scholarly journals Moving Up the Ladder: Assessing Sanitation Progress through a Total Service Gap

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1735
Author(s):  
Stuart Kempster ◽  
Andrés Hueso

The Sustainable Development Goals create ambitious targets for achieving universal access to safely managed sanitation by 2030. The core indicator for SDG 6.2 creates positive incentives for governments, and development partners to invest in the whole sanitation chain, recognising the public health benefits of managing waste beyond initial containment. However, the target and indicators also create risks. Global accountability could be undermined by the challenge of accounting for progress across different service levels below the target of safely managed. There could also be perverse incentives to upgrade existing services, in order to meet the benchmark of safely managed, at the expense of extending basic services to those currently unserved. This paper examines methodological options for calculating a ‘total service gap’, a measure that would combine data on each rung of the service ladder to quantify how far away each country is from universal safely managed services. It conducts a sensitivity analysis to assess the validity of using uniform service level weights, and finds that this approach could add value to existing metrics. Through alternative data visualisations and other devices, it is argued that the total service gap could help to address the risks surrounding global accountability and perverse incentives.

2019 ◽  

[Executive Summary]. Member States of the Region of the Americas have committed to the Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage (CD53. R14). At the same time, health experts and policymakers in many parts of the world have begun to set new targets and benchmarks in follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets adopted by the United Nations (UN) in September 2015. As part of these processes, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is working with the countries of the Americas to ensure that related resolutions, strategies, and action plans are supported with appropriate frameworks and data for monitoring and evaluating gender equality in health. The purpose of this document is to propose an updated framework and set of core indicators for monitoring advances on gender equality in health in the Region, within the framework of renewed regional commitment to health...


IFLA Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 034003522110383
Author(s):  
Faten Hamad ◽  
Maha Al-Fadel

In view of the increased importance of the Sustainable Development Goals and the limited number of public libraries in Jordan, it is important to investigate the role and practices of academic libraries in promoting knowledge and skills to support the Sustainable Development Goals in Jordan. It is also important to explore the challenges that might hinder the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The results of this study support the fact that academic libraries can significantly contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals ( M = 3.53) by providing access to relevant and up-to-date information ( M = 4.16) and giving training on information literacy ( M = 4.03). Access to information contributes to the quality of life of society ( M = 4.41). This article provides insights for academic librarians and decision-makers into disseminating measures for promoting knowledge and skills related to the Sustainable Development Goals among students and the public community in Jordan. The study recommends some relevant strategies, such as the collaboration of academic libraries with governmental and health institutions to support the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals in Jordan.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás Gambetta ◽  
Paula Azadian ◽  
Victoria Hourcade ◽  
María Reyes

This paper explores the financing framework for sustainable development in Uruguay, an emerging economy, and examines whether available financing instruments contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in which significant progress is still required in this country. Reports, policy documents and academic literature were reviewed to determine the types of sustainable development financing instruments available, and to analyse the challenges facing emerging economies in this regard. In addition, the financing programmes available from the public sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the financial sector and multilateral credit agencies were examined. The results obtained show that the main financing sources for sustainable development are located within the public sector due to the absence of a developed financial market, and that the existing financial instruments do not address the SDGs where most attention is required. The latter circumstances make it challenging to achieve these SDGs in Uruguay. The study findings highlight the need for greater coordination among all parties to make efficient use of the scarce resources available to an emerging economy and thus enable it to meet its SDGs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9959
Author(s):  
Miguel Soberón ◽  
Teresa Sánchez-Chaparro ◽  
Julia Urquijo ◽  
David Pereira

The public sector has an indisputable role in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the interrelated nature of the SDGs represents a challenge for the public sector, which has in the last few decades undergone a process of specialization, decentralization and fragmentation. Hence, the establishment of coordination mechanisms within the public sector are needed to ensure implementation. This article introduces an organizational perspective in a participative SDG prioritization process carried out by a public organization: the former Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA). A case study methodology is used to identify internal collaboration needs in order to address the SDGs and to analyze the driving and restraining forces operating within the organization so that the required organizational changes can be initiated. Our findings reveal that the organizational perspective is key in supporting SDG implementation and boosting the transformative capacity that underpins the 2030 Agenda. Public organizations must combine different coordination approaches, according to the demands that each specific SDG target makes upon the organization. Furthermore, engaging internal agents in participative processes for the development of the implementation is essential to reproducing the dynamics of internal collaboration that will be needed in future stages of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda.


