Water and Sanitation in Africa

In my introductory post I discussed the de-colonial approach I will include within my posts. In this blog post I aim to dismantle the existing hegemonic discourse that has dominated the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector (WASH). This is particularly consequential in Africa as Luseka argues that “ whilst the physical colonisation of the countries of the global South by the global North may have ended, knowledge colonialism continues ”. Figure 1 : Children washing hands after UNICEF WASH program Source: UNICEF Did you know that some of the genuine (unintended) consequences of WASH initiatives include: Public latrines built by an aid program were dismantled and used for firewood by community members, as firewood was considered a greater need that sanitation ( Barrington et al 2018 ) Women deliberately blocked household water delivery systems with rocks because they wanted water collection as a legitimate reason to leave the house and socialise with other women ( Barrington et al 2018 )

Welcome to my blog! In this introductory post I aim to outline water, sanitation and Africa, how they are interlinked and why I decided to pick this theme. What is/Why Sanitation Since 2010, sanitation has been officially decreed a fundamental human right . Though the world "sanitation" has many meanings, the World Health Organisation defines it as the "provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces" as well as the "maintenance of hygienic conditions through services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal" . "Availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation" is also the UN's SDG number 6 - having the potential to massively further development.  Disposal at my disposal As someone who has always had flushing toilets, clean drinking water straight out the tap and even bins for feminine hygiene products in public toilets, sanitation and accessibility to hygienic conditions have alw