Post - 2015 Sustainable Development Goals
Beyond the SDGs: How to deliver water and sanitation
to everyone, everywhere
surprise that sanitation was
among the most off-track of all
the targets, falling short by more
than 650 million people. That is
more than double the population
of the United States. This is a
failing we can ill-afford to repeat
in these new global goals.
More than 2.3 billion people
still do not have access to a
safe, private toilet. Nearly 1
billion have no choice but to
defecate in the open, at road
sides, in fields or behind bushes,
which contaminates living
environments and contributes to
disease, death and indignity.
While there is no doubt much
progress has been made under
the MDGs, you may not have
A public toilet in Ciudad Pachacutec in Peru. More than 2.3 billion people still do not have access to a safe, private
felt it if you are a disabled or
toilet. Photo by: Monica Tijero / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND
elderly person, living in a remote
community or in an informal
By Margaret Batty
urban settlement, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia.
ecently, world leaders embarked upon a new journey
The question is, how do we change this trajectory in the
to tackle extreme poverty and make our planet a
healthier, more equal place to live with the adoption of the new global goals?
new U.N. Sustainable Development framework. These are
Drawing from experience
exciting times, and a real chance for change.
We know that success in sanitation does not require a
Water and sanitation play a key role in these 17 global
country to become wealthy. Singapore and South Korea
goals on sustainable development — not only in SDG
managed it in a generation, alongside their economic
6, but crosscutting through health, education and gender
growth rather than waiting to become prosperous.
rights. It’s hard to imagine a successful school, a successful It is a matter of political prioritization, incorporating
hospital or a successful community without such basics
sanitation into city planning and housing from the start,
as safe drinking water, a decent, private toilet, effective
and treating it as an essential public service critical to
removal of human waste, and good hygiene practice,
prosperity. It requires public funding and planning.
including hand and face washing with soap.
WaterAid has drawn upon these lessons and the U.K.’s
But sanitation was an afterthought in the original
own history, when a comprehensive sewer system inspired
Millennium Development Goals. After all, human
by the Great Stink of the sewage-infested River Thames in
excrement and sewage systems are not attractive topics,
London brought raging cholera epidemics under control,
especially in official circles. When addressing the U.N.
150 years ago. We’ve worked with utilities in developing
Commission on Sustainable Development in 2008, I used
countries to extend water and sewerage networks to poor
the word ‘shit’ to get my point about the impending crisis
communities, and with city administrations to support the
across — it was translated, albeit hesitantly, after a definite
planning and design of new water and sanitation systems
pause. And even the U.N. Deputy Secretary General Jan
that have the potential to include hundreds of thousands
Eliasson, a champion of ending open defecation, has had
of newcomers, now and into the future. The work on
translators hesitate at his use of the word ‘toilet’ in the
implementing these new goals is already underway.
conference rooms of the United Nations.
All these efforts require resources, and another major
When the final review of the MDGs came in, it was no
challenge of the last two decades has been chronic under-
R
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November - December 2015
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