Water and Sanitation Program Learning Note

25 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is a multi-donor partnership created in 1978 and administered by the World Bank to support poor people in obtaining affordable, safe, and sustainable access to water and sanitation services. These reports are published to communicate the results of WSP’s work to the development community.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 25
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    SLB Connect for Urban Water Supply and Sanitation: Using ICTs for Citizen Feedback Surveys to Mainstream Demand-side Monitoring
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-12) Bhatnagar, Vandana ; Wright, Andrew
    SLB Connect is an initiative of the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program, developed inpartnership with India’s Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), to complement the Ministry’s ServiceLevel Benchmarks (SLB) program. Under the SLB program, providers of water supply, wastewater, solidwaste management and storm-water drainage services report data on a standardized set of 28 performance indicators. Grants to municipalities have been linked to reporting on these indicators, and, over time, SLB data have become an integral component of India’s urban programformulations. SLB Connect complements SLB data by gathering feedback from the citizens who use those services. The demand-side data are intended to improve tracking of service outcomes,provide a reality check for supply-side data reported by providers, identify problems with serviceoutcomes at local (ward/zone) level, identify inequities by user groups (for example, households in slum settlements), and ultimately improve service providers’ accountability to citizens. The SLB Connect program leverages the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for collecting feedback, which fits with the Government of India’s broader interest in using ICTs to strengthen citizen engagement for improving service delivery, including through the development of the National e-Governance Plan. As ICTs continue to develop, there will be increasing opportunities to make processes for gathering citizen feedback more intelligent, inclusive and efficient – and thereby leverage its use in decision making for improving service outcomes.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    How Sustainable Are Sanitation Outcomes in Clean Village Prize Winners?: Findings of a Large-Scale Rapid Assessment in India
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06) World Bank Group
    In the Indian federal structure, rural sanitation is a state government responsibility. However, since this sector has been identified as a development priority, the Government of India provides the bulk of investment through a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS). The Central Rural Sanitation Program was launched as the first CSS in 1986. This program has subsequently been restructured as the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in 1999, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) in 2012 and, most recently, as the Swachh Bharat Mission—Gramin (SBMG) or Clean India Mission—Rural in December 2014. This learning note presents findings of an sanitation assessment in India.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    WSP’s Engagement in the Rural Sanitation Sector in India: Successes and Challenges
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06) Brocklehurst, Clarissa ; Mead, Simon ; Verhagen, Joep
    In October 2014, the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) initiated a study to document its engagement in the rural sanitation sector in India between 2002 and 2013. The intent was to learn from achievements, challenges, and lessons from the past as the Water Global Practice of the World Bank and other stakeholders intensify efforts to address the huge challenge of realizing the Government of India’s goal of universal rural sanitation in India by 2019. The study covered a cross-section of eight states in which WSP has worked as well as an examination of activities at the national level. The primary source of information was 138 structured interviews with key informants including Indian Government officials at all levels: (a) representatives of development agencies and civil society organisations; and (b) current and former WSP staff. The key findings were as follows: (i) Creating champions is a key determinant of success, and new, more cost-effective, and scalable approaches must be developed; (ii) Effective ways must be found to increase awareness and willingness to act among senior decision makers at state level; (iii) New implementation models must be developed that support the work of state governments to roll out sanitation at scale, and state governments must be supported to institutionalize them; and (iv) Mechanisms must be found to support decentralized, large-scale sector capacity building. These insights will be used to develop future interventions that will further accelerate change and help achieve the goal of universal rural sanitation in India
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Making Toilets More Affordable for Cambodia's Poor through Microfinance
    (Washington, DC, 2014-09) World Bank Group
    From 2000 to 2012, access to sanitation in Cambodia s rural areas increased by only 1 percent per year (JMP, 2014). By 2012, 75 percent of rural Cambodians lacked access to improved sanitation, and 66 percent practiced open defecation. Though open defecation rates are highest among the poorest rural Cambodians at 86 percent, they are still quite high even among the richest at 32 percent (CSES, 2011). Lack of access to sanitation imposes significant economic and social costs on rural Cambodians, from higher child mortality due to diarrhea, other fecal-borne diseases, to stunted growth of children. In Cambodia, extensive previous experience with sanitation marketing approaches illustrates there is strong household demand for sanitation and the domestic sanitation market is capable of meeting it. At the same time, challenges remain in reaching low-income households that do not have the cash to meet upfront payment costs to purchase sanitation products.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Global Scaling Up Handwashing Project : Results, Impacts, and Learning from Vietnam
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-09) Nguyen, Nga Kim ; Devine, Jacqueline
