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This case study is the first update on Oxfam’s work on the sustainability of rural water supply systems in Nepal. Readers are advised to read the first paper on the topic from 2019: Water Supply Systems in Nepal., In this previous case study, Oxfam identified five key ‘levers’ that could potentially transform water supply schemes in Nepal’s Hills and Terai regions. This case study explains how these levers were implemented and the challenges faced during the process. The levers were implemented in Benighat Rorang Rural Municipality and Jwalamukhi Rural Municipality of Dhading, representing the case study in the Hills, and Haripur and Rajpur Municipalities of Sarlahi and Rautahat district, representing the case study in the Terai.

This paper discusses an innovative public-private partnership approach to operations and maintenance (O&M) of rural water systems in Kenya. The provision of water in Kenya is mandated to county governments, which tend to play a more prominent role in urban centres, while donors and NGOs take the lead in harder-to-reach or less commercially viable rural settings. Mostly, donor-funded water projects cover only capital expenditure (capex) and not operations and maintenance (O&M), resulting in inadequate maintenance of water infrastructure. After the initial investment, projects are handed over to community volunteers, who often do not have the technical expertise or financial management skills needed to keep them running. In addition, the tariffs collected are not sufficient to cover the O&M costs. The pilot project discussed in this paper demonstrates the value of proactive maintenance of water infrastructure that not only yields significant savings, but also provides better outcomes for communities.

This discussion paper contributes to the broader discourse on the nexus between Water, Energy and Food (WEF) in parts of Syria where Oxfam works. It explores the main causes behind the deterioration of the WEF sectors and the impact they have on households across Syria. The paper also focuses on aspects that directly impact and limit Oxfam's work inside Syria, in the delivery and implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Livelihoods; Food Security and Protection interventions. Addressing the WEF Nexus in Syria is key in delivering more effective and sustainable interventions; and helping Syrians restore their lives.

This study was undertaken by Oxfam in three South Sudanese counties as part of the SIDA-funded project 'Building Resilience through Gender and Conflict-Sensitive Approaches to Education, Skills Development, and Sustainable Livelihoods'. Its purpose was to shed light on why so many girls drop out of school., The research revealed that women and girls often lack decision-making power over their lives. Early or forced marriage, the abduction of girls, perceptions that education delays marriage – and that educated girls risk not finding husbands – all contribute to dropout rates. Additional challenges include a lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools, the distances learners need to travel, insecurity caused by communal violence, floods, food insecurity, and a heavy household work burden. The Government of South Sudan has in place laws and policies to address these issues, but they remain largely on paper and enforcement mechanisms are weak., The report analyses each of these factors in turn and presents recommendations for how the SIDA project can begin to address them in its future programming.

US foreign assistance is a valuable tool for achieving a more stable and prosperous world. The US government spends less than 1 percent of its budget on foreign assistance. Despite this small investment, it’s one of the best value-for-money investments in support of strengthening US national security, providing new economic opportunities, and fighting extreme poverty., As lawmakers, however, we rarely have the opportunity to raise an important caveat to this claim: US foreign assistance is most effective when provided in a manner that ensures local participation and ownership. What does this mean for the way US international assistance is implemented on the ground in developing countries? Oxfam and Save the Children believe that when development assistance efforts are driven by local citizens in collaboration with their governments, the results are more effective and enduring. The how and with whom the US partners in host countries are central to the long-term success of its international assistance., Oxfam and Save the Children have analyzed projects cited by the MCC and USAID as successful instances of applied-ownership approaches that empowered local actors to drive their own development. We hope these examples not only highlight the value of pursuing ownership, but also provide analysis, findings and recommendations that are useful to practitioners and policymakers who want to strengthen the US’s commitment to ownership.

