Strategic Environmental Sanitation Planning
Strategic planning for sustainable environmental sanitation is the focus area of the SESP thematic group.
Our work includes three fields of activity:
- validation of the household-centred environmental sanitation approach (HCES)
- development of the material flux analysis (MFA) tool for liquid and solid waste management systems
- testing a new method for SESP by linking MFA and QMRA (quantitative microbiological risk assessment)
HCES is a novel approach to environmental sanitation based on the Bellagio Principles. It is a radical departure from the centralised planning approaches of the past which puts the household and the neighbourhood at the core of the planning and decision-making process. The planning approach is currently being field-tested in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the following spatial contexts:
(i) densely populated urban formal or informal settlements
(ii) city-fringe peri-urban settlement patterns
(iii) small and medium size towns lacking infrastructure and services
The provisional HCES Guidelines are available as pdf downloads in English, French and Spanish and provide an overview on how to go about the household-centred approach to environmental sanitation.
The MFA programme aims at developing a tool that enables decision-makers and planners in developing countries to optimise the liquid and solid waste management systems in urban areas. The tool is based on the method of material flow analysis.
The MFA/QMRA approach is suggested as a planning tool for minimising health and ecological risks in urban areas by combining the methods of material flow analysis and quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA). This research will be conducted in collaboration with the Swiss Tropical Institute (STI).
Click here for HCES literature.