OVERDUE - Tackling the sanitation taboo across urban Africa
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Development Planning Unit
Abstract
OVERDUE interrogates infrastructural trajectories and possible pathways to tackle the sanitation taboo across African cities, a task at the core of the Open Defecation Free campaign and the 2030 SDGs, especially SDGs 6 and 11. Sanitation is critical for urban life,yet it continues to be invisibilised, avoided, systematically un-tackled or at best reduced to a 'cultural, technical or financial problem'. Disposing safely of human waste has long been recognised as a human right, yet we witness a persistent, exculpated and prevailing everyday right violation endured by the vast majority of the urban poor in Africa and worldwide.
With the grid narratives aspirating to reproduce the 19th Century sanitary revolution of the urban global North and the incremental coping mechanisms of the urban poor, most African cities just get by, skirting around the sanitation taboo. OVERDUE aims to provide fresh insights into the 'urban sanitation crisis' by decolonising the way it is framed and tackled. This involves a critical interrogation of urban sanitation trajectories and the links emerging across the sanitation continuum between large-scale infrastructural investments in grid systems vis a vis collective and individual incremental investments by the urban poor in off-grid coping mechanisms.
A sanitary revolution across urban Africa requires a new perspective on the gaps and synergies between grid and off-grid efforts and the spectrum of practices and interventions in between, which reads the sanitary metabolism of a city as a highly complex system- of pipes, energy, matter and social relations - which can produce illness or health, poverty or prosperity, suffering or well-being, stigma or respect for the different women, men, girls and boys engaged in the management of sanitation. Focusing on three fast growing cities - Freetown (Sierra Leone), Mwanza (Tanzania) and Beira (Mozambique) - OVERDUE examines the sanitation taboo across contrasting colonial legacies, with links to the experiences of Francophone urban Africa.
Our aim is to produce fresh outlooks and robust evidence for effective pathways to equitable sanitation across urban Africa's diversity, through three work packages (WPs). The first two WPs offer a reframed diagnosis of sanitation trajectories in Mwanza, Beira and Freetown, unveiling their spatial and social configurations and the historical and contemporary taboos that undermine equitable pathways. WP1 tracks down past, ongoing and projected infrastructural investments in the cities, scrutinising their political economy and approach to 'sanitation deficits' often through the expansion of sewer systems without secondary treatment. WP2 traces existing off-grid sanitation practices and investment flows by informal dwellers, assessing their outcomes and implications. WP3 expands our critical and propositive enquiry to a wider context to document, debate and evaluate emerging sanitation arrangements that could bridge grid and off-grid arrangements at scale across Francophone, Lusophone and Anglophone urban Africa. The ultimate aim is to contribute to visions for "bridging" policy measures (how do we do it) and practical solutions (what is working best), for whom and why.
We argue that sanitation 'deficits' and 'solutions' need to be de-colonised for the right to sanitation to be realised across African cities. Adopting a post-colonial perspective, we aim to provide fresh insights into how contrasting colonial legacies are imbricated in contemporary urban systems to produce different sanitation trajectories. We draw on intersectionality scholarship to shed light into how people's experiences and opportunities differ depending on gender and other social identities and their diverse, multi-layered and intersecting relations.
With the grid narratives aspirating to reproduce the 19th Century sanitary revolution of the urban global North and the incremental coping mechanisms of the urban poor, most African cities just get by, skirting around the sanitation taboo. OVERDUE aims to provide fresh insights into the 'urban sanitation crisis' by decolonising the way it is framed and tackled. This involves a critical interrogation of urban sanitation trajectories and the links emerging across the sanitation continuum between large-scale infrastructural investments in grid systems vis a vis collective and individual incremental investments by the urban poor in off-grid coping mechanisms.
A sanitary revolution across urban Africa requires a new perspective on the gaps and synergies between grid and off-grid efforts and the spectrum of practices and interventions in between, which reads the sanitary metabolism of a city as a highly complex system- of pipes, energy, matter and social relations - which can produce illness or health, poverty or prosperity, suffering or well-being, stigma or respect for the different women, men, girls and boys engaged in the management of sanitation. Focusing on three fast growing cities - Freetown (Sierra Leone), Mwanza (Tanzania) and Beira (Mozambique) - OVERDUE examines the sanitation taboo across contrasting colonial legacies, with links to the experiences of Francophone urban Africa.
Our aim is to produce fresh outlooks and robust evidence for effective pathways to equitable sanitation across urban Africa's diversity, through three work packages (WPs). The first two WPs offer a reframed diagnosis of sanitation trajectories in Mwanza, Beira and Freetown, unveiling their spatial and social configurations and the historical and contemporary taboos that undermine equitable pathways. WP1 tracks down past, ongoing and projected infrastructural investments in the cities, scrutinising their political economy and approach to 'sanitation deficits' often through the expansion of sewer systems without secondary treatment. WP2 traces existing off-grid sanitation practices and investment flows by informal dwellers, assessing their outcomes and implications. WP3 expands our critical and propositive enquiry to a wider context to document, debate and evaluate emerging sanitation arrangements that could bridge grid and off-grid arrangements at scale across Francophone, Lusophone and Anglophone urban Africa. The ultimate aim is to contribute to visions for "bridging" policy measures (how do we do it) and practical solutions (what is working best), for whom and why.
We argue that sanitation 'deficits' and 'solutions' need to be de-colonised for the right to sanitation to be realised across African cities. Adopting a post-colonial perspective, we aim to provide fresh insights into how contrasting colonial legacies are imbricated in contemporary urban systems to produce different sanitation trajectories. We draw on intersectionality scholarship to shed light into how people's experiences and opportunities differ depending on gender and other social identities and their diverse, multi-layered and intersecting relations.
Planned Impact
The research team adopts a knowledge coproduction approach and aims to actively involve potential beneficiaries and users in such process in order to tackle the sanitation taboo in-depth and at scale not only in the three case study cities but across urban Africa. A highly interdisciplinary project team with a solid track record working in urban Africa and with African partners from academia, the engineering sector and grounded civil society organisations has the capacity to translate research into actionable knowledge and impact, as well as to support the multiple translations required to expand dialogue and fruitful exchanges across different key agents of change and across multiple languages.
The project aims for the following stakeholder groups to benefit:
A. Poor women and men, boys and girls and their local collectives.
B. Small-scale independent sanitation providers (SSIPs), WASH committees and sanitation technicians.
C. Policy-makers, city officials, councillors, planners, utilities and intermediary organisations guiding the design and implementation of sanitation interventions in the three case study cities and across urban Africa.
D. International external support agencies (ESAs) and other institutions that shape politically, financially, academically or technologically the provision of sanitation infrastructure and services.
E. Early-career researchers and practitioners.
Stakeholder groups A and B will be actively involved in data collection and analysis to develop their skills and capacity to monitor, evaluate, improve and expand sanitation provision as well as facilitate communication and collaboration with others. Dialogue with target groups C and D in each case study city will be pursued through a range of participatory action research tools. Local and regional workshop as well as Focus Group Discussions will strengthen dialogue among and across stakeholder groups and promote horizontal communication and feedback loops. The project is designed to maximise its impact in developing the capacity of target group E, through their active engagement in project implementation and communicating findings. Capacity-building beyond the project team will be achieved through regional exchange visits between mixed stakeholder groups from each city as well as visits to other initiatives across urban Africa to exchange experiences and enter into a critical dialogue. Participation beyond the three case study cities from representatives across all stakeholder groups will be sought through regional workshops and strategic use of different networks to facilitate knowledge sharing and coproduction across Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa. An external Advisory Group consisting of 3 world-leading specialists from academia and practice will scrutinise the quality and relevance of research findings at different stages to maximise the policy impact of research outputs and provide access to their international networks of organisations throughout the the project. Dissemination of findings through digital and printed outputs, and participation in key events and conferences will reach a broader audience and further enhance opportunities for research uptake.
The project aims for the following stakeholder groups to benefit:
A. Poor women and men, boys and girls and their local collectives.
B. Small-scale independent sanitation providers (SSIPs), WASH committees and sanitation technicians.
C. Policy-makers, city officials, councillors, planners, utilities and intermediary organisations guiding the design and implementation of sanitation interventions in the three case study cities and across urban Africa.
D. International external support agencies (ESAs) and other institutions that shape politically, financially, academically or technologically the provision of sanitation infrastructure and services.
E. Early-career researchers and practitioners.
Stakeholder groups A and B will be actively involved in data collection and analysis to develop their skills and capacity to monitor, evaluate, improve and expand sanitation provision as well as facilitate communication and collaboration with others. Dialogue with target groups C and D in each case study city will be pursued through a range of participatory action research tools. Local and regional workshop as well as Focus Group Discussions will strengthen dialogue among and across stakeholder groups and promote horizontal communication and feedback loops. The project is designed to maximise its impact in developing the capacity of target group E, through their active engagement in project implementation and communicating findings. Capacity-building beyond the project team will be achieved through regional exchange visits between mixed stakeholder groups from each city as well as visits to other initiatives across urban Africa to exchange experiences and enter into a critical dialogue. Participation beyond the three case study cities from representatives across all stakeholder groups will be sought through regional workshops and strategic use of different networks to facilitate knowledge sharing and coproduction across Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa. An external Advisory Group consisting of 3 world-leading specialists from academia and practice will scrutinise the quality and relevance of research findings at different stages to maximise the policy impact of research outputs and provide access to their international networks of organisations throughout the the project. Dissemination of findings through digital and printed outputs, and participation in key events and conferences will reach a broader audience and further enhance opportunities for research uptake.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- COWI A/S (Collaboration)
- L'Etre Egale (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (Collaboration)
- ARDHI UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- NDPH NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PRESSURE (Project Partner)
- Cowi (Denmark) (Project Partner)
- Ardhi University (Project Partner)
- COWI Mozambique (Project Partner)
Publications
Adriana Allen
(2021)
COVID-19: A turning point to further sanitation justice?
in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on equality and diversity
Bangura Bakarr Ibrahim
(2021)
Sanitation Festival in Freetown
Hoang Amanda
(2022)
It's time we unveil the hidden everyday experiences
Hofmann P.
