THP Perspective: Access to clean water is widely seen as the challenge of the 21st Century, and is a critical component of good nutrition. Traditional top-down, service delivery approaches have not produced sustainable results or led to the behavioral changes necessary, particularly in halting open defecation – a major cause of water-borne disease and malnutrition.
Safe sanitation is a gender issue – men rarely see it as a priority, yet around the world women are forced to get up before dawn to relieve themselves without risking sexual assault – a profound violation of human rights and basic human dignity. Lack of safe sanitation facilities is a reason why thousands of girls are kept out of school.
Key Interventions:
- THP communities, and particularly THP-trained women leaders, place high priority on WASH and mobilize their communities in mass-action campaigns for total sanitation.
- News: Finance Ministers from 44 nations commit to accelerate WASH including most THP countries Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda.
- CLTS: community-led total sanitation is the methodology developed at IDS.
Key messages:
- Investing in sanitation is one of the most efficient investments for poverty reduction.
- What medical discovery has saved more lives than any other? Soap.
Global Campaigns and Initiatives:
- World Water Day – March 22
- World Toilet Day – November 19
- International Decade for Action “Water for Life” 2005-2015
- Sanitation for All
- Global WASH Campaign
Key agencies:
- UN-Water comprises representatives from 31 UN Agencies
- The UN Human Rights Commission has a Special Rapporteur on the right to clean water and sanitation.
- WaterAid is a leading NGO in the sector, and works closely with THP.
- Water for Humans is an innovative NGO that partners with THP-Mexico.
Key reports and data sources:
- The World Water Development Report (WWDR-2015)
- The Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) reports on the capacity of countries to make progress towards the MDG water and sanitation target and on the effectiveness of external support agencies to facilitate this process.
[display-posts category=”WASH”]