In this webinar organised in partnership with UNICEF, the focus was on continuing collaboration with and support to local governments in sanitation and hygiene during the pandemic, and on the evolution of this in different contexts.
The webinar aimed to generate debate and reflections about how to ensure continuity of sanitation and hygiene in times of crises, while adapting approaches to cope with emerging challenges, so that local governments and utilities provide improved services and are better equipped for future crises.
Sanivation, from Kenya, discuss partnering with local utilities for sanitation services in semi-rural settings, in a context where the pandemic has impacted sanitation demand/supply dynamics. Examples are emergency response plans integrated in utilities’ business planning, mapping of sanitation-related Covid-19 hotspots, and monitoring continuity of handwashing behaviours.
UNICEF India talk about assistance to rural local governments in three States, and how this has evolved during the pandemic. This includes adjusting capacity development approaches and contents for sanitation leadership, and adapting ODF monitoring systems, while the influx of migrant workers returning from urban centres increased the pressure on sanitation systems.
Gather in Madagascar partner with urban authorities and utilities, supporting them in data gathering and utilisation in planning and provision of sanitation services. They discuss how, prompted by the pandemic, they have redirected resources towards local staffing, supported local decision making more thoroughly, introduced agile programming, and coped with budgetary uncertainty.