(2021)
Sanitation
Leblond Nelly
(2021)
Decolonising urban sanitation through celebration
Makoba, Festo Dominic
(2023)
Gendering Faecal Sludge Management to support just sanitation
Mavila Magaia, Catarina
(2021)
Reflections on the Beira sanitation festival
Namita Kyathsandra Narasimha
(2022)
The invisible burden of care work: women as producers of sanitation infrastructures
| Title | "Just Sanitation across African cities" campaign |
| Description | The award started in summer 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a context that brings the vital role of sanitation to the fore more than ever. In response, we decided to celebrate sanitation and initiated the "Just Sanitation across African cities" campaign. The objective was to stimulate and reframe public conversations and actions around just sanitation. As part of the campaign we launched our website, our twitter and our facebook account. We also produced an animated image (Graphics Interchange Format - GIF) developed for World Toilet Day 2020 with OVERDUE team members and graphic designer Ottavia Pasta. It represents a diversity of sanitation infrastructure (both off grid and on grid) and users (men women, children, with wheelchair, caring for a child) and announces the importance to celebrate sanitation in English, French, Swahili, Kryo and Emakhuwa. It was circulated online (website, twitter, facebook) and locally by our partners to attract attention to the activities conducted in the various sites where the award operates. Locally, in Beira, Freetown and Mwanza, partners organized in-city sanitation festivals. The performances and creative outputs are reported separately. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | One of the notable impacts was to draw attention to sanitation. Another one was to increase our capacity to translate texts and voices into several African languages. This is a crucial resource to relocalize knowledge production and consumption. If we intend to decolonize knowledge production and empower residents and local administrations, we need to be working in local languages and make this effort as consistently as possible. This creative product was a step in this direction. |
| URL | https://i1.wp.com/overdue-justsanitation.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/WorldToiletDay_OVERDUEGIF.gi... |
| Title | 2022/09 Visual Minutes of Workshop on Gender and Sanitation |
| Description | These visual minutes were produced by artist Ada Jusic based on the exchanges during the OVERDUE Workshop on 19 September 2021. They capture discussions across Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar, DRC, Ivory coast and Senegal about women's roles in sanitation, their experiences and practices, as well as the gendered distribution of opportunities, responsibilities and burden. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | These visual minutes were largely circulated through social media, online conferences, and became part of teaching material to stir discussions and reframe conversations about women in sanitation. The visual minutes are featured at the top of the URL reproduced below |
| URL | https://riseafrica.iclei.org/riseprogramme2021/decolonizing-urban-taboos-through-celebration-26/ |
| Title | 4 short films produced by OGDS to challenge sanitation stereotypes and stigma |
| Description | 4 short plays developed by Ndeye Penda Diouf (OGDS) in Saint Louis in collaboration with the OVERDUE team to challenge stereotypes and stigma (women's domestic workload, off-grid neighbourhoods, the distribution of tasks within the household, the need for public discussions and support). The scenarios were developed in collaboration with inhabitants and filmed by a professional film-maker with a set of actors. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | This output was an opportunity to enrich the notion of stigmatisation and sanitation work and to spark discussions in Saint Louis. |
| Title | Body & toilet related taboos: The case of Abidjan, Ivory Coast |
| Description | This film produced by GEPALEF (Gender, Parity, and Women's leadership) explores unspoken rules and constraints surrounding the use of toilets and sanitation in Abidjan and how this affects women and girls. Produced with the support of l'Etre Egale and OVERDUE, this film was presented and discussed during an online webinar "Sanitation in urban Africa: Toilets Seats of Gender Inequalities?". More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203 |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This film generated important conversations on body and gender related taboos surrounding toilets and sanitation in Abidjan. It was presented during an online webinar on November 12 (More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203), showcased during the International Sanitation Workers Forum in December 2021, and is part of teaching material within the Development Planning Unit 2021/2022. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/SrbwWkYJBsE |
| Title | Building networks of sanitation workers from the ground up |
| Description | Festo Dominic Makoba (Center for Community Initiatives Tanzania) presents his work to improve sanitation in off-grid neighbourhoods. With CCI, he is training women and men to become sanitation workers, inventing and adapting technologies to deliver dignified sanitation (simplified sewerage, bottled walling, Dewats), and building up networked communities of sanitation workers. This short presentation was prepared for the Sanitation Workers Forum 2021. Longer version and more information : https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This film was presented during the 2021 Sanitation Workers Forum and it stimulated discussions around ecological sanitation and opportunities for women and sanitation workers in informal communities |
| URL | https://youtu.be/zb00sBdo8i8 |
| Title | Celebrating menstruation to tackle taboos? |
| Description | Menstruation is often a taboo, something not to be publicly mentioned. This not only reinforces stigma and shame, it renders menstrual pain and related suffering invisible. In this short video prepared for the RISE Africa Festival, Astrid Mujinga (CFCEM/GA), Catarina Mavila Magaia (COWI, UEM), Claudy Vouhé (L'Etre Egale), Emilie Tapé (Minous Libres), and Nelly Leblond (UCL) discuss the roles and effects of celebratory approaches. More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | Presented during the RISE Africa 2021 festival. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/v48nMDaE55o |
| Title | Human Waste: Fertile Ground for Change |
| Description | Short film about closing the sanitation loop by integrating the reuse of faecal waste into the sanitation chain for use as energy (biogas) or growing medium (compost). Also addresses the restrictive taboos and misinformation around the use of faecal matter for such purposes. Group output produced for the Learning Alliance between OVERDUE and the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development (MSc ESD) Practice Module at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London. Based on research by MSc ESD, Association Face de Água e Saneamento (FACE), Austral, and Gender, Parity and Women Leadership (GEPALEF). Produced by - Fairhead, Callum; Forcella Solares, Sebastian; Ge, Yudan; Kamilan, Fazira; Pearson, Holly; and Trevisi, Enrico in collaboration with Domingos, Hélder; Koué, Angèle; and Mavila, Catarina |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 100 views on youtube, stimulated more discussion on the taboo subject of using treated faecal matter as a form of energy (biogas) or as a growing medium (compost). Contributed to the initiation of a series of pilot projects in partner cities focussed on demonstrations of closing the loop in local schools and communities. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnLpeK4yIk8 |
| Title | Mwanza Festival Performance 2020/12/02 |
| Description | Dancers and singers were invited to perform songs and dances for the Mwanza Sanitation Festival on December 02 2020, to voice and incarnate the importance of hygiene and sanitation. Cobras were brought in to narrate the danger of open defecation, exposing oneself to potential threats and health consequences (symbolized by the cobra's bite). The performance took place in front of the Mabatini school in Mwanza where local residents and officials were invited and further engaged in presentations, discussions, and a drawing competition. The performance thus functioned both as a gift, contributing to local entertainment and pleasant interactions and as a way to attract attention and share information related to sanitation. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | The impact was to create a space where people could voice their concerns regarding sanitation and talk about this issue which is often taboo and seldom mentioned publicly despite the fact it is a real concern especially for women and girls who do a lot of the maintenance work and suffer from ill adapted facilities, lack of water, and lack of privacy. This was crucial to establish working relations on which the project will draw. |
| Title | No Tenant Left Behind |
| Description | A short film that exposes the challenges that tenants face across urban Africa with regards to sanitation access, especially for women. The film makes the case for prioritising sanitation access for tenants, with a focus on gender and new rights for tenants. Group output produced for the Learning Alliance between OVERDUE and the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development (MSc ESD) Practice Module at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London. Based on research by MSc ESD, Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), Ardhi University, Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) and SiMIRALENTA. Abou Zanaid, Noor; Bawa, Rhea; Jones, Rhys; Park, Hyowon; Tapia, Giovanna, Verdesoto, Victoria; and Zaidi, Zaira in collaboration with Bakura, Ibrahim; Kombe, Wilbard; Makoba, Festo; Rakotoarindrasata, Mina; and Ramarokoto, Jeannine (2022) |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 104 views on youtube and initiated and guided data collection around tenants and their access to sanitation across OVERDUE partner cities during 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYvxLIKOwu0&list=PLYQVppgi8V3H1l51d0Wjs6AjvoauTYFDG |
| Title | OVERDUE Animated presentation films |
| Description | These 2 short animation films present the research aims and participatory methodology in the context of Freetown, Beira, and Mwanza. These films explain what just sanitation is about, to facilitate engagements with residents, collectives and institutions, stimulate discussions, and complement the information sheet and consent form for potential research participants. They were developed in Tanzania and in Mozambique by national artists, to speak to these contexts and to support the creative sector in African countries. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | The notable impacts are multiple: first they contribute to strengthening the local art scene in Mozambique and Tanzania by channelling resources in their direction and re-anchoring the production of art in these countries, which is a way to re-empower and stimulate self-representation. Second, the films contribute to demonstrating respect and care for research participants, as the films have been crafted specifically for their city, with soundtrack and audios in locally spoken languages and adapted graphic representations of sanitation. This is crucial to invert the stigma and victimizing effect of research and build respectful work and interview relations. Third, it has been demonstrated that information videos generate a deeper and sustained understanding of research among research participants and non-participants (compared to written forms only). These films are thus key to generate a public understanding of OVERDUE's aims and approach and to facilitate further interactions. People will remember what the project is about and more easily get in touch with us, which is crucial to the participatory nature of our research. |
| Title | Pour des toilettes publiques convenables prenant en compte le Genre: Cas d'Antananarivo |
| Description | A film produced by Gender Observatory of SiMIRALENTA et Genre en Action Madagascar, within the OVERDUE project under the topic of "Tackling the sanitation taboo in urban Africa" and within the UCL Knowledge Exchange "Weaving gender and sanitation justice". The film sets out a case for public toilets in Antananarivo that take gender into account. Production Hay Agency |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 24 views on youtube and a focussed piece of advocacy that makes the case for increased access and gender responsive toilets in Antananarivo |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfcTACzIBV4 |
| Title | Public toilets: an urgent need for women in Bukavu DRC |
| Description | This film produced by CFCEM/GA (Women's Cord for Household's Balance/Gender in Action) documents the lack of accessible public toilets in Bukavu and the experience of women and girls who have to cope with this situation. It also discusses several possibilities for collective action. Produced with the support of l'Etre Egale and OVERDUE, this film was presented and discussed during an online webinar "Sanitation in urban Africa: Toilets Seats of Gender Inequalities?". More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203 |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This film generated important conversations on the challenges faced by women in African cities due to the lack of accessible and adapted sanitation facilities. It was presented during an online webinar on November 12 (More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203), is part of teaching material within the Development Planning Unit 2021/2022, and wass also showed in Bukavu to further local covnersations and actions about sanitation. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/KmRz7FXebhM |
| Title | Radio Debate "Sanitation inequalities and experiences in Beira" |
| Description | The impact of this debate was to raise the status of local discussions and interest on just sanitation, by bringing to the fore perspectives that are often unheard. It further strengthened the role of local institutions by making their work more visible and understandable to residents. This is an important process for local democracy and accountability. It is also part of a process to challenge the normalization of sanitation inequalities. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | The impact of this debate was to stimulate local discussions and interest for sanitation. It further strengthened the role of local institutions by making their work more visible and understandable to residents. This is an important process for local democracy and accountability. It is also part of a process to challenge the normalization of sanitation inequalities. |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Saneamento-Debate-2-04-de-Narco-de-202... |
| Title | Radio Debate "Sanitation trajectory of Beira city" |
| Description | First radio debate by MEGA-FM radio (the most popular radio in Beira, Mozambique) on January 14 2021, on the historical trajectory of sanitation in Beira presented by Sheila Maribate, with experiences from residents, an interview with the director for the Autonomous Services of Sanitation in Beira, an official from the water company FIPAG, and a lecturer from the Licungo University. The debate also included 10 minutes of interviews with local residents, voicing their concerns and difficulties in terms of sanitation and especially the issue of poor drainage. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This debate was impactful in so far as it stimulated local discussions and public interest on the role of sanitation in local development and gender equality. It further strengthened the role of local institutions in charge of sanitation by making their work more visible and understandable to residents. This is an important process for local democracy and accountability. It is also part of a process to challenge the normalization of sanitation inequalities. |
| URL | http://overdue-justsanitation.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Radio-Debate-1-14-de-Janeiro.mp3 |
| Title | Sanitation as a livelihood for women in Abidjan and Antananarivo |