Ensuring equitable and sustainable access to safe water continues to be one of the most pressing issues in Tajikistan, despite the country having abundant water resources. The still low coverage of the population with access to drinking water has been attributed to cross-cutting governance problems such as the relationship between the state and other social actors, poor water management and coordination, and systemic challenges such as low capacity. In the past decade, a demand-driven approach has become a widespread policy trend in Tajikistan and community-led management is seen as the main attribute for achieving effective water governance. The transfer of responsibility to local government and users is intended to promote local governance as a means of ensuring equitable access and sustainable use of water through users’ participation in water-related decision making and service delivery., Under a demand-driven model applied by the TajWSS project, users take more responsibility before, during and after WS system installation. The model assumes that water users have the necessary information and capacity to carry out the delegated duties and obligations and this automatically translates into equitable access and sustainable use of safe water. Yet despite improvements in access to safe water in rural Tajikistan, O&M and lack of governmental support are still great challenges.

An important milestone for the sanitation sector was the adoption by the UN of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets 6.2 (safely managed sanitation and hygiene services) and 6.3 (reducing the portion of untreated wastewater), which focus on managing the entire sanitation service chain. Tajikistan has been at the forefront of promoting these at global level. Meanwhile, the fourth initiative of the President of Tajikistan on the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development, 2018–20281 is being implemented at national level., Over the past decade, sanitation has been given low priority within the focus areas of water sector reform. For example, not all aspects of regulations have been duly revised to adopt new technologies. In addition, many regulations for wastewater treatment remain outdated and pose legal constraints for testing new approaches in the country. The Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) (Phase III) project piloted a decentralised wastewater treatment system (DEWATS) in the peri-urban Rudaki district in Tajikistan with two hospitals with the aim of scaling up to national level. This learning paper showcases the project findings, assessments and lessons learned in application of the DEWATS.

Tajikistan is often described as the poorest country in Central Asia, with GDP per capita consistently lower than any of its regional neighbours. Its water and sanitation infrastructure is severely dilapidated, suffering from decades of underinvestment and the failure to address widespread damage suffered during the country’s civil war (1992–1997). Efforts to ensure everyone has improved access to adequate water and sanitation services are characterised by contradictory legislation and blurred responsibilities between state agencies. Reform of the sector and roll-out of improved infrastructure have been slow, requiring strong accountability mechanisms to ensure that the rights of the most vulnerable people are adequately protected., Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme is therefore based on a theory of change that aims to improve the health status of Tajikistan’s population through the delivery of long-lasting WASH services, while addressing market systems and strengthening institutions.

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) remains a critical problem in Tajikistan, particularly for its rural areas. In terms of sanitation and the market within which it operates locally, there have been no sectoral tools on market-based WASH programming in Tajikistan, and therefore little available guidance around the facilitation of better interactions between the demand and supply of sanitation products. And while specified state departments are responsible for applying and upholding sanitation standards, in practice they continue to rely on guidelines from Soviet times, and rarely carry out household-level inspections – hence the legal frameworks governing sanitation should be revised accordingly., To fill this gap, Oxfam launched its first sanitation marketing programme in 2018 (as part of its wider Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) Project funded by the Swiss Government) and played a market broker role that transformed the relationship between buyers and sellers of sanitation products. The project approached the process by influencing both supply and demand sides, and by designing affordable and desirable trading processes for rural households to meet their sanitation needs.

The city of Cape Town in South Africa successfully reduced its water use by more than half in three years. The case demonstrates that resource consumption can be reduced substantially and maintained at lower levels over a long period of time, at least in the face of an imminent threat of shortages.Cape Town’sexperience is directly relevant to other cities needing to reduce demand for scarce resources in the face of climate change or rapid population growth. Yet the initiative has also been criticised for exacerbating existing water inequalities faced bylow-income communities and women. The case study therefore also highlights theneed to simultaneously addressother structural problems including among other things, the lack of voice and participation of women and marginalised communities indecision making and inequality of access to water.