    The Vietnam Handwashing Initiative (HWI) began in January 2006 with the goal of reducing morbidity and mortality from diarrheal diseases in children less than five years of age. In December 2006, Vietnam became one of four countries in the Water and Sanitation Program's (WSP) Global Scaling Up Handwashing Project. The objective of the project was to learn how to stimulate improved hand washing behaviors at large scale, sustain the activities after the project ended, and measure the impact on behavioral, health, and welfare outcomes. This learning note presents the achievements, learning, and reflections that resulted from implementing a large-scale hand washing program in Vietnam and provides recommendations for future hygiene promotion initiatives. During the four-year implementation (2006-2010), the program achieved all four of its key objectives. However, a randomized control trial (RCT) impact evaluation found no significant changes in hand washing behavior and no impact on health in children under two. Although much has been learned about how to implement a nation-wide communication program in Vietnam, behavior change at scale has proven challenging.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Using Credit Ratings to Improve Water Utility Access to Market Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-02) Advani, Rajesh
    Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is working to leverage domestic private sector expertise and resources to deliver services that benefit the poor. The aim is to help an estimated 1.5 million poor people gain sustained access to improved water supply and sanitation services and leverage over US$80 million in investments by donors, governments, and the domestic private sector through three main activity lines: building water and sanitation business models for the poor; public-private partnerships in non-traditional markets; and, banking the unbanked water and sanitation providers. Encouraging creditworthy utilities to finance a portion of their investment program using commercial debt will improve the allocation of public funds for investment. Taking steps to address performance issues that hinder access to credit could see significantly more investment in water by the private sector, resulting in improved access in urban areas.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Behavioral Determinants of Handwashing with Soap Among Mothers and Caretakers : Emergent Learning from Senegal and Peru
    (Washington, DC, 2012-02) World Bank
    The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) has supported the Global Scaling up Handwashing Project in Peru, Senegal, Tanzania, and Vietnam. The project has tested whether innovative promotional approaches to behavior change can generate widespread and sustained improvements in household hygiene practices. The implementation phase of the project ended in June 2011. The project has a significant learning objective, an important component of which is to ascertain the key factors that influence behavior change. These are known as behavioral determinants. Studies such as a formative research study conducted in Kenya in 2007 have found that while knowledge around hand-washing tends to be high, practice rates are low. This finding is illustrative of the knowledge-behavior gap encountered by anti-smoking and condom-use initiatives, among others, and reflects the complexity of human behavior. More specifically, FOAM (Focus, Opportunity, Ability, and Motivation) was developed to inform the design of formative research, interventions as well as monitoring to increase the effectiveness of its behavior change program. A key feature of the project is its monitoring and evaluation component, which includes randomized control baseline and end-line studies, longitudinal surveys, periodic implementation surveys, and a comprehensive management information system (MIS) that enabled continuous monitoring and improvement. These components have been used to measure and track key indicators such as diarrhea incidence. This Learning Note aims to highlight key findings from two studies, the impact evaluation baseline study conducted in Peru in 20074 and a 'doer/non-doer' study conducted in Senegal in 2010.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Vietnam : A Handwashing Behavior Change Journey for the Caretakers’ Program
    (Washington, DC, 2011-12) World Bank
    The Vietnam Handwashing Initiative (HWI) was launched in January 2006 by the Ministry of Health (MoH) with funds from the Danish Embassy in Vietnam and technical assistance from the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP). This learning note documents the development process of the caretakers' program with a focus on how it was designed, implemented, and monitored. Lessons learned and challenges are also highlighted to assist program managers in designing and managing evidence-based handwashing with soap or other hygiene promotion programs. A separate publication will focus on the process of developing the children's handwashing program.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Scaling Up Rural Sanitation : Partnering on the Road Towards Achieving Total Sanitation in East Africa
    (Washington, DC, 2011-11) World Bank
    In 2000, the United Nations Development Program set a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce, by half, the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015. In 2008, when projections showed that countries in Africa were unlikely to reach this target, delegates from 32 African countries drafted and signed the eThekwini Declaration and AfricaSan action plan to renew commitments and identify strategic actions. At the East Africa Sanitation Conference held March 2010, analysis of progress to date showed that most countries had national sanitation policies and plans, an encouraging sign, but that poor coordination, particularly at district level, continued to hamper improvements and that budget allocations for sanitation remained far below the target of 0.5 percent of Gross National Product (GNP) recommended in the eThekwini declaration.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Tanzania : A Handwashing Behavior Change Journey
    (Washington, DC, 2011-10) World Bank
    In Tanzania, nearly 30,000 people die annually due to diarrheal diseases and an estimated 12.6 percent of children suffer from diarrheal diseases. There is a widespread and deep-rooted belief that diarrhea is part of growing up and cannot be prevented. Working with the government and with non-governmental organizations, the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) sought to increase rates of handwashing with soap among women and children, especially at critical junctures. This learning note documents the development of the project, with a focus on how it was designed, implemented, and monitored. Challenges and lessons learned are highlighted to assist program managers in designing and managing evidence-based handwashing with soap and other hygiene promotion programs.