| Description | Angèle Koué (GEPALEF, Côte d'Ivoire), Jeannine Bola Ramarokoto (SiMIRALENTA, Madagascar) and Mina Rakotoarindrasata (Genre en Action, Madagascar) present their films on women and the opportunities and constraints they face in the sanitation sector in Abidjan and Antananarivo for the SanitationWorkersForum 2021. Full films and more information: More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203 |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | Presented at the Sanitation Workers Forum in December 2021 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/PBcq3NTRlAo |
| Title | Shared facilities in Bukavu: A priority |
| Description | Tackling the subject of the poor quality of public toilets or shared facilities in Bukavu. Short documentary produced by the Association Cord of Congolse Women for Households' Equilibrium (CFCEM/ Genre en Action), about public toilets in Bukavu, especially around the Nyawera market. Funded by a UCL Knowledge Exchange Grant and the OVERDUE project "Tackling the sanitation taboo across urban Africa": https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 59 views on youtube and part of wider dialogue supported by OVERDUE partners Cordon des femmes pour l'équilibre des ménages and Genre en Action in DRC around the poor state of public toilet infrastructure and policy. This film formed a useful advocacy tool for conversations with media and policy makers with regards to public toilets. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHIz0hhUyH0 |
| Title | Shifting Sanitation Realities |
| Description | Public markets play an important role in the future of urban Africa in terms of economy and gender equality, they are currently the biggest employer outside agriculture and many market sellers are women. This short film exposes the inadequate facilities for sellers and makes a case for improved public toilets in markets accross Africa as a social and economic opportunity. Group output produced for the Learning Alliance between OVERDUE and the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development (MSc ESD) Practice Module at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London. Based on research by MSc ESD, Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), Association Face de Água e Saneamento (FACE), Austral, and Cord of Congolese Women for the Equilibrium of Households/Gender in Action (CFCEM/GA) Castro, Montserrat; Capriglione, Lourenço; Escalante, Maria Camila; Hoang, Amanda; McInnes, Charis; Rodmell, Amy; and Shaikh, Nazneen in collaboration with Bangura, Ibrahim B; Domingos, Hélder; Mavila, Catarina and Mujinga, Astrid (2022) |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 100 views on youtube and initiator for a series of projects by OVERDUE partners to develop, upgrade and advocate through demonstration the impact of improved market toilet facilities in terms of economic gains and social impact. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTZQ6S8UezQ |
| Title | Short films Freetown Sanitation Heroes & Injustices |
| Description | These 2 short films were produced by SLURC based on recordings during the Freetown Sanitation Festival on 19 November 2020 and the messages elaborated during the festival and its preparation. One film features a mechanical pit emptier in Freetown celebrating manual faecal sludge workers as sanitation heroes as they risk their lives to perform their job and maintain a healthy city. Another one features a woman from the Dworzack community, explaining how sanitation inequalities affect her and her community, as public toilets are far and women expose themselves to violence if they have to go at night, and as limited access generates diseases and health issues. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | These recordings were the first ones to voice the perspective from a resident and a sanitation worker located in urban Africa. They were crucial to stimulate further contributions from other sanitation workers in Senegal and Kenya. They also shed light on the daily consequences of sanitation inequalities, and are very important to bring them to the forefront and question the normalization of unsanitary conditions. The testimony from the Dworzack resident persuades the audience to seek additional voices from women, challenging their invisibility across the sanitation chain in Freetown and internationally. |
| Title | The uprising of invisible women workers (La révolte) |
| Description | A short film produced by the Observatoire Genre et Développement de Saint Louis (OGDS) to stimulate discussions, reflections and actions about women's domestic work, especially in terms of sanitation. The storyline is scripted, and theater used as a tool to push conversations on taboos. Scenario and interpretation: OGDS, Saint Louis Théatre Realisation: Xidma Prod. Film produced thanks to a Knowledge Exchange Grant funded by University College London and to the project OVERDUE |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 217 views on you tube and stimulated discussion around the expected gender roles and division of labour in the household in St Louis, Senegal |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIquE7Vgv0 |
| Title | Women in Sanitation short clips |
| Description | 4 short videos produced for the "Women in Sanitation" Campaign launched by the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Program (TNUSSP) on 08 March 2022. The videos were produced by OVERDUE team members in Beira (Mozambique), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Kinshasa (DRC), and Saint Louis (Senegal). They showcase 4 women: (1) Soukeyna Diouf Mbaye, President of the Association of Resourceful and Supportive Women of Saint-Louis, Senegal. (2) Sakina Gumbo, Caretaker of a public toilet in the Vingunguti settlement, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, (3) Belmira Maromia, Sanitation truck driver in Beira, Mozambique and (4) Caroline Mukeba, member of the Cord of Congolese Women for the Equilibrium of Housholds/Gender in Action (CFCEM/GA). videos are online here: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=4106 |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | These videos and the campaign are important moves to reframe the conversation on gender and sanitation, highlighting the role women play as paid or unpaid sanitation workers. They are getting a lot of media attention in India, the UK, and African cities and will continue to be broadcasted and used as part of webinars and conferences to be organized with TNUSSP in the months to come. |
| URL | https://muzhusugadharam.co.in/women-in-sanitation/ |
| Title | Women in the formal sanitation sector : a reflection of gender stereotypes |
| Description | This film produced by SiMIRALENTA in collaboration with Genre en Action, Green Way Madagascar, and Madio Vidange et Plomberie documents the presence of women in all the formal structures of the sanitation sector (governmental, private, non-governmental) in Antananarivo. However, the positions they occupy reflect the image attributed to them by society. By documenting this situation, the goal of this film is to transform this situation towards increased gender equality in the sector. Produced with the support of l'Etre Egale and OVERDUE, this film was presented and discussed during an online webinar "Sanitation in urban Africa: Toilets Seats of Gender Inequalities?". More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203 |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This film generated important conversations on the role, opportunities and challenges for women in the sanitation sector. It was presented during an online webinar on November 12 (More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203), showcased during the International Sanitation Workers Forum in December 2021, and is part of teaching material within the Development Planning Unit 2021/2022/ |
| URL | https://youtu.be/Uk8OA2B7ppE |
| Title | Women's invisible work in the sanitation Sector in Saint Louis Senegal |
| Description | This film produced by the Observatory Gender & Development of Saint Louis Senegal (OGDS) sheds light on women's engagements with household and community sanitation in several neighbourhoods. Produced with the support of l'Etre Egale and OVERDUE, this film was presented and discussed during an online webinar "Sanitation in urban Africa: Toilets Seats of Gender Inequalities?". More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203 |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This film generated important conversations on the role, opportunities and challenges for women in the sanitation sector and their major role in domestic and community sanitation. It was presented during an online webinar on November 12 (More information: https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=3203), showcased during the International Sanitation Workers Forum in December 2021, and is part of teaching material within the Development Planning Unit 2021/2022/ |
| URL | https://youtu.be/889JiZ5oqUw |
| Title | Work, Not Duty |
| Description | A short film that exposes the traditional reproductive gender roles make women and girls "responsible" for dealing with cleaning toilets and the health issues ensuing from poor sanitation. Group output produced for the Learning Alliance between OVERDUE and the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development (MSc ESD) Practice Module at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London. Based on research by MSc ESD, Ardhi University, Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) and the Observatory for Gender and Development of Saint Louis Senegal (OGDS). Darokar, Bodhika; Kyathsandra Narasimha, Namita; Mutiara Nabella, Dhita; Rahman, Sumaiya; Wang, Hsiang-Yin; Zhong, Jiahe in collaboration with Diouf, Ndéye Penda, Makoba, Festo Dominick, Ndezi, Tim |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | 97 views on youtube, stimulated conversation and advocacy campaigns including a 'caravan' of women who marched through the street of St Louis, Senegale for World Toilet Day later in 2022 to force a conversation on the burden of unpaid care and sanitation work on women. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJKntciRX0 |
| Description | [Report March 2023] In addition to the 1-7 findings previously reported, we found that: 8. Sanitation injustices can only be uncovered through a detail consideration of different stages within the off-grid service chain, from the construction and maintenance of facilities, through different practices in terms of containment, collection, distribution, sludge management and sludge and waste water reuse through food and energy production. 9. Each stage involves different actors and power dynamics typically with biased outcomes in terms of gender equality. These include the heavy physical and mental workload on women and girls who are attributed the main responsibility for managing sanitation at the household and neighbourhood levels, typically on an unpaid basis, but also the dominance of male sanitation workers at other stages of the service chain. We have sought to reframe prevailing perspectives by emphasising that the chores undertaken by women and girls are 'not duty but work', often invisibilised and normalised as part of their socially constructed 'care' responsibilities. 10. Among sanitation workers engaged at other stages of the sanitation service chain, we identified the stigmatising and counter-stigmatising practices adopted, some of these practices also include coping mechanisms to 'get the job done' which do not challenge social stigma but reinforce unsafe and undignified working conditions. A bias prevails among utility and local government staff in viewing 'informal' sanitation workers as part of the problem, despite the key role they play in the off-grid sanitation service chain that serves a large portion of the urban poor in all the cities where we are working. 11. A further finding refers to the institutionalised practice of what we define as 'build and neglect'. This refers for instance to investments incurred to ameliorate sanitation conditions through public and communal toilets, without due consideration of their maintenance and management. As a consequence, investments made in this area by utilities; governmental agencies and external support actors (such as NGOs) tend to be neglected after the construction stage. 12. Access to and control over sanitation facilities and improvements is regulated by tenure arrangements and security. By tenure arrangements we refer to those arrangements established between landlords and tenants, and among members of extended families within compounds. By tenure security, we refer to the different degrees of certainty and uncertainty to stay (not to be evicted) and how these impact upon any sanitation improvements and who benefits from them. 13. The above findings also have an impact on the capacity to foster or inhibit collective action to tackle sanitation injustices. 14. The sanitation service chain is regulated through a complex web of social norms, community bylaws and official bylaws that are punitive in nature, these means that they establish what cannot be done and what consequences are to be faced when rules are ignored or contravened. While most social norms are particularly targeted to women and girls, reinforcing socially constructed gender roles and control over their time and bodies; community and official bylaws are not explicitly gendered but have gendered differentiated impacts. [Previous Report] Please note that due to COVID-19, the actual start of the project was on July 01 2020. Although it is too early to share publicly consolidated findings at this stage, we have reported emerging insights and knowledge coproduction processes in section 15 "Other outputs & knowledge/future steps". Preliminary key findings emerging from the project include: 1. Pervasive taboos persist across urban Africa in the way in which sanitation is socially and publicly discussed and tackled. These include prominent silences about the links between race and stigmatizing processes affecting 'informal' sanitation workers, the reasons that perpetuate open defecation practices, and the misrecognition of women and girls' role throughout the sanitation chain beyond their needs as 'users'. 2. Innovative combined methodologies are required to unearth the aforementioned taboos and the root causes of systemic sanitation injustices beyond observable deficits. These include the use of city timelines to historicing change (sanitation investments and promises over time), spatial analysis to unveil the focus and locus of investments and promises, and the use of non-verbal methods and safe-to-talk spaces to enable a deeper discussion of how sanitation injustices work and why they persist. 3. A two-tier sanitation system separating 'formal' and 'informal' (and grid and off-grid) systems and providers persists in all three cities under investigation. However, a closer look at the sanitation chain reveals that the separation between these two systems is artificial and hides multiple co-dependencies across the sanitation chain. 4. Housing and land tenure security arrangements explain the persistence of the abovementioned two-tier sanitation system, with historic and contemporary investments inherently linked to property rights. Colonial legacies, both infrastructural and institutional (in the ways administrative boundaries and responsibilities are distributed) also contribute to reinforcing the disjuncture between these two sanitation worlds. 5. While sanitation is approached either as a generic city-wide public health matter or as an individual households affair, there is a wide range of sanitation collectives operating in all three cities that hint towards often untapped collective agency to address sanitation injustices. 6. Gender inequality is strongly relegated to narratives that confine women and girls as sanitation users, focusing on their needs at best, while obscuring their key role as sanitation providers and in supporting city-wide infrastructures of care. More widely, the separation between sanitation users and providers is artificial and explains why women and girls are mostly the focus of hygiene and awareness-raising efforts, while being systematically excluded from wider decision-making processes. 7. Though sanitation infrastructural interventions are always presented as desirable improvements, they also contain costs and potential harm to the most vulnerable groups. Hosting a landfill or a waste water plant that can overflow or leak entails additional risks for local communities. Similarly, the modernization of drains and the installation of pipes and pumps might mean losing one's dwelling or agricultural plot. These harms are often disjunct from the potential benefits as residents displaced by sanitary infrastructure are seldomly the ones connected to sewers and protected from floods but often further displaced and marginalized. This requires a careful analysis of the distribution of sanitary benefits and burdens, as well as grappling with the "legacies of mistrust" inherited from previous sanitary interventions as one sets to investigate contemporary sanitary solutions. |
