit from Working Together

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-08) World Bank Group

The World Bank Water Global Practice, under the WSS GSG Utility Turnaround thematic area, has implemented the Global Study on WSS Utility Aggregation to provide evidence-based guidance to policy makers and practitioners regarding when, why, and how water and sanitation utilities can work together, or aggregate, to successfully deliver specific policy outcomes, such as better services or lower costs. Aggregation has been regarded as an opportunity to improve cost efficiency and performance of service delivery through economies-of-scale and cost-sharing, as well as enhanced human capacity. However, the study shows that successful aggregation—where the aggregated service provider performs significantly better than the previously disaggregated entities regarding the intended purpose, without unreasonable deterioration of other performance dimensions—is not always guaranteed. This work presents and reviews global evidence, analyzes specific aggregation case studies, and identifies the key characteristics that successful aggregations have in common, depending on their purpose and the context in which they occur. This knowledge brief summarizes the study outcomes, which are detailed further in the main report, Joining Forces for Better Services? When, Why, and How Water and Sanitation Utilities Can Benefit from Working Together. The accompanying toolkit (accessible at www.worldbank.org/water/aggregationtoolkit), offers a broader set of resources to inform aggregation processes.
Health Impact and Effectiveness of Distribution Models for Plastic Latrine Slabs in Kenya

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-03) World Bank Group

Lack of sanitation is a huge development challenge in Kenya, but also a potentially sizeable market opportunity. The World Bank and IFCs ‘Selling Sanitation’ project worked with large plastics manufacturing firms in Nairobi to design, test, and support market development and distribution of a range of plastic latrine slabs. The products were designed from the consumer’s perspective using the Human-Centered Design approach and priced well below the cost of the prevailing concrete slab. This research brief summarizes baseline findings and monitoring results from an impact evaluation of the plastic latrine slab, evaluating its health impact and the effectiveness of niche distribution and financing mechanisms for reaching base-of-the-pyramid households. Baseline findings show that children in the study area suffer from high rates of diarrhea and many are underweight, but worm infections are rare. The majority of households at baseline had unimproved pit latrines with either no slab (49%), or a mud slab, and overall sanitation and environmental hygiene conditions are poor. Feedback on the plastic slab from monitoring visits is overwhelmingly positive, with respondents citing ease of cleaning, safety for children, and prestige. However several barriers to adoption were noted. Most participants perceive the slab as unaffordable for the target beneficiaries, while a lack of adequate follow-up and marketing from sales agents, and limited availability of the product in remote, rural villages are major obstacles to generating demand for the slab. Additional public sector resources will be needed to further support the development of distribution channels and financing mechanisms to reduce the price for base-of-the-pyramid households and increase adoption of the slab among target beneficiaries.
Strengthening Regional Collaboration and Integration

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-04) World Bank Group

West Africa’s coastal area is critical to the region, home to a third of its people and the source of about half of its gross domestic product (GDP). Because most of it is composed of mangroves and sand formations, the area’s coastline is also highly vulnerable to erosion caused by coastal currents and storm surges. Erosion is evident from Mauritania to Gabon - and the rates of erosion are increasing. Around the port of Lome, for example, Togo’s coastline is estimated to have receded by as much as 12 to 15 meters a year. Regional integration will improve the sustainability of shared coastal waters, the protection of environmental services, and the livelihoods that rely on coastal ecosystems. Cooperation will also contribute to the development of regional principles or guidelines for coastal infrastructure investments.
Reducing Marine and Coastal Pollution

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-03) World Bank Group

The West African coastline is home to major industries, mining activities, peri-urban and agro-industry, and tourism, as well as urban and seaside residences, all of which generate waste and cause pollution. Many areas along the coast also lack adequate wastewater and solid waste management systems. As a result, large volumes of untreated wastewater and solid waste are dumped into the open, polluting the land and water. Water quality studies can help policy makers set targets and baselines and develop pollution reduction plans at the local, national, and regional levels. Such studies generally focus on pollution from sewage/wastewater, nutrients, and marine litter; they may also include other pollutants, such as oil (spills from ships and offshore oil exploration and production), chemicals, and heavy metals. Reducing the generation of plastic debris requires collect¬ing data on the origin, volumes, and types of plastic litter, so that appropriate measures can be taken to reduce the use of, reuse, or recycle plastic products.
Protecting the Region’s Natural Resources

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11) World Bank Group

The West African coastal zone hosts critical natural resources and habitats that provide important ecosystem services. The area’s natural resources play vital roles in the functioning of the shoreline, providing natural protection against erosion, pollution, sea level rise, and extreme weather events. Coastal and marine ecosystems, including cold-water coral reefs, sea¬grass meadows, mangrove forests, and coastal wetlands and lagoons, also provide indispensable ecosystem services for the fisheries sector, as spawning and nursery areas for fish. The destruction and degradation of coastal natural resources has trans-boundary impacts. Joint efforts are therefore needed to develop win-win solutions. Regional collaboration and integrated decision making on the part of West African coastal countries is paramount if long-term, viable solutions are to be identified and implemented.
The Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Erosion in West Africa

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11) World Bank Group

The effects of climate change, from changing precipitation patterns to rising seas, will exacerbate the coastal erosion already affecting West Africa, increasing the exposure and vulnerability of the people and assets located there. Given the importance of the coastal zone to the region as a whole, it is critical that policy makers consider the effects of future climate change in the decisions they make today. Regional cooperation is challenging, but it has been successful in many places, particularly where the issue addressed presented an existential challenge to the coun¬tries affected. Efforts to build trust and coordinate efforts will help policy makers protect the lives and livelihoods of the people in the region and allow their countries to build on the development gains made in recent years rather than see them rolled back as a result of climate change.
Building Climate Resilience

(World Bank, Entebbe, 2015-05-01) World Bank Group

Climate change is a critical issue facing the countries of the Nile basin. While individual weather events are difficult to attribute to climate change, their sum is already having adverse effects on socioeconomic conditions across the region. While climate change was not an overt focus of the Nile basin initiative’s (NBI’s) mandate when it was launched in 1999, it has emerged as a key challenge for countries of the Nile to take seriously. Understanding variability in river flows is one of the first steps in understanding climate change impacts and planning how to respond to them. Developing this understanding and getting it into use has been at the heart of the NBI’s technical work.
Highlights of 15 Years of Nile Cooperation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-05-01) World Bank Group

In 1999, nine Nile basin countries came together in a remarkable partnership. They formed the Nile basin initiative as a platform for joint working to better understand and utilize the common Nile resource, to harness the benefits for equitable and sustainable regional economic development. This note highlights the key achievements of this historic endeavor.