Regulating urban sanitation: lessons from Lusaka

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Phore

Strong WASH systems are needed to extend and ensure adequate urban sanitation services in growing cities like Lusaka. Failure to increase the provision of sanitation services is primarily a governance problem, but general governance initiatives will not be effective without practical measures to strengthen regulation and specifically address corruption. Zambia has developed an impressive regulatory framework including plans to cover non-sewered sanitation, however, this regulatory framework requires further strengthening especially in terms of the capacity of regulators.

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use relevant models and theories to conceptualize the prospects and challenges associated with private sector involvement in the provision of sanitation and environmental services in urban settlements of developing African economies. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts the public choice theory and principal-agent model in its conceptualization and analysis. Retrospective literature analysis within the qualitative research approach has been employed for the study. It draws extensively on existing classical theoretical and current empirical literature on privatization of urban sanitation services in developing countries. Findings – The study observes that privatization is a necessary tool for enhancing quality and responsive sanitation service delivery but there must be some mechanisms to prevent any latent challenges. The study also observes that the same problems associated with the public sector could transcend into the private sector if key measures are not taken into consideration. Practical implications – The process of privatizing or contracting out must ensure competition, enough communication to all stakeholders as well as involving expertise in the bidding process. The process also requires strict monitoring and supervision; these call for an appropriate legal framework to regulate privatization. The paper reminds urban administrators and policy makers to be circumspect in the privatization process. If the process of privatization is carried out effectively, urban sanitation services will be provided effectively and efficiently. Originality/value – The paper adapts the public choice and principal-agent model to assess privatization processes in developing African countries. This study will be of importance to urban administrators, public officials and policy makers in general.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Japheth Nkiriyehe Kwiringira ◽  
Robert Kabumbuli ◽  
Henry Zakumumpa ◽  
James Mugisha ◽  
Mathias Akugizibwe ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Country-wide urbanization in Uganda has continued amidst institutional challenges. Previous interventions in the water and sanitation sector have not addressed the underlying issues of a poorly managed urbanization processes. Poor urbanisation is linked to low productivity, urban poverty, unemployment, limited capacity to plan and offer basic services as well as a failure to enforce urban standards. Methods This ethnographic study was carried out in three urban centres of Gulu, Mbarara and Kampala. We explored relationships between urban livelihoods and sustainable urban sanitation, using the economic sociology of urban sanitation framework. This framework locates the urbanization narrative within a complex system entailing demand, supply, access, use and sustainability of slum sanitation. We used both inductive and deductive thematic analysis. Results More than any other city in Uganda, Kampala was plagued with poor sanitation services characterized by a mismatch between demand and the available capacity for service provision. Poor slum sanitation was driven by; the need to escape rural poverty through urban migration, urban governance deficits, corruption and the survival imperative, poor service delivery and lack of capacity, pervasive (urban) informality, lack of standards: ‘to whom it may concern’ attitudes and the normalization of risk as a way of life. Amidst a general lack of affordability, there was a critical lack of public good conscience. Most urbanites were trapped in poverty, whereby economic survival trumped for the need for meeting desirable sanitation standards. Conclusions Providing sustainable urban livelihoods and meeting sanitation demands is nested within sustainable livelihoods. Previous interventions have labored to fix the sanitation problem in slums without considering the drivers of this problem. Sustainable urban livelihoods are critical in reducing slums, improving slum living and curtailing the onset of slumification. Urban authorities need to make urban centres economically vibrant as an integral strategy for attaining better sanitation standards.


Author(s):  
Mara J. van Welie ◽  
Bernhard Truffer

The sanitation target of the millennium development goals (MDGs) was not reached and progress toward the sustainable development goal on water and sanitation (SDG6) is very slow. The lack of sanitation is especially persistent in cities in the Global South, as the world is rapidly urbanizing. This problem demands long-term fundamental transformations of urban sanitation services and infrastructures. This chapter analyzes the challenges and opportunities of innovations that have the potential to contribute to solving urban sanitation problems. The authors therefore use a sociotechnical systems perspective that draws on insights from innovation studies and the sustainability transitions literature. Such a systemic perspective enables the analysis of the interplay between technologies, infrastructures and their associated actor networks, and institutions and user and provider practices. The chapter presents the analysis of the case of sanitation in Nairobi, Kenya, building on qualitative data from 104 expert interviews. Based on the analysis, the authors show that innovative efforts should focus on improving alignments between the various sanitation service regimes in the city—for example, through making utility services work in informal settlements or improving collaborations in the efforts to scale on-site sanitation innovations. The chapter illustrates how factors hindering innovation development toward reaching SDG6 often go beyond technological aspects, but rather represent system weaknesses related to actors, networks, and institutional aspects.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Gupta ◽  
Namita Singh Malik