Author(s):  
Cristy Clark

Since the 1970s, global goal setting to increase access to safe drinking water has taken a number of different approaches to whether water should be primarily understood as a “human right” or a “human need.” In the Mar del Plata declaration of 1977, states both recognized a human right to water and committed themselves to achieving universal access by 1990. By the 1990 New Delhi Statement, with universal access still out of reach, the goal was renewed with a new deadline of 2000, but water was described as a human need rather than a human right. This approach was coupled with an emphasis on water’s economic values and the need for increased cost recovery, which in turn increased the focus on, and uptake of, private-sector participation in the delivery of water and sanitation services across the Global South. A similar needs-based approach was adopted at the start of the new millennium in Target 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but during this decade a consensus on the recognition of the human right to water also emerged in international law. As the normative status and content of this right came to be better articulated and understood, it began to influence the practice of providing water and sanitation services, and by the end of the MDG process a rights-based approach featured more prominently in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2015. While the provision of water and sanitation services is multifaceted, the evidence of global achievements from the 1970s onward indicates that a rights-based approach increases the priority given to the social values of such services and focuses attention on the need to go beyond technical solutions to address the structural issues at the heart of water inequality. Going forward, approaches to the provision of water and sanitation services and the human right to water will need to continue to adapt to new challenges and to changing conceptualizations of water, including the growing recognition that all living things have a right to water and that water itself can have rights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Najiha Jaffar ◽  
Nor Zalina Harun ◽  
Alias Abdullah

Public spaces are vital elements of settlement fabrics that animate communities together in one place. Nevertheless, most public places are used for recreational purposes only without building on communal activities, especially in religious aspects. Therefore, to achieve robust social sustainability, this study aims to identify the key indicators for ensuring social sustainability of traditional settlements’ public spaces. This study explores the typologies of public spaces found in traditional settlements that fill the needs of the local community. A mixed methodology was used to map and observe the public spaces and the communal activities held in two traditional Malay settlements in Kuala Terengganu. The bulk of the data were randomly collected from 400 residents by using a questionnaire survey to identify the most relevant factors that influence social sustainability. The results show that mosques have been listed as the highest preference of public space in the two sampled settlements. The study outlines three key qualities that lead the community to choose the mosque as the most important public space: 1) convenient access, 2) comfortable and clean, and 3) social aspects. This paper concludes on how these findings contribute to the improvement of quality of life, social interaction and social cohesion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6706
Author(s):  
Rebecca Scott ◽  
Pippa Scott ◽  
Peter Hawkins ◽  
Isabel Blackett ◽  
Andrew Cotton ◽  
...  

Rapid urbanization in developing countries demands better integration of planning and delivery of basic services if cities are to be sustainable, healthy and safe. Sanitation improvements are commonly overlooked as investments go towards more visible services such as water supplies and drainage networks. The Sustainable Development Goal for sanitation and hygiene currently remains severely off-track. This paper presents the findings of a Delphi method survey to identify expert consensus on both why and how to integrate sanitation, by which we mean both sewered and non-sewered sanitation services, into other basic urban services (including water supply, drainage, energy and roads) to achieve better sanitation and broader development outcomes, notably for poor citizens. Consensus on why integration is important highlights the physical interdependence of services, where neglect of one service can compromise gains from another investment or service. Consensus on how includes actions to address political priorities and leadership; governance and capacity constraints; clearer planning, procurement and financing mechanisms; and adopting incremental approaches matched to wider urban strategies. It was suggested that achieving these actions would improve accountability, monitoring and service level audits. Experience from previous integrated urban programmes should be incorporated into formulating new sanitation service agreements across all service types. Supported by better-informed dialogue and decision-making between those responsible for urban sanitation and for associated basic services, we suggest integrated and incremental approaches will enable more sustainable urban services planning to achieve ‘quality of life’ outcomes for poor urban residents.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 757-774
Author(s):  
CJ Hendriks

This article explores the financing of the sustainable development goals through the budget process with the aim of achieving sustainable development. Existing theory points out that local government budgets play an important role in pro-poor service delivery. However, underfunding can be seen across all areas in South Africa, resulting in municipalities that cannot function properly and look after the needs of their inhabitants. Based on a study of selected municipalities in South Africa, this paper tries to answer the question of whether municipalities allocate and spend their financial resources to pursue the 17 sustainable development goals. The findings indicate that as the medium for achieving the sustainable development goals, the focus of local government budgets has to shift from merely providing basic services to creating and facilitating an environment suitable for achieving sustainable development. If the emphasis of municipal spending does not change, governments will find it difficult to achieve the sustainable development goals.


