H2Open Journal最新文献

{"title":"Bridging the rural–urban divide in sanitation with a cluster-based approach to faecal sludge management: a case study from Dhenkanal district in Odisha, India","authors":"Shipra Saxena, N. Chouhan, S. Mojumdar, M. O. Nielsen, Swathi Manchikanti, Anindita Mukherjee, N. Agarwal, Megha Rani, Anwesa Dutta, Rajendran Vignesh, J. Walters","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.054","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Halfway into the sustainable development goal (SDG) period, the rural and urban divide in sanitation persists. As of 2020, less than half of the global rural population has access to safely managed sanitation. In India, the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission – Rural helped over 100 million rural households to construct individual toilets and access at least basic sanitation during 2014–2019. Expectedly, the increase in toilet usage has led to an urgent need for faecal sludge management (FSM). The present paper describes a novel model, rooted in an urban–rural partnership, to increase access to FSM services among rural households. In 2020–2021, we piloted the model in the Dhenkanal district in Odisha, which had a functional urban faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP) and publicly run desludging trucks. The model adopted a five-step approach that included a data-led situational assessment, model development, stakeholder consultation, legal formalization of urban–rural partnership, and capacity building. Upon its implementation, the partnership transformed the rural sanitation service chain and resulted in the safe collection, conveyance, and treatment of 278 kL of faecal sludge from rural households within the first 5 months of implementation. As rural governments in India and other developing countries strive to achieve safely managed sanitation by 2030, the urban–rural partnership model discussed in the paper can present a viable pathway for rapidly scaling-up FSM services.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42352859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Groundwater recharge estimation using water table fluctuation and empirical methods","authors":"Meseret B. Addisie","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.026","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The reliable estimation of groundwater recharge is fundamental to the appropriate use of groundwater resources. Shallow groundwater resource quantification for irrigation in highland regions remains challenging. Specifically, in the humid Ethiopian highlands, only limited research has been done on groundwater recharge estimation. Despite the various techniques used to determine recharge, the objective of this study was to better understand natural groundwater recharge using water table fluctuation (WTF) and empirical methods in the sub-humid Ethiopian highlands. The Ene-Chilala watershed was selected for this study. Precipitation, infiltration rate, and piezometric water levels were measured. Precipitation was measured over a 4-year period (2013–2016), whereas infiltration and the groundwater table were measured over a 1-year period (2014). Recharge rates using WTF were determined from the three slope positions and the median of all piezometers for the whole watershed. Infiltration rates on the upslope were greater compared to the mid- and downslopes. The rainfall intensity exceeded the infiltration rate in all slope positions, so the excess rainfall recharged the perched upslope aquifer and eventually drained as interflow to recharge the mid- and downslopes. The estimated groundwater recharge from WTF was less compared to the average of empirical estimations. Surprisingly, from the nine selected empirical equations, the modified Chaturvedi formula had a similar estimation to the WTF method. In conclusion, it is challenging to find long-term seasonal and spatial groundwater-level data. Long-term groundwater data should, therefore, be available in order to arrive at a reliable recharge estimate and for effective groundwater management practices.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41418062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Local leadership development and WASH system strengthening: insights from Cambodia","authors":"Tum Nhim, C. Mcloughlin","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.129","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 To accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal on clean water and sanitation, the focus of WASH programming in developing countries has shifted from a traditional infrastructure approach to a more systems-based approach. Greater emphasis on a systems approach has also drawn attention to the significant role played by local leadership in developing sustainable WASH systems. Building on the evidence of the effectiveness of leaders trained through the Civic Champions Program, an innovative leadership development program in Cambodia, this article examines leaders' characteristics and explores how participating in the program affected their capacity, skills, and perceptions of leadership. Crucially, it seeks to understand the extent to which participants in the Civic Champions Program differ from comparable local leaders along these dimensions. By combining survey data with qualitative analysis, the paper identifies how localization enhances the effectiveness of leaders in promoting sanitation, including working through and strengthening pre-existing institutional arrangements and adapting promotion strategies to different audiences. In this way, the article demonstrates how non-prescriptive programs that tap into the legitimizing potential of local leaders may contribute to addressing sanitation challenges and ultimately to WASH system strengthening.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43592146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Household behavioral intention, environmental habit and attitude related to efficient water management: an empirical analysis on pro-environmental behavior among urban residents","authors":"K. Sarpong, Gordon Amankwaa","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The management of water utilities in urban contexts, which are particularly prone to water shortages and where future water security is of the utmost importance, has become a challenging task for the majority of municipal and regional planners. The present study attempts to evaluate how environmental knowledge and values influence possible pro-environmental behavior with respect to household water consumption behavior, attitudes, and habits among 500 (n=313) urban dwellers in an urban setting in Jiangsu Province, China. We adapted the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to elucidate pro-environmental behaviors while exploratory factor and Spearman correlation analysis were applied to datasets elicited from respondents. The study establishes important positive correlations using Spearman's rank (r=0.50) based on the findings of our empirical analysis, which suggest that individuals with strong environmental values and rich environmental knowledge are more likely to exhibit behaviors, attitudes and habits that result in effective household water use and management. Additionally, based on the magnitude of the factor loadings, the key results from principal factor analysis were as follows: efficient household water consumption is contingent on fixing household leaks (0.73) and replacing old shower fixtures and water-using appliances (0.66). Nevertheless, China's water resources are insufficient and require efficient management (0.66), the quality of tap water supplies is compromised and cannot be trusted (0.66) and there has been little to no improvement in water quality and availability in the past 10 years in China (0.69). This research reinforces the role of knowledge in shaping behavior, and has policy effects and could serve as a benchmark for measures to reduce household water use.