| Exploitation Route | [Report March 2023] All previous remarks remain relevant. We are now engaged in the phase of experimenting with different interventions to tackle sanitation injustices in each of the seven cities where the project is now active. These include the three cities included in the original proposal (Beira, Freetown and Mwanza) and four additional cities: Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Bukavu (DRC), and St Louis (Senegal). These interventions have been supported by the flexifund in our project, with considerable learning and cross-fertilisation across all seven cities. [Previous report] The methodological outcomes of our award, both the decolonized approach to knowledge production in urban Africa and the non-verbal methods and safe-to-talk spaces to tackle taboos might be taken forward by the WASH sector as well as research projects tackling questions of violence, discrimination, and stigmatization. The online repository where we provide both our methodological briefs and results will constitute a toolbox to facilitate these uptakes. We also hope that the local dynamics connecting public institutions, private providers, third sector and community-based organizations, as well as the tools and processes (such as gender analysis, mapping, audits, voicing concerns, and experience sharing) will be sustained in the cities where the award operated as well as championed by the institutions connected by the project. Invitations to capacity building and participatory monitoring across projects, cities, and countries, will set this in motion, and an online map of the collectives and projects engaged will provide a starting point, enriched in time, to consolidate this pathway. Lastly, we expect our re-analysis of the role of women and girls in sanitation (as key providers beyond users), and the reflections on the gendered distribution of power, wages, and decision making, and the importance of care, will be uptake in many other sectors such as energy, housing, democracy, justice, transport, and retail. We will publicize our results and approach in many different formats (publications, briefs, online videos and courses, workshops) to make this impact possible. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Healthcare,Other |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ |
| Description | Findings have been used in the seven cities working under the OVERDUE project - three in the original proposal and four additional ones joining the team since the beginning of 2022. This has translated into a number of non-academic impacts, such as the creation of the Mwanza City Sanitation Forum in Tanzania and similar initiatives in other cities. Organisations up taking the project findings into their practices and work include water and sanitation utilities, local governments, and collectives of the urban poor, such as the Federation of the Urban Poor in Freetown and Tanzania. The project also had an impact in opening a public conversation about sanitation taboos and the need to review social norms and community and official bylaws that unintendedly perpetuate stigmatisation and gender inequality. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | "Decolonising WASH" - Sanitation Communities of Practice webinar |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The award has enabled us to step forward and respond to the call of the UK Sanitation Community of Practices regarding the organisation of a session on "Decolonising the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector" in November 2020. SanCoP events bring together a wide range of professionals with an interest in sanitation from academic and research institutions, NGOs, public and private organisations, mainly based in the UK but mostly working abroad. The questions proposed for the SanCoP session were (1) Why does WASH need decolonising? (2) What is our role as UK-based practitioners? (3) How do our current ways of working strengthen existing unequal power structures? (4) What is the role of SanCoP-UK in this process?. These questions echo reflections undertaken by the OVERDUE project, as we explore sanitation justice across urban Africa, and aim both to tackle colonial legacies and decolonize sanitary solutions. This thematic also builds on the 2020 IRC Global Talk "Decolonizing WASH sector knowledge and decolonising systems thinking", during which Euphresia Lueska and Alara Adali critically examined the conception of WASH interventions by the North with limited inputs from Southern partners, marginalisation of local priorities and exclusion of indigenous knowledge. They pointed to the resulting issues of equity (worse off segments remain excluded), power asymmetries (unequal division of responsibilities, labour and benefits), diversion of resources away from WASH services (as staffing costs in the North are higher), inappropriate technologies (creating dependencies rather than self-sufficiency and sustainability), lack of accountability and of scalability (impossibility to move beyond pilots). Lueska and Adali invited us to "decolonize our minds", come to terms with the legacies of colonialism, share power, make indigenous knowledge known and used, and create safety and support networks for disadvantaged communities. Building on these reflections, insights from the OVERDUE project, and following discussions with Jonathan Wilcox and Sally Cawood from the SanCoP Coordinating Team, we have come forward to contribute to the meeting and capacity building of UK based practitioners. We proposed to co-lead the session and share results, tools and reflections. Our suggestions and template (submitted in February 2021) are currently being discussed and enriched by other participants. The event, which will be public and held online in April/May 2021 will be an opportunity to engage with the broader community of practitioners and scholars and to contribute to challenging colonial practices. We have especially proposed to contribute to question "What is decolonising?" Decolonizing has become a trendy word, from decolonising libraries, to decolonising method, knowledge, Eurocentric knowledge systems in Africa, disciplines, entire sectors of society. Several meanings coexist among which (1) the undoing of colonial rule over subordinate countries or territories and the repatriation of land and its enactment, (2) the liberation of minds and institutions from colonial ideology (racism plays a key role here), (3) the critique of positions of power which undermine some knowledge systems and hinder social justice, (4) the seizing of imperial wealth by the postcolonial subject. Some uses of "decolonial" and "decolonization" are more metaphorical than others, and some might even "kill the very possibility of decolonization" (Tuck and Yang, 2012). We proposed to clarify the polysemy, and the multiple positions and actions entailed in "decolonizing". Further we proposed to focus on water, hygiene and sanitation, by pointing out how the WASH sector embeds and perpetuates colonial relations. How do the invisibilized dynamics of colonialism mark the organization, governance, spatiality, accessibility of the sector and its services? How do colonial and settler perspectives and world views - repackaged as data and findings - get to count as knowledge and to sustain unfair social structures? We then suggested to share several practices and methods implemented through the award such as accounting for colonial legacies, inverting sequence, flexible budgeting and partnerships with equivalence. We proposed to co-lead the session and share results, tools and reflections. Our suggestions and template (submitted in February 2021) are currently being discussed and enriched by other participants. The event, which will be public and held online in April/May 2021 will be an opportunity to engage with the broader community of practitioners and scholars and to contribute to challenging colonial practices. We have especially proposed to contribute to question "What is decolonising?" Decolonizing has become a trendy word, from decolonising libraries, to decolonising method, knowledge, Eurocentric knowledge systems in Africa, disciplines, entire sectors of society. Several meanings coexist among which (1) the undoing of colonial rule over subordinate countries or territories and the repatriation of land and its enactment, (2) the liberation of minds and institutions from colonial ideology (racism plays a key role here), (3) the critique of positions of power which undermine some knowledge systems and hinder social justice, (4) the seizing of imperial wealth by the postcolonial subject. Some uses of "decolonial" and "decolonization" are more metaphorical than others, and some might even "kill the very possibility of decolonization" (Tuck and Yang, 2012). We proposed to clarify the polysemy, and the multiple positions and actions entailed in "decolonizing". Further we proposed to focus on water, hygiene and sanitation, by pointing out how the WASH sector embeds and perpetuates colonial relations. How do the invisibilized dynamics of colonialism mark the organization, governance, spatiality, accessibility of the sector and its services? How do colonial and settler perspectives and world views - repackaged as data and findings - get to count as knowledge and to sustain unfair social structures? We then suggested to share several practices and methods implemented through the award such as accounting for colonial legacies, inverting sequence, flexible budgeting and partnerships with equivalence. |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ |
| Description | Agreement with Agou municipality on supporting women in the sanitation sector and improving waste recycling |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | Prior to this agreement sanitation task forces under the municipality where male only, despite women and girls being the main users and most severely effected in cases of inadequate sanitation. This agreement sets out to support the formation of a female sanitation taskforce which will bring women's issues to the the table for sanitation in Abidjan. |
| Description | Convention between Antananarivo Urban Municipaliy, SMA and SiMIRALENTA to improve the reuse of faecal sludge in a public school |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | This convention created connections between the municipality, the corporation for autonomous sanitation services, a gender association, and a public school. It is a pioneering convention that can serve as a precedent for other projects. |
| Description | Just Sanitation first through Sanitation Festivals |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | It is early for us to claim an influence on policy, practice, patients and the public at this stage, as the start of the OVERDUE project has been delayed to 01 July 2020 and we have had to limit our field activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g.: no focus groups, reduced mobility and interviews, no face to face exchanges across team members from different cities, etc.). The most advanced results for now have been achieved in Freetown and Mwanza where the sanitation festivals have created a space and opportunity for sanitation providers, public agencies, and residents to meet and discuss what sanitation (in)justice means in each context. In Freetown for example the inclusion of the Freetown City Council in the preparation of the sanitation walk organized by SLURC enabled them to publicize their call centre, to which residents can reach out to signal waste and faecal sludge issues. This strengthens existing mechanisms and services maintaining sanitation across the city. It also revealed sanitary issues in the more formal neighborhoods of the city, outside of the informal settlements were most attention is focused, as well as around markets and workplaces dominantly occupied by women (food market deprived of any facility) compared to the ones where men operate (craft market serviced by public toilets). This made it clear that sanitation had to be considered across the off-grid/on-grid divide and gender relations. It also deeply questioned the political economy of sanitation and gender inequalities, stressing the need for much more consequent investments to improve sanitation across places, with a gender perspective in mind. In Mwanza, the festival brought landowners/households and grid system providers together, particularly to deliberate on the issue of sanitation and lack of water supply in the higher/hills of Mabatini and similar localities. Water scarcity was brought up as one of the key impediments to improve sanitation (small low cost off-grid system). The Mwanza Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (MWAUWASA) made public announcement and commitment during the festival that a large water project for Mabatini settlement was due to start soon. As part of the Sanitation Festival in Beira Mozambique, the director of the Autonomous Beira Sanitation Service (SASB) addressed residents' concerns and their suspicions of corruptions by explaining the technical constraints and limitations endured by his institutions as well as the rationale behind interventions or non-interventions. This was a key moment to foster local discussions and understandings. All these elements contribute to effectively addressing sanitation injustices in these cities but the impacts will only be measurable in the longer term. |
| Description | Training material for postgraduate students, practitioners, and researchers |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Quantifying impact at this stage is hard but we have been contacted by several researchers, postgraduate students, and institutions volunteering to join the project activities and events on gender and sanitation, use resources produced for capacity building purposes, as well as to thank us for the work highlighting the various contributions of women to sanitation. |
| Description | World Toilet Day 2022 - Just Sanitation Campaigns across OVERDUE Partner cities |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The size and impact of this campaign, when compared to similar in 2020, demonstrates the growth of the networks and conversation on sanitation justice across partner cities. The way in which each city developed its own set of modalities and messages, tapping into a broad range of advocacy strategies - drama skits in Freetown performed by local actors, taxi rides in Bukavu to spread the word across the city, a march in Saint Louis to attract visibility, and a big music-playing truck in Abidjan - captured audiences and made a loud and proud contribution to the international World Toilet Day conversation. In many cases the activities supported by OVERDUE in partners cities made national news (coverage detailed below). WTD 2022 Bukavu coverage - https://laprunellerdc.info/bukavu-le-cfcem-ga-lance-les-travaux-de-rehabilitation-des-toilettes-publiques-du-marche-de-nyawera/ WTD 2022 Freetown coverage - https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02kySKYW38aW8saJ1crqPjokDV23dHfDkTeg5NopPxKFEhqHkLPJhTyx4ADiNEHMCsl&id=100044389155390&mibextid=Nif5oz WTD 2022 Freetown coverage - women crowned as sanitation champions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_kjMuM8e10 WTD 2022 Saint Louis coverage - http://www.miroironeline.com/journee-mondiale-des-toilettes-saint_louis-celebre-l-evenement-pour-la-1ere-fois/ WTD 2022 Saint Louis coverage - https://www.ndarinfo.com/%E2%80%8BJournee-mondiale-des-toilettes-plaidoyer-retentissant-pour-un-assainissement-viable-et-fonctionnel-a-Saint-Louis_a34945.html WTD 2022 Bukavu coverage - https://congowitness.org/2022/11/20/sud-kivu-journee-mondiale-des-toilettes-astrid-mujinga-invite-la-mairie-de-bukavu-de-disponibilite-des-toilettes-publiques/ WTD 2022 Bukavu coverage - https://www.kivukwetuinfo.net/post/bukavu-cfcem-ga-c%C3%A9l%C3%A8bre-la-journ%C3%A9e-des-toilettes-en-invitant-les-gouvernants-%C3%A0-cr%C3%A9er-des-latrines WTD 2022 Beira coverage - Limpopo TV (Dec 2022) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClgjUsjjkPI/ WTD 2022 Beira coverage - Gloria Noticias (Dec 2022) |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=4975 |
| Description | HEIF Knowledge Exchange - Weaving Gender and Sanitation Justice |
| Amount | £14,800 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 156780 |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Innovation and Enterprise |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2022 |