Author(s):  
Malcolm MacLachlan ◽  
Joanne McVeigh ◽  
Michael Cooke ◽  
Delia Ferri ◽  
Catherine Holloway ◽  
...  

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aspire to “leave no-one behind”. Universal access to assistive products is a critical link between the realization of the SDGs and those most likely to be left behind. However, assistive technology provision in many countries, particularly low- and middle-income countries, has traditionally been conducted through small-scale local providers, manufacturing products of varying degrees of quality at a limited price range. An effective way to scale these production and provision enterprises to the required level is needed to close the gap between available and required assistive technology. We argue that better access to assistive technology will only be realized through the adoption of a far stronger systems thinking and market shaping approach. We undertook a rapid literature review to explore the relationship between market shaping and assistive technology. Based on our review, we present an emergent framework for conceptualizing intersections between systems thinking and market shaping for assistive technology—the SMART (Systems-Market for Assistive and Related Technologies) Thinking Matrix.


Author(s):  
S. Horbliuk

Problem setting. Urban revitalization is a complex process of overcoming spatial, economic, social, cultural, ecological crisis phenomena of degraded urban territories functioning. Despite the growing attention in the development of urban policy on sustainable development, substantiation in this context of the goals and effective tools for revitalization of degraded urban areas remains an urgent task of theory and practice in public administration at the present stage. Recent research and publications analysis. Among native scientists engaged in research of various aspects in public management of sustainable territories development, it is necessary to point out: M. Averkin, V. Babayev, Z. Buryk, M. Voychuk, Z. Gerasimchuk, I. Degtyarev, V. Kuybid, O. Matveyev, O. Petroe, O. Sych, D. Tarasenko, V. Udovychenko, A. Chechel. In general, scientists have developed theoretical and methodological principles of the public policy impact on sustainable development in regions and cities. Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. However, the further development of the public administration science requires the disclosure of methodological tools for specific local policies to ensure sustainable development, particularly the revitalization of the city. This problem has not yet been covered in native science. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the goals and identify effective tools for sustainable development of the degraded territory, which should be used by urban governments in developing a policy of urban revitalization, based on the analysis of the evolution of the concept for world’s sustainable development. Paper main body. Since the end of the twentieth century the concept of sustainable development is reflected at the local level, emphasizing the responsibility of local authorities implementing its goals. In the adopted Agenda for the XXI century (2015) the territorial dimension of sustainable development was emphasized, particularly the importance of endogenous factors and mechanisms of development “from the bottom up”. At the same time, rapid urbanization in the world has highlighted the role of cities in which there is an urgent need to balance development. Thus, in economically developed countries, the revitalization of degraded urban areas is becoming widespread as an instrument of sustainable development policy at the local level. Given the inevitability of urbanization and the growing importance of cities in the global economy, for the first time a separate sustainable development goal – “11. Sustainable development of cities and communities” was identified. Therefore, the actions of public authorities should be aimed to ensure the openness, security and sustainability of cities. In turn, the revitalization of cities should contribute to the achievement of 11 global goals, as well as ensure the implementation of other goals of the Global Agenda. There are many tools to ensure the sustainable development of the degraded area in the process of the city revitalization. In countries, they differ according to their historical, legal, spatial and other conditions. Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Local governments are key players in the implementation of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development until 2030, including the Sustainable Development Goals. They must develop effective measures to address socially significant issues that hamper sustainable development, including overcoming the degradation of urban areas. The guidelines for the formation of the city’s revitalization policy should be 17 Sustainable Development Goals, as they contain the main tasks of economic, social and environmental nature for the territory development. All Sustainable Development Goals in the process of revitalization of degraded urban areas can be achieved using the following groups of tools: planning, support, market, financial, tax and other legal instruments. Further research should focus on the study of tools for public participation in the development of policies for the city revitalization, which in modern conditions belong to the basic methodological foundations of urban management.


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