This case study tells the inspiring story of the Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT) in India, a grassroots NGO originally born from the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). MHT works with women living in urban informal settlements to get access to services such as water, sanitation and electricity and secure tenure rights and property titles. Using a combination of community mobilization and strategic collaborations with local municipalities, it has helped empower women and increased the quality and reach of public and private services, enabling providers to make the ‘last mile’ connections that they often cannot (or refuse to). Community participation and involvement by women themselves is at the heart of everything it does. From its base in Ahmedabad, it has reached 1.8 million people in 36 cities across eight Indian states, and is now beginning to extend its influence internationally. MHT is now working with local leaders and community groups to raise awareness of the pandemic protect and enable the most vulnerable to access support.

Between April 2014 and March 2018, the SWIFT Consortium, led by Oxfam with Tearfund and ODI as members, carried out the 'SWIFT 1' project in DRC and Kenya to provide access to water and sanitation and to promote basic hygiene practices. In DRC, the consortium worked with implementing partners HYFRO, CEPROSSAN, and PPSSP in rural and semi-urban areas in three eastern provinces – North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema. This Effectiveness Review evaluates the success of this project to increase the sustainability of water and sanitation systems and services. It focuses on measuring benefits attributable to additional activities the project carried out in rural areas, above and beyond the national ‘Villages et Ecoles Assainis’ (VEA) approach. Using a quasi-experimental evaluation design, impact is assessed among individuals and their households in intervention and comparison communities in Kirotshe and Mweso Health Zones in North Kivu., Find out more by reading the full report now.

Between October 2016 and March 2019, the Freetown WASH Consortium, led by Oxfam with Against Hunger, Concern Worldwide and Save the Children as members, carried out the 'Improved WASH Services in Western Area Urban (WAU) and Western Area Rural (WAR) Districts' project. Broadly, the project aimed to improve the availability, accessibility, affordability and sustainability of integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, in alignment with the Government of Sierra Leone's national agenda on Ebola recovery and increased preparedness against possible future outbreaks. This Effectiveness Review evaluates the success of this project to increase the sustainability of water and sanitation systems and services. Using a quasi-experimental, mixed method evaluation design, impact is assessed among individuals, households and communities in intervention and comparison areas. Community-level factors contributing to better individual- and household-level outcomes are explored. Find out more by reading the full report now.

Oxfam led a consortium called SWIFT which ran a risky payment by results (PbR) programme in the fragile contexts of DRC and Kenya. The programme sought to provide sustained access to water, sanitation and hygiene for almost one million people over four years. During the four years, SWIFT faced a number of issues including the novel contracting approach; increasing financial risk for implementing partners; tight timelines for delivery of infrastructure and behaviour change interventions; and challenges in the wider context, such as drought in Kenya and population displacement in DRC., But apart from the funding mechanism, was SWIFT innovative or adaptive? We asked implementing teams the question: if, and how, innovation and adaptation took place during the first phase of the SWIFT programme, and what the lessons might be for implementing organizations that seek to deliver large-scale, challenging and high-pressure programmes under a PbR arrangement., This study looks at what innovation took place, why it took place, what it solved and what helped or hindered the innovation or adaptation.

In Nepal, only 25% of water supply schemes are functioning well. While there are several approaches to setting up schemes, there is only one model of ongoing service management – community-based management through local water user committees. This case study describes how Oxfam, LeFil Consulting and Nepali enterprise SmartPaani have explored alternative models to boost effectiveness and efficiency of water service delivery. The team surveyed water supply schemes in two regions of Nepal and carried out a sensitivity analysis to estimate the impact of various ‘levers’ on the profitability, and therefore sustainability, of rural water supply schemes. These levers will now be tested together with local government, with the aim of demonstrating that on a scale of 220,000 water supply users, better water service delivery is possible., Podcast: Listen to Anjil Adhikari of Oxfam and Jessica Graf of LeFil Consulting discuss alternative models and how they worked together to show that better water service delivery can be achieved.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) loses $208m each year due to poor sanitation. The State as a duty bearer has limited capacity to act and improve the sanitation sector. In 2013–16 Oxfam developed a pilot sanitation marketing project for Gemena, a middle-size town in Sud-Ubangi province. Sanitation marketing uses a mix of marketing approaches to increase the demand for and supply of quality sanitation facilities (e.g. latrines). Eighteen months after the project in Gemena ended, Oxfam revisited. It learned that, while it is possible to implement a sanitation marketing programme in a fragile context, the two-and-a-half years of implementation in this case was not a long enough period for the market to sufficiently establish itself to become self-sustaining.