| End | 07/2022 |
| Title | Documenting household sanitation trajectories |
| Description | This research tool was established in order to document household/compound sanitation trajectories to explore their experiences and everyday sanitation practices. This methodology builds on the work of Pascale Hofmann* and aims to capture changes over time through qualitative interviews. For the Overdue project our unit of analysis will be households or compounds who share their main sanitation facility. However, the data collection will be through in-depth individual interviews with a household member or compound resident to get their perspective on the sanitation trajectory of the whole household/ compound. We conducted one long interview (1-2 hours) with a shorter follow up interviews of approx. 30 min. The follow up interview to involve other household/ compound members to access additional information that the original interviewee did not know (e.g. on sanitation investments). Interview focussed on collecting information in the following broad categories and their changes over time: - Facts, (e.g dates, information on costs and investments, including time and money, information about infrastructure and facilities) - Practices (what do people do to access, manage and improve sanitation) - Experiences and perceptions (how does sanitation affect people's lives in terms of safety, dignity, health, livelihoods? What do people hope for, what are they trying to achieve in terms of sanitation improvements?) * Pascale Hofmann, 'Multi-Layered Trajectories of Water and Sanitation Poverty in Dar Es Salaam', in Urban Water Trajectories, ed. Sarah Bell et al., Future City (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017), 103-18, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42686-0_7; Pascale Hofmann, 'The Dialectics of Urban Water Poverty Trajectories: Policy-Driven and Everyday Practices in Dar Es Salaam', Doctoral Thesis, UCL (University College London). (Doctoral, UCL (University College London, UCL (University College London), 2018), https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10062549/. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The method supported the increased understanding of the experiences, practices, costs and investments (from a household/compound perspectives) devoted to sanitation (money and time), their consequences and their changes over time. The tool enabled the study of a range of households/compounds sharing sanitation facilities to understand how household structure and membership (e.g., gender composition, ability, tenure status) affects people's experience of sanitation and their practices. |
| Title | Improvements to Social science tools and methods |
| Description | OVERDUE has devoted so far great efforts to develop research tools and methods that are analytically and culturally sensitive to capture the full complexity of sanitation injustices and taboos. These include: 1. Urban sanitation timelines to capture and visualize continuities and discontinuities across city-sanitation trajectories, including 'promises' (public official statements, policies and plans) and investments on infrastructural developments. 2. Sanitation wheel practices to capture the full universe of formal-informal / individual and collective interventions and relations that sustain sanitation systems across each city analysed. 3. Just sanitation festivals as a contextualized and cultural sensitive means to unearth conspicuous silences and taboos in the way in which sanitation (in)justices are discussed and tackled. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | These different methods are further developed in the "Other knowledge and outputs" section as the categories provided in the "Methods and Tools" sections were too restrictive for us to detail the tools and methods we developed, anchored in feminist political ecology, criticial urban studies, and african studies. |
| Title | Method - Research with off-grid communities on sanitation (in)justices |
| Description | This method is a set of research methods conducted with communities to co-produce knowledge on sanitation (in)justices. The first activity is a guided walk with community members (preferably women) to get a first understanding of the neighbourhood and the sanitation facilities and practices at stake. By sanitation facilities we mean the infrastructure, sites, and related service, both in the home and public, that people use to process, dispose of, and clean up faecal and menstrual waste. By sanitation hotspots we mean places where key sanitation improvements are happening and/ or places where key sanitation related challenges can be found (e.g. open defecation, dumping of waste, overflowing pits, exposure of sanitation users to risk/ harassment, flooding). Data is recorded with GPS/spatializing applications (eg. RamblR), photos, notes, short videos and sound clips. . The second method consists in building the history of the community and of sanitation. This is a collective activity, starting with the enumeration of participants, and then the recalling of major events, and further of sanitation events, prompting participation along different features/identities (tenants/landlords, women/men, young/old, facilities/emptying/disposal/menstruation). The third method consists of focus group discussions on taboos and sensitive issues related to sanitation. Participants are divided by gender and report on key taboos, their causes, and consequences, as well as the options for those who cannot respect the taboos and must contradict them. This is followed by a collective discussion where groups report back. The fourth method is a mapping activity, where participants locate their dwellings, their sanitation facilities, and the hotspots (good or bad) of concern to them. This is discussed collectively. The fifth method is designed to facilitate a collective discussion of official bylaws and social and community norms (including traditional and market-based norms) that together structure the everyday governance of sanitation in all studied cities. Participants first identify these norms and assess their enforcement, the sanctions for breaking the laws/rules and if they are applied or not. In turn, this method allows for an excavation of the taboos underpinning urban sanitation and also of their function (e.g.: protection or discrimination). Together these methods enable a reframed collective and intersectional conversations observations on the governance, practices and experiences of urban sanitation in a respectful way, one which values the agency and investments of community members, while pointing to the diversity of experiences and practices and the differentiated impacts , weight, and opportunities, of different sanitation constellations. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This method was piloted in Mwanza (Tanzania), refined in Freetown (Sierra Leone) and adapted to Beira (Mozambique) and it is currently being applied to three selected sites in each city. It had generated valuable data and findings, as well as raise awareness on unspoken issues and gender roles in urban sanitation, while generating collaborations within the study sites and among participants (residents, sanitation providers and collectives). |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ |
| Title | Shadowing Sanitation Workers |
| Description | The objective of shadowing sanitation workers was to document and reflect on their daily experiences. This was achieved by following a participant during a typical working day, documenting their everyday experiences through photographs which they ask the data collector to capture. It is important that collectors captured participants' explanations of why they wanted particular photos, and why the subject of the photo is important for them. The method sets out a criteria for how to select participants for this purpose and build a good picture of these experiences by studying a range. The term 'go along observation' was used to describe a method that sets out a series of 6 questions for the collector to use to structure the conversation held with participants as they followed them through their work. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This method has enabled the recording of sanitation worker experiences that are often hidden or taboo in many of the OVERDUE partner city contexts. The unobtrusive and interested approach has allowed the picture of a sanitation worker's day which would have otherwise been hard to capture in a more standard interview format. |
| Title | Whatsapp Diaries (Flexifund audio journals) |
| Description | Members of each city team share real time accounts in the form of short audio recordings (photos and videos can be used if relevant) of their advancements, successes, challenges, frustrations, doubts and learnings relative to their Flexifund activities. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | • Real time documentation brings depth and reflexivity. Details that might be forgotten will be remembered. Decisions and choices will be put in context. • The audio material can be edited later to produce a short edited podcast for the amplification of the innovation and its uptake in other cities. People interested will be able to follow the steps that you took and see how to adapt/replicate. • The video and photos shared can be used to communicate activities as the Flexifund process unfolds online (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) to gain further support and impact. |
| Title | Database of Sanitation Collectives |
| Description | The database contains a list of sanitation collectives in the cities of Mwanza (Tanzania), Beira (Mozambique) and Freetown (Sierra Leone). Sanitation collectives are understood here as groups of actors who engage in sanitation related activities OR that have led campaigns and mobilized to improve sanitation access, quality or services. Sanitation collectives can be formally registered or informal (eg. pit emptiers associations with no official work contract or status), and can directly work in sanitation (e.g. Infrastructure provision, management and cleaning, collection, disposal of waste, treatment and reuse) or be indirectly engaged with sanitation provision and uses (e.g. markets associations, women's NGOs, residents lobbying the municipality etc). This database is a step to identify sanitation practices, to generate new conversations across sanitation users and providers, and to strengthen local capacities to monitor existing facilities, assess needs, and improve access to and control over sanitation services. The database has the form of an excel spreadsheet, where each line is a collective and columns correspond to attributes and characteristics of the collective. Collectives are added through a template interview grid which was collaboratively elaborated by the project team. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | We are still developing this database so the impact on external actors has been limited for now (the database is not publicly available). However, internally this process has generated further discussions on what is a collective, the sampling procedure (eg. how to promote gender equity through the identification and selection of collectives), the consolidation of data (working on shared documents that can be collectively updated by multiple members in a geographically dispersed project). This process has also forced us to reflect critically on how sanitation chains are often portrayed (on grid, off grid, in between) and on the diversity and categories of actors to be included. |
| Title | Memory Holder and oral histories of sanitation in African cities |
| Description | This dataset is a collection of oral history interviews conducted in Freetown by SLURC, Mwanza by CCI/Ardhi and Beira by FACE/Austral on the history of sanitation interventions, investments, and changes across the cities. The interviewees include long term residents, officials, sanitation workers, health workers engineers, planners and consultants. They bring light on the lived experience of sanitation and complement written sources (colonial archives, consultancy reports, printed press). Interviews were also followed up by a collective memory holder workshop in Freetown which enabled to share views and memories across stakeholders as well as foster stimulating decisions on sanitation futures. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This dataset is currently being analysed to generate research papers and bookchapters. It will also be used to generate outputs of local relevance such as pamphlets and short videos, accessible to community members and officials. |
| Title | Repository of recordings voicing "Just Sanitation" |
| Description | We have generated a dataset of sound recordings titled "Voicing Just Sanitation". In English, French, Gujarati, Portuguese, Spanish. It contains 28 recordings, including three versions produced by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Water and Sanitation. Each recording is about 2 minutes long, with the series as a whole covering the following: (a) celebrating a sanitation hero, (b) voicing an injustice or vision for sanitation justice, and (c) addressing a sanitation taboo. All these recordings have been subtitled in English (some also in French) and are available online on our website and on Vimeo. They emanate from speakers located in a diversity of countries, mostly across Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Senegal) but also in India, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In terms of Impact, this dataset has enabled us to "bubble up" different experiences and dimensions of sanitation injustice and gender inequality and to initiate an online discussion on why the sanitation 'crisis' needs to be reframed. We have analysed this public and provocative conversation by processing all the subtitles with an online platform (CorTexT), which enables us to identify key terms and map networks of co-occurrence. The graphs were then publicly circulated to reflect on the strong points and gaps of the discussion and to stimulate further contributions to deepen the debate. This revealed a peripheral place for African women in the debate despite their key role across the sanitation chain. The emerging discursive map also provides clear indication of persisting biases and taboos, guiding further efforts to investigate 'silences' and to enrich the debate and research in their direction. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This dataset has been impactful to visualize the ongoing discussion around sanitation in urban Africa. It has helped us to understand and to show the strong points of the debate (dignity, risk, health) as well as those aspects that are less articulated, understood and investigated (for example the double burden of the informal settlements hosting wastewater treatment plants while not being connected). It also revealed the limited space afforded for women's voices despite their crucial role as sanitation users, producers and decision-makers. Additionally it enabled us to bridge discussions beyond linguistic boundaries as we translated and subtitled in several languages and will use these recordings as a first step for further engagements. |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=1361#voicingcampaign |
| Title | Sanitation Household Trajectories |
| Description | This method was applied in the cities of Beira, Mwanza and Freetown to capture the trajectories of different types of households relying on off-grid sanitation. Ten trajectories were captured in each city, each unveiling the key conditions that enable households in unplanned or informal settlements to overcome or not sanitation poverty. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The dataset provides an in-depth understanding of the conditions under which different types of households relying on off-grid sanitation manage to ameliorate their access to and control over adequate sanitation. This has provided insights into the role that tenure security and tenure arrangements (between landlords and tenants) play in enabling or inhibiting household investments to improve their sanitation facilities, and also on the needs and capacity to sustain improvements over time. |
| Title | Sanitation workers shadowing |
| Description | A total of 30 sanitation workers shadowing have been undertaken in the cities of Beira, Mwanza and Freetown (10 in each city). The shadowing technique involves in-depth observation and informal interviewing while at work. The shadowed sanitation workers perform different tasks along the sanitation service chain. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This research dataset has provided invaluable insights into the practices adopted by sanitation workers, their needs, experiences and aspirations in terms of safety, income, and dignity. |
