How political accountability processes influence how local authorities address sanitation challenges in informal settlements

Despite numerous international and national commitments to 'leave no one behind', including the 2015 recognition of sanitation as a distinct human right, the majority of residents of informal settlements across the globe are excluded from access to safely managed sanitation. Sanitation, a service which is itself taboo, compounds the systems of exclusion felt by residents of informal settlements.

The disconnect between internationally agreed obligations and commitments and national legislation on universal access to water and sanitation, and how these are interpreted, financed and implemented by local authorities and municipalities is recognised as a stumbling block to improving access to sanitation in informal settlements.

Existing accountability processes generally do not apply to people living in informal settlements or using informal services. This research will explore how and when accountability processes can be effective despite this stigma and exclusion.

The research approach will explore the different realities experienced by people living in informal settlements compared to the 'ideal' of formal sanitation services delivered to people living in formal settlements. Using predominantly qualitative methods, the research will examine the inherent conflicts and injustices that exist within the narrative of the market-driven ideal, to provide local governments, engineers and the communities themselves with the relevant tools to change perceptions of what is possible, opening the door to ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy their human right to sanitation.

Local governments often ignore both informal settlements or sanitation in their plans, prioritising limited financing for formal settlements and other needs. Political and social barriers are often hidden behind significant technical and financial barriers. This research will draw attention to accountability processes that can lead to improved access to sanitation in informal settlements, and will make recommendations for local governments, planners and civil society actors in terms of more inclusive policies, strategies and plans.

Water-WISER will train a cohort of 50 British research engineers and scientists and equip them to work in challenging environments both in the low-income settings of rapidly growing poor cities and in the changing urban environment of the UK, Europe and other regions with a historic endowment of aging infrastructure. The vision is for a generation of engineers with the skills to deliver the trans-disciplinary innovations needed to ensure that future water, waste and sanitation infrastructure is resilient to the stresses posed by rapid urbanisation, global climate change and increasingly extreme natural and man-made disasters. Our alumni will address the urgent need to re-imagine urban spaces as net contributors to ecological and environmental well-being rather than being net users of vital resources such as energy, nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. These new leaders will be an essential resource if the UK is to deliver on its commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 which calls for universal access to safely managed water and sanitation services, within planetary and local ecological boundaries. This next generation of research engineers will enable UK-based engineering consultancies, manufacturers, and utility companies to grow their share of the expanding global market for water and waste services, for example; in the water services industry from 3% to 10% (an increase of £33 billion per annum) by 2030, and attract significant inward investment.
The research which Water-WISER cohorts enable will form the basis of new innovations in the design and delivery of resilient infrastructure and services. Innovations developed by Water-WISER graduates will inform how growing cities are designed and built in the global south and will be used to inform the re-engineering and replacement of the aging infrastructure on which the UK's water and waste services are currently reliant. Our alumni will form the new generation of leaders who will play a central role in securing a larger share of the international water and waste management consultancy market to UK consultancies. The network of expertise and skills created by Water-WISER will enhance potential for collaborations between major UK players (for example strengthening links between UK consultancy, the Department for International Development, and leading UK water agencies such as WaterAid and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) and between UK companies and partners in the global south including international investors such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Graduates of Water-WISER will enter industry, academia and development agencies having spent a substantial period (minimum of six months) embedded in an industry or development partner organisation delivering their field-based research. Water-WISER students will thus gain a unique combination of trans-disciplinary training, field experience and cohort networking; they are destined for leadership roles in UK and international engineering and development consultancies, academia, international development banks, international agencies such as the United Nations and international non-governmental organisations.