Situated in a complex region of the world, Puntland State in Somalia is dealing with a range of threats and instabilities such as droughts, floods, locusts, the movement of internally displaced people (IDPs), and armed actors. COVID-19 has added yet another strain on its tremendously fragile infrastructure. The impact of the pandemic has been far reaching, affecting livelihoods and hampering unpaid and underpaid care work and responsibilities. The multitude of crises and rates of inflation have left the majority of families food insecure and without income, halted education and health services, and exacerbated existing vulnerabilities and the incidence of violence., This gender analysis was conducted and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), in partnership with Oxfam in Somalia and KAALO, to better help local government bodies, agencies, NGOs, and INGOs grasp the differentiated impact of the crises on women, men, boys, and girls, and host and IDP communities, during this time of intense loss and instability. The analysis provides an overview of the experiences of the affected communities, and gives recommendations on how to address immediate concerns and plan future programming.

Water supply schemes in refugee settlements in Uganda are being transitioned from management by humanitarian actors to management by national and regional utilities in an effort to improve their long-term sustainability., Research with refugee and host communities has demonstrated the need to strengthen the transition process. The transition in its current form could risk increasing inequality and pushing water services out of reach for an already vulnerable population., This summary report examines how WASH agencies and stakeholders playing a supporting role in the utility transition can make the transition more equitable, participatory and effective. The full report is available on the Oxfam WASH website: https://www.oxfamwash.org/.

The ‘Urban WASH' project was implemented in George and Chawama compounds in Lusaka between July 2013 and June 2017 by Oxfam and Village Water Zambia. The project aimed to improve provision and sustainable management of WASH services by engaging citizens to hold duty bearers and service providers to account. Oxfam collaborated with local institutions on an array of activities, engaging stakeholders to create a conducive environment for service provision and improving capacities and practices. This Effectiveness Review evaluates the success of this project to increase the sustainability of water and sanitation systems and services. Using a quasi-experimental evaluation design, we assessed impact among households in the intervention communities and in a comparison community. We combined the household-level quantitative assessment with analysis of community-level qualitative Key Informant Interviews, carried out with relevant institutional representatives. Find out more by reading the full report now.

The Promotion and Practice Handwashing Kit (PPHWK), a robust, user-friendly handwashing station, and Mum’s Magic Hands (MMH), a creative hygiene promotion strategy, were evaluated in a clustered randomized controlled trial in Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda. The trial evaluated whether their provision increased handwashing with soap practice among residents, with a focus on three community intervention arms and two school-based intervention arms., The findings outlined in this report suggest that exposure to both the PPHWK and MMH increased hygiene knowledge and handwashing behaviour with soap, and improved health outcomes. Intervention households also preferred the PPHWK over existing handwashing stations, typically a basic bucket with a tap.

UNHCR estimates that the average time spent by a refugee in a camp is 10 years, while the average refugee camp remains for 26 years. WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) is a crucial component of humanitarian response and longer-term recovery. Humanitarian agencies and host governments face many challenges in protracted situations and complex long-term humanitarian crises. One key issue is how water supplies should be managed in the long term. Who is best placed to operate and manage WASH services and which delivery model is the most viable?, At the end of 2019, there were 15.7 million refugees in protracted situations, representing 77% of all refugees. This report takes stock of the various alternative service delivery models, to enable humanitarian and development agencies to work together to smooth the transition from emergency relief to sustainable services.