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44541219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Working with local governments to increase access to WASH services: a case of WaterAid's participatory approaches in Nigeria","authors":"Y. Tariya, A. Murray, C. Okereke","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.061","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Attempts to implement participatory processes are often complicated by realities which make objectives of participation unattainable. Hence, if participation is to mean more than good intentions, it is vital to understand the strategies deployed by international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs) in participatory development. This study employed a qualitative case-study approach to evaluate the participatory processes employed in two WASH projects implemented by WaterAid Nigeria attempting work with Local Government Areas: the Sustainable Total Sanitation project and the HSBC Water programme. WaterAid Nigeria's participatory development approach recognises the responsibility of the various tiers of government for its citizens' wellbeing, especially the need for partnership with the Local Government Area (LGA) towards the delivery of WASH services. The state, as the ‘duty bearer’, is responsible for the provision of WASH services. Thus, both projects centred on government capacity building and community empowerment through the establishment and capacity development of WASH units in LGAs, insistence on counterpart funding and the establishment of water, sanitation and hygiene committees (WASHCOMs). Despite these attempts, findings highlighted the persistence of inefficiencies within the LGA WASH system that rendered partnerships ineffective. At the community level, WASHCOMs were not sustainable. Despite the challenges of implementing partnerships between INGOs and LGAs, such partnership remains a way to improve the provision of WASH services in Nigeria and other low- and middle-income countries. To better work within the participatory model, WASH INGOs should explore how to better use existing LGA arrangements for service delivery. Additionally, the LGA, as a duty bearer, could foster genuine, non-discriminatory spaces for the participation of communities by taking political, socio-economic and cultural differences into account.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48629251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A systems approach to improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools in Odisha, India","authors":"Narendra Singh Chouhan, Monika Oledzka Nielsen, Pratibha Singh, Swathi Manchikanti, Vivek Pandey, J. Walters, Karishma Kadyan","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.044","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 As part of the humanitarian response to create an enabling environment for children at schools, and to contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 3, 4, and 6, UNICEF India envisages improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools. In 2019, UNICEF in partnership with the Government of Odisha rolled out a systems approach to WASH for 58,000 schools to improve equitable access to safe WASH facilities in schools and to address any gaps that may exist. Schools were assessed through a digital monitoring application and ranked on 39 benchmarks for WASH facilities and practices. Approximately 13,000 schools were ranked as 1 and 2 stars on a 5-star scale (with 5-star being the best), which necessitated structuring schedules for improvement throughout the year. The systems approach to strengthening key building blocks was followed through including advocacy for policy and planning, infrastructure improvement, leveraging finances, capacity building, behavior change, institutional strengthening, accountability, and monitoring. School Swachhata (cleanliness) Action Plans (SAPs) were developed for more than 5,000 schools, and necessary behavior change is being encouraged by involving school management committees and by instituting child cabinets of student leaders as role models to promote positive WASH behaviors among others. The complex interconnection between stakeholders was assessed using the social network analysis to highlight the level of interaction and stakeholder roles that guided the success of the Odisha WASH program to guide future WASH in school programs in Odisha and other states in India. Overall, the study findings suggest that the Odisha WASH program's success is owed, in part, to a diverse and multi-layered coordination structure between the district, block, and community-level stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43492216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scorecard diagnostic tool for the enabling regulatory environment of faecal sludge management","authors":"H. N. Mbogo, P. Home, J. Raude, R. W. Mwangi","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Expeditious situational analysis of the enabling regulatory environment (ERE) of faecal sludge management (FSM) is vital for strengthening sanitation systems. However, existing diagnostic tools employ broad indicators, neglecting the detailed assessment of the policy, legal and institutional frameworks for each step along the FSM chain. This paper presents a web-based integrated diagnostic tool for evaluating the quality and adequacy of policy in guiding equity, targeting of resources, quality of service, financial considerations and institutional roles and responsibilities. The tool evaluates the legal framework based on laws, standards and regulations emphasizing on means of enforcement. It evaluates the institutional framework based on investors, service providers, regulators and consumers as guided by the literature. Each indicator is assigned a score of 1: green (effective), 0.5: yellow (limited) and 0: red (poor) for the user interface, containment, emptying, transport, treatment, disposal and reuse of faecal sludge. Built on Laravel Framework Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), the tool links the scores into a single index averaged into terciles as 0–0.33 (poor), 0.34–0.66 (limited) and 0.67–1 (effective). This helps to identify areas of priority in a given context. The tool successfully facilitated a participatory pilot study in Kenya based on individual stakeholders' opinion. However, the tool does not provide the specific details leading to a given score. Therefore, its application should precede a detailed evaluation of each indicator in order to generate specific details per indicator per step of FSM.