Purpose of the study: The paper attempts to find the answer to the question – Why do we lack in basic sanitation? What are the reasons for it? Paper introspects the challenges encountered in sanitation services for Ajmer district in Rajasthan. It identifies the key bottlenecks of the sanitation system to the ground realities of implementation for a non-metropolitan city. The article also outlines the way forward which is suggested to make the sanitation system in the city more available to all. Methodology: The paper is drawn on policy document analysis, urban sanitation policy and other Indian government promotional materials on urban sanitation, Indian municipalities, and a number of public-private partnerships. The paper reviews the extant literature on urban sanitation and thereafter examines challenges met in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. Main findings: It emphasizes the major challenges of access to sanitation, lack of private sector engagement, lack of regulation and standardization, treatment of wastewater and septage, low infrastructure, weak institutional framework etc. The Paper also proposes suggestions for meeting these challenges so that a proper system of sanitation may emerge. Applications of this study: This study will be useful for all those agencies who are involved with sanitation system governance. The paper contributes to the literature by addressing a neglected theme of investigating the challenges and their probable solution strategies about Ajmer district of Rajasthan. The study will provide background of various challenges faced in various cities in Indian perspectives and how they can be dealt by proposed suggestions. This study will be beneficial in the area of sanitation systems, urban governance, etc. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study is significant in highlighting the type of challenges and what could be possible solutions in Indian perspectives with special reference to Ajmer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Gupta ◽  
◽  
Namita Singh Malik

Purpose of the study: The paper attempts to find the answer to the question – Why do we lack in basic sanitation? What are the reasons for it? Paper introspects the challenges encountered in sanitation services for Ajmer district in Rajasthan. It identifies the key bottlenecks of the sanitation system to the ground realities of implementation for a non-metropolitan city. The article also outlines the way forward which is suggested to make the sanitation system in the city more available to all. Methodology: The paper is drawn on policy document analysis, urban sanitation policy and other Indian government promotional materials on urban sanitation, Indian municipalities, and a number of public-private partnerships. The paper reviews the extant literature on urban sanitation and thereafter examines challenges met in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. Main findings: It emphasizes the major challenges of access to sanitation, lack of private sector engagement, lack of regulation and standardization, treatment of wastewater and septage, low infrastructure, weak institutional framework etc. The Paper also proposes suggestions for meeting these challenges so that a proper system of sanitation may emerge. Applications of this study: This study will be useful for all those agencies who are involved with sanitation system governance. The paper contributes to the literature by addressing a neglected theme of investigating the challenges and their probable solution strategies about Ajmer district of Rajasthan. The study will provide background of various challenges faced in various cities in Indian perspectives and how they can be dealt by proposed suggestions. This study will be beneficial in the area of sanitation systems, urban governance, etc. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study is significant in highlighting the type of challenges and what could be possible solutions in Indian perspectives with special reference to Ajmer.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Sinarko Wibowo ◽  
Handy B. Legowo

Even tough decentralized wastewater treatment solutions have been initiated earlier by NGOs and individuals it was just around the year 2002 that it became a national program. It started with 7 pilot cities in Indonesia and is now (2010) expanded to more than 100 cities (kota) and regencies (kabupaten) in 22 provinces. This program is known as SANIMAS (Sanitasi oleh Masyarakat, or Sanitation by Communities). It can be considered as a response to the national policy for encouraging community involvement during planning and development of infrastructure facilities, including sanitation. As demand for urban sanitation services development is increasing, the SANIMAS approach is considered as an option for a quick response to the need of providing sanitation services for low income communities in peri urban areas with population densities between 25 and 100 people/ha. In residential areas with higher population densities the SANIMAS approach would be a feasible first step towards the gradual implementation of community based simplified or condominium sewer networks. In rural and peri-urban areas (with population densities below 25 people/ha) more individual solutions would be applied. For the identification and subsequent implementation of these basic facilities the community lead total sanitation (CLTS) approach is often used. The Indonesian Sanitation Sector Development Program (ISSDP) implemented in the period 2006 – 2010 established a framework for planning of sustainable poor-inclusive urban sanitation services in Indonesia through effective and coordinated policy-making, institutional reform, strategic planning and awareness building. The Citywide Sanitation Strategy (CSS) as prepared by the 12 cities involved in ISSDP takes into account lessons learned from the SANIMAS pilot cities and the results of the scaling-up of the SANIMAS program in recent years. In the context of PPSP (Percepatan Pembangunan Sanitasi Pemukiman – Acceleration of Sanitation Development for Human Settlements) in the period 2010 – 2014, the ISSDP approach for policy making, institutional reform, strategic planning and awareness building will be scaled-up at national level and implemented in 330 cities and regencies throughout Indonesia. This paper provides a brief introduction to urban sanitation development trends in Indonesia, a concise description of SANIMAS and the CSS-planning approach and it outlines experiences gained so far with the incorporation of the SANIMAS concept and its guiding principles into Citywide Sanitation Strategies. Main approaches taken from SANIMAS and incorporated into strategic sanitation planning at city level include; i) selection of systems and technical options, ii) addressing health and environmental impacts, community participation, social and institutional issues. These aspects are found to be crucial to ensure social, financial and technical sustainability of the systems.


2020 ◽  
pp. 587-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Viganò ◽  
Federico Gori ◽  
Antonella Amicucci

The central role of quality agri-food production in the promotion of a given territory is actually widely recognized by both the economic and marketing literature and the stakeholders involved in the enhancement process of rural systems. On this basis, this work analyzes one of the finest Italian agri-food products: the truffle. This work tries to point out the main problems characterizing the current regulatory framework, the trade and the production of the Italian truffle sector, emphasizing their causes, consequences and possible solutions.


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