| Description | COWI |
| Organisation | COWI A/S |
| Department | COWI Mozambique |
| Country | Mozambique |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We support this collaboration through a multi-party agreement which contributes financially to COWI A/S & COWI Mozambique as well as expands the topics and methods championed by these institutions. Especially, we are developing community-based approaches as well as approaches to practice "partnerships with equivalence", based on trust, respect, and mutual learning. COWI is a consultancy firm which has a strong expertise in policy evaluation and project implementation but is less versed into participatory approaches and co-production of knowledge. Working together in this award, we are developing new methods to work in Mozambican cities in partnership with local authorities and communities, to produce fairer and more inclusive sanitation. Our contribution is based on the expertise and approaches developed at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, in the KNOW program as well as by Prof Adriana Allen and Pascale Hofmann working on urban sanitation in multiple cities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | COWI A/S & COWI-Moz contribute to this partnership by leading with the activities implemented and developed in Mozambique, and especially in the city of Beira. They have developed collaborations with a local radio (Mega-FM radio) as part of the award, to generate public discussions around sanitation in Beira. They have also developed a partnership with a local association involved in sanitation (FACE). COWI researchers have also drafted a sanitation profile, collected information regarding sanitation in Beira and contributed to the methodological development of the project, providing inputs at various stages. In 2022, Cowi-Moz became was sold to Austral and a new agreement was established with Austral (see dedicated entry). Robin Bloch from COWI international continued to contribute to the OVERDUE project as an advisor on a probono- basis. |
| Impact | This collaboration has resulted in the production of various blog post, public presentations, blog posts, and contribution to collective articles based on the work in Beira Mozambique. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Collaboration with Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA) and Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP) |
| Organisation | Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation |
| Country | Sierra Leone |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Provision of training and capacity building opportunities for staff and FEDURP community partners in the form of continued online engagements and a Knowledge Exchange to India, Tamil Nadu. On going support to the Flexifund project planning and implementation. |
| Collaborator Contribution | On going contributions to the investigations on the gender dimension relating to menstrual hygiene, women and sanitation, support for dissemination of information for local events and activities related to OVERDUE project, contributions to on going OVERDUE engagements. QUESTIONS: Has a Case study on women's invisible sanitation work and body related taboos be realised? Lead the call for small projects to be supported through the Flexi funds and disbursal of funds for impacts and legacy; and Has codohsapa provided any written inputs/sections to the project's outputs, such as academic articles, as co-authors? |
| Impact | REVIEW: Anticipated Outcomes: generate expanded dialogue and capacities to support elucidating different pathways towards equitable urban sanitation. Anticipated Outputs: Open register of ongoing initiatives and do in-depth documentation of innovations Produce an itinerant exhibition to stimulate new visions and ways of doing things to tackle the urban sanitation taboo Facilitate exchange visits and discussions across the documented initiatives through Flexi Funds to support WP3. Contribute to the research publication - 're-imagining urban sanitation across urban Africa' Prepare Policy briefs Collect and submit relevant video and audio material |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Learning Alliance MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development (ESD)/OVERDUE |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Bartlett Development Planning Unit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The OVERDUE team contributes to this partnership through experience, knowledge, data collection, co-designing methodologies, analysis, and guidance provided to the students. The OVERDUE members have presented their work, shared research questions and interests, and are supporting further data collection based on the research produced by the students and joint discussions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Working in close collaboration with OVERDUE partners and building upon their ongoing research, participants in this learning alliance are undertaking primary and secondary research: (a) to examine ongoing initiatives, practices and experiences along the sanitation service chain that seek or have the potential to tackle sanitation injustices; (b) to identify key intervention points and system levers to advance just sanitation; and (c) to devise concrete strategies to move towards outcome-based sanitation services that can effectively contribute to socio-environmental justice across African cities. The latter comprises policies and strategies, institutional arrangements, sector planning and monitoring, and budgeting and finance capacity. The partnering students and staff will work in four groups and adopt a feminist political ecology and comparative perspective to draw key insights across the cities of Freetown, Mwanza and Beira, while reflecting more widely on relevant experiences and perspectives from other African cities, including those by partners working in Abidjan, Antananarivo, Saint Louis and Bukavu. They will bring skills and expertise from previous work experience to the OVERDUE team and generate advocacy material. |
| Impact | In May 2022, four short videos and campaign to advance sanitation justice across urban Africa were co-produced by the students and OVERDUE partners and members of the OVERDUE project. The videos are accessible here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/development/news/2022/jun/advocating-just-sanitation-across-urban-africa |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Learning Alliance with the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development, Development Planning Unit, The Bartlett |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Bartlett Development Planning Unit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | DPU MSc Environment and Sustainable Development students are given the opportunity to practice action research and strategic planning under real circumstances in Mwanza, Tanzania. Students will build on existing capacities gained in the classroom and spend time in the field with OVERDUE partners to produce actionable knowledge to advance just sanitation in the city of Mwanza (Tanzania). Partners and OVERDUE funded DPU research staff will offer expertise and intellectual inputs to support learning before visiting Mwanza, in the field and following the fieldwork. Access to OVERDUE data will granted where outputs require it. Student participants will be equipped with the analytical, methodological, and ethical capacities required for urban practitioners to respond to context-specific challenges and to effectively contribute towards gender equality and environmentally just development. This opportunity is also an opportunity for capacity building of partner organisations towards comparative research, strategic action, and advocacy. Learning Alliance is between the practice module of the MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development (ESD) and the action-research OVERDUE: Tackling the sanitation taboo across urban Africa, a three-year project funded by the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). |
| Collaborator Contribution | The practice module of the MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development (ESD) will offer fresh insights to understand the diversity of challenges to be encountered across Mwanza's sanitation service chain, while drawing useful lessons from Mwanza to other African secondary cities. Students will be tasked to produce a valuable output in the form of a Policy Brief that is accessible, useful, and relevant to advance just sanitation in Mwanza, while using sanitation as a lever to advance wider goals of gender equality and environmentally just development. |
| Impact | An eight-page policy brief (about 3,000 words) to advance the understanding of the challenges and opportunities identified in relation to each specific thematic focus and site, as well as the strategic actions to be undertaken to advance just sanitation. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Partnership with Centre for Community Initiatives Tanzania and Ardhi University (ARU) |
| Organisation | Ardhi University |
| Country | Tanzania, United Republic of |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We support this collaboration through a multi-party agreement which contributes financially to Ardhi University and CCI as well as expands the topics, methods and areas championed by these institutions. In Particular, we are developing work in Mwanza, a secondary city compared to Dar Es Salaam, which enables us to expand the network of both institutions. We contribute to this collaboration by providing capacity building (example Gender Capacity Building), new tools (eg. sanitation timelines) and by sharing methods, litterature and resources. Our contribution is based on the expertise and approaches developed at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, in the KNOW program as well as by the various members brought together by the award and sharing their expertise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | CCI and Ardhi University contribute to this partnership by leading with the activities implemented and developed in Tanzania, and especially in the city of Mwanza. As part of the award, they have organized a sanitation festival in Mwanza which brought together local authorities, residents and sanitation providers. CCI and Ardhi researchers have also drafted a sanitation profile, collected information regarding sanitation in Mwanza and contributed to the methodological development of the project, providing inputs at various stages. CCI further has extensive experience in the construction and maintenance of simplified sewerage systems and engagements with communities around sanitary interventions, which is a major contribution to the different sites where the award operates and the reflections collectively developed. |
| Impact | This collaboration has resulted in the production of a first draft of the "Just Sanitation Mwanza Profile", in the production of a podcast recorded by Richard Prosper in January 2021 and by Prof Wilbard Kombe in December 2020, in the production of a Sanitation festival which created a space for local authorities, sanitation providers and residents to voice their concerns, expectations, and future interventions, in the production of a position paper on COVID-19, sanitation, and intersecting inequalities, and in connections with organisations based in Mwanza Tanzania working on sanitation. Methods adapted to Mwanza have also been developed as a result of this collaboration. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Partnership with Centre for Community Initiatives Tanzania and Ardhi University (ARU) |
| Organisation | Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) |
| Country | Tanzania, United Republic of |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We support this collaboration through a multi-party agreement which contributes financially to Ardhi University and CCI as well as expands the topics, methods and areas championed by these institutions. In Particular, we are developing work in Mwanza, a secondary city compared to Dar Es Salaam, which enables us to expand the network of both institutions. We contribute to this collaboration by providing capacity building (example Gender Capacity Building), new tools (eg. sanitation timelines) and by sharing methods, litterature and resources. Our contribution is based on the expertise and approaches developed at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, in the KNOW program as well as by the various members brought together by the award and sharing their expertise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | CCI and Ardhi University contribute to this partnership by leading with the activities implemented and developed in Tanzania, and especially in the city of Mwanza. As part of the award, they have organized a sanitation festival in Mwanza which brought together local authorities, residents and sanitation providers. CCI and Ardhi researchers have also drafted a sanitation profile, collected information regarding sanitation in Mwanza and contributed to the methodological development of the project, providing inputs at various stages. CCI further has extensive experience in the construction and maintenance of simplified sewerage systems and engagements with communities around sanitary interventions, which is a major contribution to the different sites where the award operates and the reflections collectively developed. |
| Impact | This collaboration has resulted in the production of a first draft of the "Just Sanitation Mwanza Profile", in the production of a podcast recorded by Richard Prosper in January 2021 and by Prof Wilbard Kombe in December 2020, in the production of a Sanitation festival which created a space for local authorities, sanitation providers and residents to voice their concerns, expectations, and future interventions, in the production of a position paper on COVID-19, sanitation, and intersecting inequalities, and in connections with organisations based in Mwanza Tanzania working on sanitation. Methods adapted to Mwanza have also been developed as a result of this collaboration. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Partnership with l'Etre Egale |
| Organisation | L'etre egale |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We support this collaboration through a multi-party agreement which contributes financially to l'Etre Egale as well as expands the topics covered by this association to include sanitation in urban Africa. L'Etre Egale has supported gender equity in many societies and sectors, but not specifically around the issues of sanitation. Through this partnership we are expanding the range of questions, issues, and institutions covered by l'Etre Egale thus strengthening the intersection between gender and sanitation. We are also bridging the gap between Francophone and Anglophone knowledge communities as L'Etre Egale connects both worlds and circulates knowledge in both directions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | L'Etre Egale contributes to gender mainstreaming in all the OVERDUE meetings, methodological development, and outputs. Through provocative questions and observations, this partner urges us to reflect on how we approach gender relations and to rethink our questions and approaches to support gender equity. L'Etre Egale also intervened in December 2020 in a gender capacity building with Julian Walker (UCL DPU). This will be followed up soon by a second session and reading groups to increase our knowledge and tool box. In parallel L'Etre Egale is supporting the third Work Package of the project by seeking voices of African women to reframe public conversations around sanitation and participate in further capacity building activities and regional dialogues. |
| Impact | This collaboration has resulted in gender mainstreaming in the "Just city Sanitation Profiles", in the production of a podcast recorded by Claudy Vouhé in November 2020, in a capacity building session on gender, in the production of a position paper on COVID-19, sanitation, and intersecting inequalities, and in connections with organisations based in french speaking Africa working on gender and sanitation. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Partnership with the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC) |
| Organisation | Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre |