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This research paper explores the different challenges related to menstrual hygiene faced by Syrian refugee women residing in Informal Tented Settlements (ITSs) in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon. The piece first looks at women’s distinct lived experiences and practices, focusing on products, safety and health, and delving into the implications of those challenges on paid work and domestic responsibilities and care work. The report then tackles communal perceptions and social stigma, and looks at how those affect women’s practices, bodies and lives, with a particular focus on knowledge and informal support systems amongst women. The research finally provides potential solutions and programatic recommendations for integrating menstrual hygiene management in humanitarian responses, particularly targeted at the WASH, protection, education and health sectors.

This report presents the findings of a study conducted by Arup on behalf of Oxfam to assess different faecal sludge management (FSM) methods at the Rohingya camps close to Cox's Bazar (CXB), Bangladesh. The aim of the study was to draw conclusions on best practices in FSM for disaster relief from evidence gathered through practical experience., The researchers visited over 20 operational FSM sites in CXB. These sites had been built by eight different NGOs and were using eight different FSM technologies. The researchers compared the technologies against a set of indicators, including cost; footprint area; speed of construction and commissioning; operation and maintenance issues; pathogen inactivation and resilience to natural disasters., A key finding from the study was that adequate allowances and resources should be allocated for the full faecal sludge treatment process. This must include liquid and solids management and final disposal.

This evaluation is presented as part of the Effectiveness Review Series 2017/18. The Improving Urban WASH Governance and Accountability (IUWGA) project in Pakistan was selected for review under the ‘Sustainable Water’ thematic area. The overall objective of the project was to develop and pilot-test a local urban governance model that builds on a concept of collaborative rights and accountability relations as the basis for developing a new social contract between local authorities and citizens in new urban settlements. The model was piloted over a period of two years (April 2015 - March 2017) in two Union Councils in the Sindh and Punjab Province., This assessment focused on the effectiveness and likely sustainability of the participatory governance model relative to ‘equitable and sustainable access to water’. Participatory Impact Assessment and Learning Approach (PIALA) was used to rigorously assess the impact of system change and engage stakeholders in its processes., Find out more by reading the full report now.

The Kenya Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Resilience and Governance Programme is built upon a theory of change which emphasizes empowerment, rights and the ability of citizens – particularly women – to develop and implement their own strategies for better access to services to improve health and quality of life. The programme’s approach holds that the best-placed actors to deliver improved water and sanitation are the country’s government, civil society and private sector, who are held accountable by the citizens they serve in promoting the quality and sustainability of services., The programme addresses water and sanitation challenges in urban and rural settlements of Kenya, strengthening the capacity of county governments, water-user associations and water utility companies to provide safe, sustainable services; developing and piloting innovative solutions; and working with other civil society partners to call for policy changes that address the needs of the most vulnerable people., This document particularly focuses on the question of whether water ATMs are a sustainable solution to water supply.

Oxfam’s WASH programme in Tajikistan is based on a theory of change which has four pillars: improved governance of water and sanitation at national and local levels; building demand for and supply of sanitation at a household level, alongside improved hygiene practices; social accountability in water provision; and securing financing for water and sanitation through innovative funding models., This document focuses on how the programme moved from service delivery to sustainable water management.

The programme seeks to ensure that women, men and young people living in poverty in cities in Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan have improved access to decent income opportunities and a dignified, healthy habitat. To achieve this goal, the programme is structured around three pillars: bringing together citizens to contribute to local governance; improving the responsiveness and capacity of local government actors; and improving access to WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) services and livelihood opportunities., The approach entails bringing together citizens in Effective Citizen Groups (ECG), with sub-groups for trade, WASH and participatory monitoring. Groups are supported in developing influencing strategies, and in lobbying local officials for improved WASH and livelihoods outcomes (e.g. repair of water and sanitation networks, increased access to livelihood support services) through participation in, and monitoring of, local government planning processes., This document particularly focuses on the programme's learning about adapting programming to an urban environment.