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44396447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strengthening country-led water and sanitation services monitoring and data use for decision-making: lessons from WaterAid experience in four countries","authors":"Kimbugwe Ceaser, Davis Tim, Goff Fraser, Greggio Ellen, Chanthet Sokhadeva, Kiap Benjamin","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.028","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are fundamental human rights, of critical importance to health, education, wellbeing, and economic prosperity. To fulfil these human rights and drive progress towards universal and sustainable access to WASH services, government service-level monitoring processes and data use are vital for effective decision-making and accountability. Despite increasing sector efforts to improve WASH data access, there is limited evidence of this translating into effective data use to inform effective planning for equitable access and budgeting and of the factors affecting this. Four case studies where WaterAid has worked with national government and sector stakeholders to strengthen WASH monitoring processes in Uganda, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Myanmar were analysed through an analytical framework to understand the impact of different factors and related system-strengthening activities towards outcomes of increased data coordination, timely and relevant data availability and data use to inform decision-making in WASH service delivery. The analysis highlighted that strengthening activities aiming at improving indicators, data collection and analysis, and the type of data collection and visualisation technology have a direct impact on improving WASH sector coordination and timely data availability. However, to ensure strengthening activities support data use for decision-making, they need to be developed from within and adapt to the on-going wider political economy systems evolution, including formal processes such as decentralisation and evolving informal political drivers.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42962418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accountability and advocacy interventions in the water sector: a global evidence review","authors":"N. Hepworth, T. Brewer, B. D. Brown, M. Atela, J. Katomero, J. Kones, M. Gashaw","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.062","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper reports on a global review of evidence on the outcomes of accountability and advocacy interventions for improved water and sanitation service delivery, water resource management (WRM) sector governance, and the factors which influence their performance. Mapping current knowledge will help guide the community of practice, policy, and research working to strengthen water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) service delivery systems. We summarise the state of the evidence, key insights, and implications. Available evidence is relatively limited (151 papers) and is skewed towards India and East Africa (c. 50%), water service delivery (62%), and social accountability monitoring (54%). Most included articles (80%) associate accountability and advocacy with positive outcomes for sector performance. Positive outcomes are achieved through, for example, improved operational maintenance; access to data; representation and inclusion; political will; changes in policy, law, and process; new investment; and organisational performance. Impact is less frequently reported (32%) and attribution of impacts to interventions is a recurrent challenge. We identify 28 factors that determine the interventions' performance. These are used to populate a theory of change for accountability and advocacy interventions. The results of the review are important for those working on water sector system strengthening. They suggest potential of accountability interventions to accelerate delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on WASH, and provide an organising framework to strengthen intervention design and delivery, and future research.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47150916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evidenced transformations: using data to demonstrate improvement in school-based access to water, sanitation and hygiene in Uttar Pradesh, India","authors":"Kumar Bikram, R. Mishra","doi":"10.2166/h2oj.2022.060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2166/h2oj.2022.060","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The availability and access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools have been associated with enhanced learning and nutritional outcomes among children in India and elsewhere. However, there is a limited documentation of successful scaled-up models to improve WASH facilities in schools. This paper describes an innovative ‘transformation campaign’ to strengthen WASH facilities in government-run elementary schools in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India. The campaign was launched in 2018 followed by an online monitoring portal using data-informed feedback and role modeling in 2020. A comprehensive baseline assessment was conducted in 114,790 government elementary schools in Uttar Pradesh, during which school focal persons ranked their schools' access to WASH services against the set benchmarks. Concurrently, high-ranking schools were established as ‘learning labs’ for neighboring schools and were provided with on-site capacity building opportunities. More than 150,000 teachers were systematically engaged through regular virtual trainings and automated calls that tracked progress, all parts of a centralized online portal. This champion-led transformation of school (CLTS) approach was adopted by the government to recognize best practices supported by students and teachers. Initiatives of teachers and village-elected representatives (Gram Pradhan), who were identified as ‘champions’, were recognized and disseminated to build an enabling environment that will sustain access and practices. As of July 2021, 65.8% of the assessed schools across 75 districts have improved their basic infrastructure through repairing/retrofitting of defunct facilities and constructions of new ones as per the gaps identified. They become ‘WASH compliant’ and leveraged around INR 45.71 billion of public financing from multiple sources in last 3–4 years. Now, the state is rolling out a similar transformation campaign for 188,997 pre-school centers that will cover 5.6 million children between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The implementation process, challenges and learnings of this campaign can be used to formulate strategies and designing scaled-up interventions to improve WASH facilities in schools.","PeriodicalId":36060,"journal":{"name":"H2Open Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45143398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}