Africa Sanitation Dialogue – Beyond Sewers: Empowering Utilities for Non-Sewered Sanitation Services

Description

The world is alarmingly off-track on the Sustainable Development Goal targets 6.2 and 6.3 – to deliver sanitation for all by 2030. Despite progress, as reported in 2022, only 57% of the world’s population (3.6 billion people) used sanitation services that leave human waste untreated, threatening human and environmental health. Of these, 419 million still practice open defecation. In 2020, only 1/3 of the population (2.6 billion people) used private sanitation facilities connected to sewers from which wastewater was treated, while the rest of the world is connected through onsite sanitation services. In Sub-Saharan Africa, over 80% of the population uses onsite sanitation; however, utilities are not equipped to provide non-sewered sanitation services at a large scale. Over the last decade, public service providers in several cities, especially in low- and middle-income countries, have expanded their mandate to address sanitation challenges, including non-sewered services.

The International Water Association (IWA) recognises the urgent need to address global sanitation challenges. Through its Inclusive Urban Sanitation Initiative, IWA is organising Quarterly Sanitation Dialogues to enhance advocacy, learning, and knowledge exchange on inclusive urban sanitation.

This dialogue is led by Water & Sanitation for Urban Populations (WSUP) and the Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA). In this dialogue, we will discuss how sanitation services can be scaled up by utilities in the region.