Since 2010, the Freetown WASH Consortium – consisting of Oxfam, Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, Concern Worldwide and GOAL – has worked to decrease mortality and morbidity stemming from preventable WASH-related causes in Sierra Leone’s capital. Now in its third phase, the DFID-funded consortium is undertaking a range of integrated activities to improve access to drinkable water and adequate sanitation services, promote safe hygiene behaviours, build the capacity of duty-bearers in risk reduction and contingency planning, and lobby for pro-poor investment in WASH services., This document outlines how the programme is implemented in partnership with government ministries, local authorities and the President’s Delivery Team, as well as how the programme adapted to the Ebola outbreak.

Tajikistan was one of the first countries that signed up for the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA). Oxfam’s strategy on social accountability in the country focuses in three aspects: constructive engagement, enhancing trust through the Community Advisory Boards (CABs), and promoting women’s engagement. The programme has generated strong commitment from the government, communities and water services providers.

Oxfam is leading the Freetown WASH Consortium (FWC) programme in Sierra Leone, which aims to contribute to health improvement through specific pro-poor WASH interventions that are aligned to the government’s 24-month post-Ebola recovery planning. Oxfam’s strategy focuses on promoting citizen engagement and the translation of community needs into policies.

The urban context in Pakistan is complex and posses major risks for the most vulnerable groups. Following the results of a participatory analysis, Oxfam developed a strategy for improving urban WASH governance and accountability in Pakistan. The model is centred on citizens, with strong elements for influencing and networking. The inclusion of social accountability mechanisms is already showing results in terms of the accountability of local administrations and improved service delivery, particularly to women and vulnerable groups.

Many rural communities in Tala, south-west Bangladesh are vulnerable to environmental hazards including water-logging, arsenic contamination, salinity and cyclones. Pre-crisis market assessment (PCMA) is used to support humanitarian programming based on an understanding of daily needs, how these change during crises, and how local market systems respond to these needs., Using vulnerability and risk assessment (VRA) allowed Oxfam to test the assumptions of humanitarian programme staff and provide a richer, more detailed analysis of the local context. The combination of PCMA with VRA can subsequently be used to facilitate better contingency planning to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of emergency responses.

In 2013, super typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc on Eastern Samar and Bantayan Island and triggered a huge humanitarian response. Now the challenge is to support sustainable development. Having a toilet is a ‘damgo’ (a dream), not a necessity for poor families in the Philippines. If you didn’t think having a clean toilet at home was important before the disaster, why would it be important afterwards? By bringing together the right expertise and getting good financial products in place Oxfam has supported poor families to access new markets and products actively, with the intention of supporting long-lasting change.

Oxfam’s work in Lebanon, both on humanitarian WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and more long-term water development programmes, uses social accountability mechanisms to assess community needs, empower citizens and promote dialogue among affected stakeholders. This strategy has helped to unlock some tensions in an effort to provide basic rights and services to vulnerable people. However the situation in many settings remains fragile, and further efforts are needed to promote dialogue and to anchor consultation processes to the water sector dynamics in Lebanon.

Mozambique is described as the third most exposed African country to the risks of disaster, particularly floods, cyclones and drought. It is one of the world’s worst affected countries in terms of climate change, resulting in high levels of poverty and vulnerability, and major impacts on natural resources and physical infrastructures., Oxfam is building the capacity of Mozambique’s civil society so it can effectively participate in disaster management, directly support affected and vulnerable people, and, in terms of the humanitarian situation, have a critical vision and voice., CECOHAS, a local partner in Zambézia Province that specializes in issues including hygiene, water and sanitation, has been receiving project funds since 2013. It is a key actor in emergency responses in Zambézia, a province that is seasonally affected by floods.

The Gaza Strip is a densely populated area with limited water and power resources. The groundwater aquifer is the only available source, with a deficit of 145 million cubic metres per year between demand and supply. Consequently, the quality of the aquifer has deteriorated and water desalination plants are being constructed. The Gaza Strip currently depends on the public electricity grid and the only existing power station, plus two additional electricity sources from Egypt and Israel. These power resources provide 25–75% of the daily demand. WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) facilities face a serious problem, as diesel fuel for generators – usually used during periods of electricity shortage – is expensive and not continuously available, due to existing political and financial circumstances., Solar energy could play a significant role in ensuring a sustainable energy future and reducing future carbon emissions. This report was commissioned by Oxfam from Enfra Consultants to map all the water facilities in the Gaza Strip which have the potential to use solar energy, and to look at the feasibility of using renewable energy.

