Clean water and sanitation for all?

Promoting gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) in WASH programming

By Wanja Njiriri, Senior Researcher, Includovate

The United Nations recognises access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services (WASH) as a fundamental human right, and has set an ambitious target “to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030.  

Sustainable Development Goal 6 includes comprehensive provisions for safe drinking water, adequate sanitation facilities (toilets, pit latrines, handwashing stations) and informative hygiene programmes. Yet currently such aims are far from achieved. There are huge disparities in access to affordable, acceptable and good-quality WASH services depending on an individual’s wealth, country of residence, and location. Urban poor and the rural populations are particularly disadvantaged, as are indigenous and ethnic minorities, and there are often wide disparities, across and within geographic regions of the same country (WHO/UNICEF 2019). 

Understanding the history of WASH Programming

WASH programmes are implemented within specific social, cultural and environmental contexts (Neely, 2019). In the past,  programmers tended to focus exclusively on girls and women, rationalising that females often manage water and sanitation needs at a household level and also have defined hygiene needs that require specific interventions (such as privacy, safety, and clean water during menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth). 

However, focusing solely on girls and women perpetuates gender norms and ignores the diverse challenges faced by boys and men, especially vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, the elderly, and LGBTQ+  individuals. For instance, age-related fragilities and poor health may make it more difficult for the elderly to access and utilise WASH facilities independently. Persons with disabilities may require physical infrastructure (such as ramps, handrails and adapted toilets) to use communal spaces or public toilets, or need other supportive accommodations to ensure their independence and dignity. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer/questioning (LGBTIQ+) individuals may feel uncomfortable using gender-segregated facilities or encounter discrimination, stigma or harassment that inhibits their safe access to WASH services. 

 Barriers like these can compromise hygiene practices or lead individuals or groups to completely avoid public facilities. It is critical, therefore, to move beyond past perceptions (including those equating females with WASH) to adopt a more inclusive approach: one that recognises the unique rights, needs and challenges of individuals and groups, and addresses them regardless of gender identities (WaterAid, 2018).

How to promote gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) into WASH programming

According to Water Aid, a holistic systems thinking approach can help address discriminatory sociocultural and religious practices that hinder vulnerable groups from accessing WASH services.  

A crucial aspect of this approach is to actively seek out and engage vulnerable groups – and their representative organisations – to better understand their views, perspectives and needs, and incorporate them into decision-making processes. This includes understanding the perspectives of women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and ensuring their voices and inputs are used to strengthen all phases of WASH programmes (from assessment, through design, implementation and management, to monitoring).

Such an approach can also promote collaboration, coordination and joint planning between WASH partners (e.g. government and non-governmental organisations, communities, and the private sector) to best leverage expertise, resources, and capacities, and determine socially acceptable outreach and dissemination strategies.

Water Aid’s Equality, Inclusion and Rights Framework provides a useful example of how to tackle structural inequalities by paying attention to the diverse experiences and perspectives of vulnerable groups. The Framework reinforces the ‘Do No Harm’ principle specifically related to WASH-risks, whilst also addressing structural power imbalances in terms of access, agency, and resource distribution.