AG-WATSAN Nexus: Guiding pro-poor investments in the nexus among domestic water quality and quantity, sanitation and hygiene from the bottom-up

Purpose

Proposing policy recommendations on investment and priority activities and tools to empower households and communities to monitor their WATSAN environment

Activities

Having an integrated approach from different scientific disciplines is crucial in addressing the issues of water and sanitation and their links to other sectors, particularly agriculture. The WATSAN project will involve scientists from a broad range of relevant disciplines (ecology, hydrology, agronomy, economy, sociology, and public health). The project compiles household data from Demographic and Health Surveys and primary data collection in the community to address the missing link between water, sanitation, hygiene and agriculture.

Five PhD dissertations are being carried out in the four study countries:

Charles Yaw Okyere. Strengthening the Capacity of Households and Communities for an Improved Monitoring of Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Environment: Experiments with School Children in Ghana

Florence Mc Bain. Can improved water-sanitation conditions together with health insurance effectively reduce poverty? (India).

Muhammed Abdella Usman. Leveraging Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WATSAN) Nexus: Synergies, Thresholds, and Trade-offs for a Better Nutrition and Health Outcome in Ethiopia.

Ruchi Vangani. Exploring the Links and Dynamics therein for WATSAN and irrigation agriculture (AG-WATSAN Nexus) for a Better Nutrition and Health Outcome in Gujarat, India.

Monirul Hasan: Investment in health within AG-WATSAN nexus for the rural households in Bangladesh.

Countries of activity

Location of main activity

Objectives

(1) identifying the critical sets of the tradeoffs between and synergies among domestic water quality and quantity, sanitation and hygiene and agriculture irrigation systems
(2) enhancing investments in technological and institutional arrangements for improving capacities of rural and peri-urban communities connected to multi-purpose water systems; and
(3) strengthening the capacity of households and communities to monitor and manage their own WATSAN environment, including to serve accelerated ‘ground truthing’ for the international monitoring schemes

Further information

Research or implementation partners:
Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA), Ethiopia
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Ghana
Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) through Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar (IIPHG), India
BRAC in Bangladesh

Filter tags

Behaviour change Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation East Asia & Pacific Enabling environment and institutional strengthening Food security and productive sanitation Greywater or wastewater Health and hygiene Political processes and institutional aspects Politicians and local decision makers Resource recovery Rural Rural areas Specific to one or several countries Sub-Saharan Africa University, education or research institution WASH and nutrition Water (irrigation, process, other)

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