| Country | Sierra Leone |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The research team has contributed to this partnership by co-producing research activities (scanning of sanitation collectives, registering sanitation-infrastructure-practices) and building the capacity of the SLURC researchers (gender capacity building in December 2020). |
| Collaborator Contribution | SLURC has contributed to the partnership by co-producing the methods and results. researchers from SLURC have shaped the interview grids, designed a Sanitation Festival, collected primary information, as well as analyzed the literature on sanitation in Freetown and drafted a Just Sanitation City Profile. |
| Impact | This collaboration has resulted in the production of the "Just Sanitation Freetown city profile", in the production of a Sanitation Tour in Freetown on World Toilet Day (19/11/2020), on 5 audio recordings of sanitation users, providers and researchers, and on 2 short films, as well as over 40 pictures and a blog post. It has also resulted in the co-production of a research method to scan sanitation collectives. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | 2021/05/24 Decolonizing Urban taboos through celebration |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This session explored the potential of celebration and performance to catalyse public discussion and action around urban taboos in African cities. According to the organizers, "it was a wonderful, collaborative and multilingual session in which issues of menstruation, disability and sanitation were not only centred but celebrated. The session had hosts and audience members who spoke English, French and Portuguese as their first language which made for an eclectic multilingual conversation space. It was structured around three videos each highlighting and celebrating a different taboo followed by an audience led discussion with the respective project champions." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://riseafrica.iclei.org/riseprogramme2021/decolonizing-urban-taboos-through-celebration-26/ |
| Description | 2021/11/06 Community Workshop in Mabatini |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 30 people attended a community workshops in Mabatini, Mwanza, Tanzania during which the OVERDUE project was introduced, and where the history of the community, sanitation changes, issues, and improvements were discussed. It will be followed up by further engagements and activities in the community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | 2021/11/12 International Webinar "Toilets Seats of Gender Equality" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On November 12 2021, the OVERDUE team, and partners OGDS, GEPALEF, SiMIRALENTA and CFCEM/GA presented new insights based on their work in Saint Louis, Abidjan, Antananarivo and Bukavu, in the form of 4 short films. Session 1 tackled women's invisible sanitation work in Saint Louis and gendered taboos surrounding bodies & toilets in Abidjan. Session 2 explored opportunities and constraints for women in the formal sanitation sector in Antananarivo and discuss access to public toilets and collective action in Bukavu. The presentations were followed by discussions with invited guests as well as questions from the audience. Over 150 persons registered and over 55 attended the sessions. this was an important step to bring a gender lense to sanitation and reframe conversations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=4017 |
| Description | 2021/11/19 Celebrating World Toilet Day 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | For world Toilet Day 2021 (November 19 2021), the OVERDUE team organized a series of online events as well as in situ activities. Online, short video clips of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo, were posted emphasizing the importance of toilets and sanitation ( https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=3989 ) . In DRC, Astrid Mujing and the CFCEM/GA team organized a press conference in Bukavu to talk about gender equality and toilets. In Madagascar, the SiMIRALENTA/Gender Team organized a public outdoors event with sanitation workers and partnering associations to talk about the importance of inclusive and just sanitation in Antananarivo. These online and face to face events were relayed through social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and reached hundreds of people, funders, policy makers, practitioners, as well as students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=3989 |
| Description | 2021/11/27 Community Workshop in Kamabrage, Mwanza, Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 25 people attended community workshops in Kambarage Mwanza, during which the OVERDUE project was introduced, and where the history of the community, sanitation changes, issues, and improvements were discussed. This workshop included several sessions: 1) historical, 2) Focus groups on taboos, 3) as well as a mapping session to identify sanitation hotspots. this was an initial engagement in the community to be followed up with further observations, discussions and interventions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | 2021/11/30: Sanitation Workers Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | OVERDUE contributed to the Sanitation Workers Forum, presenting results in 2 sessions (1 presentation from Festo D Makoba CCI in "Session 1: Marginalisation & Representation of Sanitation Workers"; 1 presentation from Angèle Koué GEPALEF and Jeannine Ramarokoto and Mina Rakotoarindrasata SiMIRALENTA/GA; 1 presentation from Penda Diouf OGDS in the session "Gender, Intersectionality & Sanitation Work"), and co-hosting 1 session (Nelly Leblond co-hosting the session "Gender, Intersectionality & Sanitation Work"). The sessions were attended by donors, academics, practitioners, representatives of sanitation workers. The recordings were also put online for audience to re-watch or catch up. Overall the forum contributed to changing the framing of sanitation by placing the emphasis on workers rather than on infrastructure. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPhkCKfRmx6qIHBSaR_Crzg/videos |
| Description | 2021/21/07 Stakeholder workshop in Mwanza, Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Over 30 participants from the Mwanza municipality and the water & sanitation authority (MWAUWASA), as well as with sanitation practitioners and community representatives attended a workshop presenting the OVERDUE project, and the CCI and Ardhi University team. Discussions on sanitation in Mwanza, historical investments, challenges, and projects were discussed. This was an important step to initiate conversations and shape the research agenda in a context sensitive way. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | 2022/02/23 Community Workshops in Dwarzack Freetown |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 30 people attended community workshops in Dwarzack Freetown, during which the OVERDUE project was introduced, and where the history of the community, sanitation changes, issues, and improvements were discussed. This workshop included several sessions: 1) historical, 2) Focus groups on taboos, 3) Discussions on by-laws and their implementation. It will be followed up by further engagements and activities in the community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | 2022/02/23 Community Workshops in Dwarzack Freetown |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 30 people attended community workshops in Dwarzack Freetown, during which the OVERDUE project was introduced, and where the history of the community, sanitation changes, issues, and improvements were discussed. This workshop included several sessions: 1) historical, 2) Focus groups on taboos, 3) Discussions on by-laws and their implementation. It will be followed up by further engagements and activities in the community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | 2022/02/28 Memory Holder Workshop in Freetown on Sanitation Histories |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This Memory Holder Workshop brought together 15 key stakeholders working on sanitation in Freetown from the Ministry of Health, the Municipal Council (FCC), the Faecal Sludge Management Unit (FSM), private operators (manual and mechanical), private consultants, as well as community representatives and operators of public toilets. The OVERDUE team presented results from previous research and interviews conducted by SLURC (lead by Ibrahim Bakarr Bangura), and collective discussions on the investments, constraints, and opportunities took place. This enabled both to stress the long term under-investment in sanitation, as well as to change perspectives on the importance of off-grid sanitation and the need to further support workers and safe treatment chains and facilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | 2022/03/08 Media Coverage "Women in Sanitation" Campaign in partnership with TNUSSP |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The 'Women in Sanitation' social media campaign was launched by IIHS's Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) in collaboration with the DPU's OVERDUE project for International Women's Day 2022, and to celebrate women professionals in the sanitation sector. The press release was reproduced by the DPU website, put online on the OVERDUE website, on Facebook and Twitter, this reached the Water and Sanitation Sector (funders, practitioners, students and colleagues in universities). We will continue engaging with TNUSSP over the year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/development/news/2022/mar/dpus-overdue-project-co-launches-3rd-editio... |
| Description | 2022/03/11 Meeting & presentation of OVERDUE Research project with the Municipal Authority of Beira Mozambique |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting with the Municipal Authority of Beira Mozambique (CMB) and the Autonomous Sanitation Services of Beira to present the OVERDUE product and introduce the team (members from FACE, Austral, UCL and l'Etre Egale contributed to the meeting). This was an opportunity to discuss sanitation investments, legacies and commitments for sanitation justice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FConselhoMunicipalDaB... |
| Description | 2022/03/14-15 Community Workshops in Munhava Beira |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | 49 people attended community workshops in Munhava, during which the OVERDUE project was introduced, and where the history of the community, sanitation changes, issues, and improvements were discussed. This workshop included several sessions: 1) historical, 2) Focus groups on taboos, 3) Discussions on by-laws and their implementation. It will be followed up by further engagements and activities in the community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Allen, A (2022) Exploring hidden links between paid and unpaid sanitation work, mental health and stigma. Reflections from OVERDUE: Tackling the sanitation taboo across urban Africa. Presentation at Non-communicable Disease Prevention in Cities public event, organised by Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, London, 7th December. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Allen, A (2022) Exploring hidden links between paid and unpaid sanitation work, mental health and stigma. Reflections from OVERDUE: Tackling the sanitation taboo across urban Africa. Presentation at Non-communicable Disease Prevention in Cities public event, organised by Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, London, 7th December. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Beira Sanitation Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In the COVID-19 pandemic, the OVERDUE project organized a "Sanitation Festival" in the city of Beira as a context-sensitive way to celebrate sanitation actors and their vital role, while achieving our objectives of supporting actors and institutions who keep communities healthy and documenting the practices around sanitation. In Beira, COWI-Moz launched a call for photos in December 2021 to document sanitation heroes, taboos and (in)justices across the city and change the image of sanitation based on residents' contribution. The call was to finish in January 2021 but the end date had to be reported and the competition suspended due to COVID-19 and the tropical storm Eloise (hit Beira in late December 2020). Radio debates on a local radio (Mega-FM Beira) were also scheduled to spark public discussions around sanitation infrastructure and experiences across the city. The radio collected several testimonies to stimulate reactions and debates of participants coming from governmental agencies, public utilities, local universities and other organisations. This was particularly adapted to the context of the pandemic, reaching the public through radio rather than events requiring their physical presence. Several residents called to share their concerns and experiences. The new mayor of Beira, as well as the director of the sanitation services, and the provincial secretary of the section fighting against HIV/AIDS reaffirmed publicly their commitment to sanitation as a public health priority. The festival contributed to generating new research questions and observations, as well as engagements which we will build upon in the activities to come. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=1000 |
| Description | DSA 2022 Conference: The making and unmaking of sanitation taboos across urban Africa. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Online session part of the conference "DSA2022: Just sustainable futures in an urbanising and mobile world". This session brought together members of the OVERDUE project as well as contributors from another research team and sparked questions and discussions on the question of sanitation and taboos. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/dsa2022/p/11301 |
| Description | Freetown Sanitation Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | During the COVID-19 pandemic, the OVERDUE project organized a "Sanitation Festival" in the city of Freetown as a context-sensitive way to celebrate sanitation actors and their vital role, while achieving our objectives of supporting actors and institutions who keep communities healthy and documenting the practices around sanitation. In Freetown, a sanitation walk was organized by SLURC, connecting different informal settlements of the city to discuss the sanitation situation and interact with residents around key messages that had been previously elaborated. SLURC brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including members of the Freetown City Council, private sanitation service providers (Immaculate, Kari Septic Emptier, Gento Liquid Waste, Charliesc), Brac Sierra Leone, SL Environmental Protection Agency, Action against Hunger, Youth Development Movement, GOAL - Sierra Leone, Concern Worldwide, the Disaster Management Department (Office of National Security), Kissi Manual Pit Emptier, Masada Waste Management Company, the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP), the Centre for Dialogue on Human Settlements and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA), YMCA - Sierra Leone and community members/representatives. Together they crafted key messages, and engaged discussions across the city. This was covered by a local journalist and profiled in the local press. This festival was also relayed internationally online through Twitter, Facebook and the project's webpage. The festival contributed to generate new research questions and observations, as well as engagements which we will build upon in the activities to come. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=1361#Festival_Freetown |
| Description | International Women's Day 2022: Women in Sanitation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | OVERDUE contributed to the campaign "Women in Sanitation", sharing the examples of 4 women working in sanitation in the form of short films, to discuss the roles, opportunities and challenges for women in the sector. The campaign was led by TNUSSP. The videos are here. https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=4106 Building on this campaign, OVERDUE further participated to the UNC conference with TNUSSP. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?p=4106 |
