Sustainable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

One of the priority areas of focus for the USAID SWS learning partnership (see other project) is on collective action approaches for WASH service delivery. This research has defined a collective action approach as a process in which sector stakeholders regularly convene and take joint actions to address shared problems, in which: problems are complex, and their solutions require deliberation and action by many actors; members agree on a shared vision and shared problem definition; and stakeholders clarify responsibilities and hold each other accountable for actions. SWS will continue to learn about how collective action approaches work, when and why...Read more »

This research applied, researched, and learned about systems-based approaches to improving the sustainability of WASH services. SWS rigorously tested changes in system strength by using complexity aware monitoring techniques to track changes that resulted from partners' system change approaches.Read more »

This study used graphical modeling, cross impact analysis with qualitative system dynamics modeling, and network analysis, to gain insight into the systemic interaction between the factors that influence sustainability of rural water services, and to assess stakeholder alignment.Read more »

The research identified important factors required for sustainable operation and maintenance via a Delphi panel and case studies. It then used msQCA to determine the necessary and sufficient factors (or combination of factors) that lead to successful or unsuccessful operation and maintenance.Read more »

This research studies sanitation systems at the nexus of society and technology, seeking to (1) identify community and sanitation priorities, (2) determine to what extent existing resource recovery and non-resource recovery sanitation technologies can address these priorities; (3) analyze the combinations of factors that lead to successful and failed sanitation systems; and (4) evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impacts and overall relative sustainability of sanitation systems.Read more »

This research aims to describe the decision-making process of rural latrine owners and pit emptiers in low-income communities with the goal of understanding how to achieve safely managed rural sanitation.Read more »