Urban sanitation services in developing countries pose serious challenges: policy makers, city managers and practitioners have an expressed desire for learning material to support capacity development. To respond to this need UNESCO-IHE has collaborated with experts drawn from partner institutes in Netherlands, the U.K. and Africa, South America and Asia to compile reading material covering topics of policy, planning and methodological aspects of sanitation services in peri-urban regions. International knowledge institutes are also engaged in this effort by identifying case studies/material from developing countries.

Learning objectives

The overall objective of this module is to provide participants with an understanding of policy and management challenges with reference to urban sanitation services. The specific outcomes/objectives of the course are:

Participants will be able to recognise the significance of the concept of access to services in the context of inter-sectoral competition for water resources.
Participants will be able to understand processes of planning for urban sanitation in the context of discussions on accountability of decision making processes within local governments.
Participants will be able to design instruments for monitoring outcomes of municipal planning in the context of the need to achieve targets envisioned in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).

Target group

Mid-career professionals and students of water management and development studies.

Course content

Each subject will be characterised by a wrap up discussion where the teacher will summarize key arguments and learning objectives. The module will be composed of three parts: (a) overview of policy challenges, (b) planning perspectives and (c) discussion of practical methods for city sanitation planning and management.

The first section will provide participants with an overview of the urban sanitation challenge as they relate to Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), discuss links to the water cycle and explore climate based risks in cities. This section will situate the discussion on sanitation within a broader framework of urbanization and inter-sectoral competition for water.

The second section will provide a framework to discuss issues of sanitation planning in cities by focusing on rural-urban links, cost-recovery, budget support to local governments and role of information flows in facilitating adaptive management. An interactive session on municipal sanitation in The Netherlands will expose participants to issues of tariff setting, scale of management, monitoring of environmental standards and benchmarking of Dutch Water Boards.

Section three of this module will introduce participants to practical tools that can be applied to address challenges they face in their work environment. Participants will be exposed to state of the art experience with regard to economic and environmental valuation, benchmarking delivery of water services and strategic planning in cities.