On 28 September 2018, a major earthquake (lingu in the local language) with a magnitude of 7.4 struck Central Sulawesi in Indonesia, triggering a near-field tsunami (bomba talu), large-scale soil liquefaction (naombo) and landslides. As part of the subsequent humanitarian response, Oxfam and humanitarian networking partners JMK, including local organizations LBH APIK Palu and PKBI Palu, conducted research in camps for internally displaced persons in affected areas. The aim was to find out how the impacts of the disaster differed for women, men, boys and girls, as well as the variations in their roles and their access to and control of resources. As part of the assessment, the researchers carried out a rapid analysis of care work and also made efforts to identify how different groups might participate in the humanitarian response., This gender analysis is based on those research findings. It makes recommendations on how to respond to immediate and life-saving practical and strategic needs, with a focus on gender. It can also be used to inform and improve future responses to similar disasters in the same geographical area.

Community engagement in emergency sanitation is often limited and rarely monitored or evaluated, despite its perceived importance. Documented evidence of the effectiveness of rapid community engagement in emergencies is scarce. In 2017, the Humanitarian Innovation Fund launched a challenge to develop and test innovative community engagement approaches for emergency sanitation and to evaluate their effectiveness using a robust monitoring and evaluation methodology. Qatar Red Crescent Society, Save the Children and Welthungerhilfe implemented user-centred sanitation projects in Lebanon, Bangladesh, Iraq and Uganda, and the four projects were evaluated by Oxfam., This report presents the findings, discusses the methods used and considers their effect on latrine design, satisfaction and ownership. The report identifies promising practices and points to evidence gaps which could be addressed in future community engagement responses. Also available to download: a note on the methodology of the evaluation.

Humanitarian agencies strive to provide sanitation facilities which are safe, accessible and afford users privacy and dignity. In reality, women in particular have many concerns which can prevent them from using the facilities, especially after dark., In 2016, the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) set up a research challenge asking: Does lighting in or around sanitation facilities reduce the risk of gender-based violence? During 2017 and 2018, Oxfam and researchers from the Water, Engineering and Development Centre at Loughborough University carried out research to try to answer this question., Three reports document the field research carried out in Iraq, Nigeria and Uganda. Also available is a review of existing literature and good practice on lighting, fear of crime and sanitation., See www.oxfam.org.uk/lighting for information about the project and a full list of downloads.

Large-scale and complex emergencies often occur in countries where government institutions have weak coping capacity. They may struggle to deliver essential services routinely, even in non-emergency situations. This has serious implications for the way in which emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services are managed long-term and in the transition from emergency to post-emergency situations., UNHCR and Oxfam commissioned a study to understand more about how emergency WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) services are delivered, and to identify how the provision of infrastructure can lead to sustainable service delivery and a more professional management mechanism. As many humanitarian crises are protracted in nature, emergency WASH services need to be sustained once humanitarian agencies depart. This report aims to review and identify alternative service delivery options, and to provide some pragmatic guidance that can be incorporated into emergency response programmes and tested, evaluated and built on in the future.

Taken together, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) constitute the heart of all long lasting socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. In fact, none of the Sustainable Development Goals could be realised without WASH activities., Between 2011 and 2016, the Australia Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) funded Oxfam to work with four Local NGOs, government agencies and communities in six wards of Mongu and Luampa districts to deliver a highly flexible and innovative five-year WASH program, under the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES). The program was aimed at enabling marginalised people, especially women, to have access to services they required., The Most Significant Change Stories in this publication illustrate the deep and wide ranging impacts the WASH program achieved. The stories illustrate the usefulness of the program’s unique strategy, and show the value of focusing on human rights and including all interest groups in making key decisions.