Part B: Literature review

Publications reviewed
The review was widespread covering a range of themes identified in the Strategic Sanitation Approach, as developed by Albert M Wright. SSA's principles have been described directly or indirectly in just a few published documents, including Wright (1997), UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Group RWSG - South Asia (1997), Simpson-Hebert and Woods (1997), and Saidi-Sharouze (1994). Similarly, only a few publications were found to deal specifically with the application of the whole approach; in most cases literature discussed how key elements of SSA had been used.

The review begins with a concise overview of the approach (see An introduction to SSA), highlighting the core elements Wright (1997) defined in his key work, 'Towards a Strategic Sanitation Approach: Improving the Sustainability of Urban Sanitation in Developing Countries'. This review adopts a broadly similar structure to that found in Wright's work. However, the section relating to 'Adopting a strategic sanitation approach' is not covered explicity, since these points are covered within other parts of the review. Each section begins with a summary from Wright's document, and then proceeds with a review of literature relevant to this point.

A list of references consulted in the literature review can be found in the Appendix.

Methodology
The review was physically conducted both in the UK (at WEDC) and in India (at the offices of the UNDP-World Bank Regional Water and Sanitation Group in New Delhi).

In the UK, a mix of document types were searched at the WEDC Resources Centre, including published project reports, books, academic and professional journals, conference papers and grey literature sources. Additionally, electronic databases were reviewed using keywords to collate relevant references for inclusion in the review (databases consulted included: Compendex (1994-98); Science Citation Index (1994-98); Social Science Citation Index (1990-98); BIDS ISI; Applied Science and Technology Abstracts; Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts; ASCE's Civil Engineering Database and Geobase (1990-1998)).

A range of document types were also reviewed at RWSG's offices in New Delhi.

The Strategic Sanitation Approach
An introduction to SSA
The Strategic Sanitation Approach (SSA) was developed by the UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme and is built on examples from its own experience, World Bank work in the sphere of urban development and others' practice in the sector worldwide.

The need to rethink the approach to urban sanitation interventions in developing countries was a response to the unsatisfactory performance of past approaches which typically led to over-reliance on supply driven approaches, neglect of user requirements, emphasis on large scale projects which restricted competition and bundled together costs, and poor attention to O&M of installed systems.

Although strategic sanitation planning has been described in its application in two West African cities (Saidi-Sharouze, 1994), Wright (1997) provides the most comprehensive definition and review of the approach, explaining that the goal of SSA is to achieve the sustainable expansion of sanitation coverage in urban areas. SSA's emphasis on sustainability addresses a key problem of past supply driven approaches, that of focusing unduly on coverage statistics rather than long term O&M. Investment efficiency (defined as success in seeking investment from governments, donors, private finance institutions) and operational efficiency (defined as allowing resources to go further and extending coverage) are seen as prerequisites to obtaining this desired sustainability.

The approach differs from the existing supply driven agenda through two underlying principles: it is demand based, and incentive driven. A demand-based approach relies on agencies conducting effective demand assessment exercises, and on thorough stakeholder participation. A key challenge for governments and agencies is to motivate and build capacity of different actors to participate in appropriate and productive ways. The second underlying principle is that incentives can stimulate specific behaviours required from key actors to achieve sustainable expansion of sanitation coverage. The right incentives package (with appropriate rules, referees and rewards) can assist governments or municipal agencies achieve their primary goal.

The approach involves:

In conceptual terms, the approach seeks to integrate social, technical, institutional and economic factors that have an impact on the sustainability of service provision. SSA is built on the key assumption that the provision of sustainable sanitation to urban areas is only possible by a demand oriented service delivery system, which implies a system that has the flexibility to offer alternative technological options and corresponding institutional arrangements for service delivery. The approach also encourages a wide view of sanitation services to the city as a whole, rather than stand alone projects for target communities or for a specific service. The importance of financial policies (at community and agency level) and emphasis on incentives (to perform) for various actors in all stages of the process of service provision, including construction, financing and maintenance, are stressed.

SSA is designed to be flexible enough to adjust to different regions and contexts, and to learn and apply lessons from new experiences. It has already been put to use successfully in planning sanitation interventions in several countries, with documented results in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Conarky, Guinea; and a pilot project that covers 10 per cent of the city of Kumasi in Ghana.

Updated 31/01/03

Maintained by f.o.odhiambo@lboro.ac.uk and j.fisher1@lboro.ac.uk