| Description | International Women's Day 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A series of social media provocations presented on OVERDUE social media platforms Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin highlighting how gender plays out in sanitation. The series of posts calls for toilets, paid sanitation work and inclusive conversations for IWD2023's theme of #embraceequity. The posts covered why women and girls are particularly affected by inadequate sanitation, how women carry the burden of unpaid care in sanitation (call for it to be seen as work, not duty) and finally making the case for women to be decision makers in sanitation not just users of sanitation. The posts generated online discussion and interaction between partners and external parties about how gender and sanitation are interwoven. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/Just_OVERDUE/status/1633212962696581120/photo/1 |
| Description | Interview about improving public toilets in DRC with Astrid Mujinga of Genre en Action at Okapi Radio, DRC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In an interview titled "What to do to have more sanitary public toilets in DRC?" OVERDUE partner Astrid Mujinga of the Congolese association "Cordon des femmes pour l'équilibre des ménages/genre en action" based in Bukavu spoke for 1h on public toilets on Radio Okapi. This interview is part of a wider body of work driven by Astrid and her organisation and supported by OVERDUE that is focussed on improving the state of public toilet infrastructure in DRC, starting Bukavu. The interview focusses on the program she is running in Bukavu and draws on experience from the Knowledge Exchange in Tamil Nadu, India with TNUSSP. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.radiookapi.net/2023/03/01/emissions/okapi-service/que-faire-pour-avoir-plus-de-toilettes... |
| Description | Just Sanitation for all: Insights from Indian and African Cities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Following a weeklong field visit with partners TNUSSP the knowledge exchange culminated in a panel discussion titled "Just Sanitation for all: Insights from Indian and African Cities" held in Chennai on 16th February. The panel spoke to two questions at the core of our work and experience in India. First "What does it take to make technology work for the urban poor across the sanitation chain?" and second "How could community action and government action converge towards inclusive sanitation?". The event drew a local crowd of around 50 people as well as an online following of 30, that engaged with 5 OVERDUE panellists, the discussion sparked included commentary on who is responsible for sanitation justices and what the role of a the individual, the states and the ngo sector is in achieving sanitation justice. This discussion is reflected in 2 articles published by Indian news papers DT Next and the Chennai Express. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2023/feb/21/sanitation-solutions-in-the-pipeline-254... |
| Description | Launch of the Mwanza Sanitation Forum and Fund |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Overdue JustSanitation supported the launch of the Mwanza Sanitation Forum which brings together local authorities, the water & sanitation utility, the local Federation of the Urban Poor, community health workers, public toilets workers, manual latrine emptiers and more key actors across the sanitation service chain to advance the OVERDUE campaign - African Cities for Just Sanitation. This forum and fund will be hosted by OVERDUE partners Ardhi University and CCI Tanzania who will be supporting the forum's on going engagements as well as the management of the revolving fund that will provide a financial mechanism for local informal settlement residents in Mwanza to access interest free loans to implement sanitation related upgrades and projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://dailynews.co.tz/how-research-exposes-mwanza-sanitation-challenge-and-solution/ |
| Description | Mwanza Sanitation Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In the COVID-19 pandemic, the OVERDUE project organized a "Sanitation Festival" in the city of Mwanza as a context-sensitive way to celebrate sanitation actors and their vital role, while achieving our objectives of supporting actors and institutions who keep communities healthy and documenting the practices around sanitation. In Mwanza, CCI and Ardhi university organized a celebration at a local school, presenting several options for safer sanitation, analysing drawings produced by students as well as engaging with residents of the Mabatini neighbourhood. This festival was a key moment where the municipality announced it would further invest in water supply and sanitation in this area and where residents voiced some of the difficulties they were facing to maintain safe sanitation and private and dignified access to facilities. The festival contributed to generating new research questions and observations, as well as engagements which we will build upon in the activities to come. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=1361#Festival_Mwanza |
| Description | OVERDUE Just Sanitation Facebook page |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The OVERDUE project actively seeks to involve potential beneficiaries and users in the knowledge co-production process, to foster discussions around sanitation, reframe debates, amplify voices and support pathways towards just sanitation. During the reporting period (01 July 2020- 01 March 2021) we launched a dedicated Facebook page to share our work through a social media channel widely used by institutions, residents, associations, and practitioners across African cities to communicate and exchange. The Facebook page thus offers more accessible presence online than the website or the twitter account, while all these communication channels make the project visible and inform interest groups and the general public about the research. It further serves as a relay of resources (articles, voices, results, shared experiences) posted on our website. Though most material online is in English, we have also shared posts in French and in Portuguese, to broaden the scope of engagements. In the long term this will become a space to talk about sanitation and challenge taboos, making them more visible and thus contributing to increased sanitation justice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/overdue.justsanitation |
| Description | OVERDUE Knowledge Exchange Abidjan, Ivory Coast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A knowledge exchange in Abidjan was implemented in order to complement and take advantage of the 21st AfWA Congress & Exhibition and the 7th International Faecal Sludge Management Conference in Abidjan February 2023. OVERDUE partners from Madagascar and Tanzania supported our partners in Abidjan with a series of interactions with local government and civil society actors. Alongside the conference proceedings the exchange involved visits to local project site, interaction with TNUSSP delegates, meetings with government officials and local institutes for circular economy. The outcomes include but are not limited to a formal relationship with local government actors who publicly committed to support closing the loop project proposals by GEPALEF (OVERDUE partner from Ivory Coast) as well as a potential collaboration with the Institute for Circular Economy in Abidjan. Furthermore the trip allowed for conversations between TNUSSP and GEPALEF colleagues where support has been sought to support local government planning processes and technical directives for how to select sites for faecal sludge management. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | OVERDUE Knowledge Exchange Tamil Nadu, India |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | African delegates from the 7 OVERDUE partner cities visited Tamil Nadu to study the complete chain of sanitation model: In the two-week programme, the team learnt about principles of Citywide Inclusive Sanitation, visit improved community toilets, studied faecal sludge management process and exchanged with local government representative and TNUSSP colleagues. TNUSSP and OVERDUE traveled together across three cities in Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Trichy, and Coimbatore. The trip involved a lot of cross-learning and reflections on TNUSSP projects but also on OVERDUE partners activities at home. Interpretation was available to facilitate conversations between professionals from Tamil Nadu and across Africa as 4 languages were in use - Tamil, English, French, and Portuguese. Partners have reported returning home equipped with a new tools and ideas regarding the treatment of faecal sludge and the social structure that support just sanitation like self help groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/african-delegation-visit-tn-to-study-the-complete-... |
| Description | OVERDUE Twitter Account |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The OVERDUE project actively seeks to involve potential beneficiaries and users in the knowledge co-production process, to foster discussions around sanitation, reframe debates, amplify experiences and support pathways towards just sanitation. During the reporting period (01 July 2020- 01 March 2021) we have set up a dedicated Twitter Account. This is crucial to reach the general public as well as fellow researchers, NGOS, and practitioners interested in sanitation justice in Africa and elsewhere. This account has enabled us to draw attention to our activities and outputs. For example we have aired over 25 short audios on twitter, each one reaching up to 200 views. This has been a first step to reframe the debate around sanitation, enriching it from different perspectives. We have aired voices of practitioners, of researchers, and of users, creating a space for dialogues which cannot currently happen due to COVID-19 and which will live on. The account is also a way to amplify the work of others working on just sanitation and contributes to our objective of challenging the sanitation taboo. It further serves as a relay of resources (articles, voices, results, shared experiences) posted on our website. Though most material on-line is in English, we have also shared posts in French and in Portuguese, to broaden the scope of engagements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/Just_OVERDUE |
| Description | OVERDUE website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The OVERDUE project actively seeks to involve potential beneficiaries and users in the knowledge co-production process, to foster discussions around sanitation, reframe debates, amplify experiences and support pathways towards just sanitation. During the 01 reporting period (July 2020- 01 March 2021) we have set up a project's dedicated website (https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ ). This is an important engagement activity because it makes the project visible and informs interest groups and the general public about the research. It further serves as an archive and database of resources (articles, voices, results, shared experiences) which can be uptaken by other organisations and projects. The website further provides several means of engagement. We can be contacted by written form online and by oral form (through phone and an online voice messaging). Though most material online is in English, we have also shared some messages and posts in French and in Portuguese, to broaden the scope of engagements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/ |
| Description | Online article SDG at UCL "OVERDUE: A transdisciplinary network is challenging gender inequalities in sanitation across urban Africa." |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | UCL selected OVERDUE to showcase how its research engages with the SDGs. The piece was produced in conversation with a professional journalist. The project was showcased as an initiative contributing to tackling SDG 6.2. "access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations". This enabled us to make public the launch of the project and its website, and to make our research more visible. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sustainable-development-goals/case-studies/2020/oct/overdue-tackling-sanitatio... |
| Description | Presentation at SLURC conference (hybrid) on Tackling Urban Inequalities looking at #HousingJustice, Sierra Leone. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We participated in SLURC annual conference with a presentation entitled: Building sanitation justice across urban Africa: Learning from Freetown. The presentation drew from OVERDUE findings and was well received, sparking a lively debate on why and how sanitation justice is part of housing justice. It was attended by a large audience including the local mayor, senior officers from local government, the Federation of the Urban Poor, practitioners and representatives from several NGOs, as well as members of the communities where we are working. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.slurc.org/ |
| Description | Twitter Space |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Marcia Saica from FACE OVERDUE team was a guest speaker of an online Twitter Space on "Biases and Barriers for Women Professionals in the WASH sector" organized on International Women's Day 08 March 2022. With 5 other organizations working on sanitation and promoting gender equality, she presented her work, the opportunities and challenges for women in Mozambique, and contributed to an international conversation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Foverdue.justsanitati... |
| Description | UNC 2022 Water & Health Conference: Workshop THE INVISIBLE WORKFORCE: HOW TO VALUE WOMEN'S ROLE IN SANITATION? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This learning workshop part of the UNC Water & Health 2022 Conference provided an opportunity to recognise the role and contributions of women in sanitation, using digital campaigns as one of the tools for advocacy. It aimed to enrich the understanding of the challenges and barriers faced by women working in sanitation as well as discuss options to improve their working conditions. Several short films produced by OVERDUE and TNUSSP were screened and discussed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/0vxRPO9wvss |
| Description | Voicing Just Sanitation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The "Voicing Just Sanitation" campaign was a major engagement of the OVERDUE project with the public and interest groups . The campaign was launched on World Toilet Day (November 19 2020) to put forward voices and key messages to advance just sanitation and reframe debates and action. The call for short soundtracks (>2min) was structured around the three following questions: 1.Who are the sanitation heroes we should celebrate across African cities? 2.What does urban sanitation (in)justice look like? 3.What taboos should be tackled to ensure safe toilets for all (SDG6)? As of March 2021 we have received and aired 26 voices speaking from different countries such as India, Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Senegal, Mozambique, and Tanzania, and diverse perspectives (users, sanitation workers, researchers, practitioners). The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation also contributed to the campaign, recording his message in English, Spanish and French. All these voices were mounted with an OVERDUE cover, subtitled, broadcasted, and uploaded. They form an initial cloud of voices that was circulated to engage with broader publics and institutions. It continues to be used as an engagement forum, to enrich the discussion and increase the visibility of certain taboos, heroes and (in)justices of sanitation in urban Africa. This is an ongoing engagement that will be spotlighted over the years at specific dates (eg. April 7: World Health Day ; April 28: World Day for Safety and Health at Work ; May 28: Menstrual hygiene day ; November 19: World toilet day ; November 25th : International day violence against women). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://overdue-justsanitation.net/?page_id=1361#voicingcampaign |
| Description | Women in Sanitation Campaign 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Women in Sanitation Campaign is a four-year-old campaign by TNUSSP and sets out to spotlight women's issues in a round-the-year discourse between women professionals and their allies in sanitation. Through this campaign, it has been possible to focus the oft-muted voices of women working in various capacities across the sanitation chain in India and this year voices from all over the world will be included. A series of OVERDUE partners have taken the opportunity to tell their story on film with the support of the TNUSSP team. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdS6JKAXG4Q |