Supporting better public health and environmental outcomes through city-wide inclusive urban sanitation approaches.
Our work engages with technical, economic and governance challenges in urban sanitation and integration of wastewater and re-use solutions within wider water and nutrient cycles.
PROJECT | 2022
Urban sanitation and climate change: A public service at risk - Landscape study
BMGF engaged ISF to undertake a study on leading practice and evidence gap on climate change and urban sanitation. The study engaged more than 60 organisations from across multiple countries working on urban sanitation and resilience. The report documents recent advances and adaptations in policy, planning and service delivery to better manage climate related risks in urban contexts. It also sets out a knowledge and learning agenda to meet the demands for a rapid shift in policy and practice.
Location: Global
Client: BMGF
Researchers: Juliet Willetts, Avni Kumar, Freya Mills
PROJECT | 2020-2021
Urban sanitation climate resilience in Indonesia
UNICEF commissioned ISF and Universitas Indonesia to carry out a study in four cities to examine how climate change is likely to affect urban sanitation services. This study explored how communities, sanitation service providers and government agencies can be better prepared to respond and adapt. The research is producing a synthesis of learnings and recommendations, city case study reports, short briefs and academic journal articles.
Location: Indonesia
Client: UNICEF
Partner: Universitas Indonesia
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Freya Mills, Juliet Willetts
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Co-developing evidence-informed adaptation actions for resilient citywide sanitation: Local government response to climate change in Indonesia (2022) (Journal article)
Climate resilient urban sanitation in Indonesia: Hazards, impacts and responses in four cities (2021) (Report)
Climate resilient urban sanitation in Indonesia: Hazards, impacts and responses in four cities (2021) (Technical paper)
PROJECT | 2018-2020
Prioritising public health in sanitation decision-making
Ground-breaking collaborative research supports better-informed sanitation investment decisions from a public health perspective.
PROJECT | 2020
Citywide sanitation
Citywide sanitation is core to ISF’s approach to urban sanitation –prioritising equitable, safe and universal coverage and service levels. We are currently supporting Athena Infonomics document lessons for citywide inclusive sanitation in six cities and continuously develop thought leadership pieces to advance thinking in this sector (below).
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Editorial: City-Wide Sanitation: The Urban Sustainability Challenge (2020) (Journal Paper)
Costs, Climate and Contamination: Three Drivers for Citywide Sanitation Investment Decisions (2020) (Journal Paper)
PROJECT | 2015-2022
SNV-UTS Urban sanitation partnership
ISF and SNV’s multi-year research and learning partnership focuses on improving practice and WASH sector knowledge and evidence in urban sanitation.
Location: Asia, Pacific, Africa
Client: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Researchers: Juliet Willetts, Freya Mills, Naomi Carrard, Simone Soeters, Kumi Abeysuriya, Pierre Mukheibir
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Treatment technologies in practice On-the-ground experiences of faecal sludge and wastewater treatment
Provides insight into the day-to-day realities of decision-makers and operators of nine faecal sludge and wastewater treatment technologies
(2021) (Report)
Considering climate change in urban sanitation: conceptual approaches and practical implications
A comprehensive conceptualisation of how climate change could be considered in urban sanitation policy and programming
(Full learning paper) (Conference presentation) (Summary learning brief) (Poster)
Scheduled emptying services as an entry point for change
Informs sector thinking and practice on scheduled faecal sludge emptying, with insight to its role in triggering wider system change
(Full learning paper) (Summary learning brief) (Conference presentation)
How we define ‘safely managed’ and why it matters for FSM
Poster developed for FSM5 conference on the importance of seeking clarity of assumptions on what constitutes ‘safely managed’ when addressing sanitation services
(Poster)
Exploring smart enforcement in urban sanitation
New ideas and case study examples of how to invest limited resources to effectively regulate urban sanitation stakeholders
(Full learning paper) (Summary learning brief)
Applying multi-barrier approach for safe faecal sludge re-use
Describes a pilot undertaken in Nepal to re-use faecal sludge
(Summary learning brief) (Conference presentation) (Journal paper)
Financing sanitation for cities and towns
Innovative ways to access to the upfront finance and other lumpy finance needs for initial investment and for rehabilitation or replacement as physical systems approach their end of life
(Full learning paper) (Summary learning brief)
Critical questioning of city sanitation planning
This paper prompts practitioners, policy-makers and development agencies to stop and reflect on their approaches to city sanitation planning and the assumptions that underlie them
(Open access journal paper) (Full learning paper) (Summary learning brief)
Guidance for exploring legal and policy aspects of urban sanitation and hygiene
Supports WASH practitioners to undertake a scan of legal arrangements to inform the design or delivery or urban sanitation and hygiene programs
(Full Guidance) (Summary learning brief)
A guide to septage transfer stations
Provides information on the salient aspects of selecting, designing, building, operating and maintaining a septage transfer station
PROJECT | 2015-2016
Increasing local government responsibility for communal-scale sanitation
Research reviewing national guidelines for implementation of communal-scale systems in Indonesia, financing mechanisms for local government support to these systems, and two local government case studies implementing co-management approaches with communities.
Location: Indonesia
Client: KIAT - Australia Indonesia Infrastructure Partnership
Researchers: Freya Mills, Juliet Willetts
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Sustaining Community-Scale Sanitation Services: Co-management by Local Government and Low-Income Communities in Indonesia (2020) (Journal Paper)
Increasing local government responsibility for communal scale sanitation Part 1: Review of national program guidelines and two city case studies (2017) (Report)
Increasing local government responsibility for communal scale sanitation Part 2: Using Regional Budget (APBD) to support post-construction sustainability of communal sanitation (2017) (Report)
Increasing local government responsibility for communal scale sanitation Part 1: Review of national program guidelines and two city case studies (2017) (Journal Paper)
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PROJECT | 2019
Socialisation and political prioritisation of urban sanitation services
Despite significant investments in wastewater treatment capacity in cities in Indonesia, these facilities are not being fully utilised. One way to increase household connections is to invest in city-level advocacy and strengthened community engagement processes, particularly with the involvement of women.
ISF synthesised recent literature and practice on these topics to develop a program design for the Kemitraan Indonesia Australia untuk Infrastruktur (KIAT), which is an initiative of the Australian Government implemented by Cardno.
The proposed program addressed advocacy and engagement in several cities across Indonesia, and piloted new approaches to hygiene behaviour change in urban contexts.
Location: Indonesia
Client: Cardno Acil
Wider program: KIAT GESI and CSE Strategy (2018-2021)
Researchers: Kylie McKenna, Juliet Willetts
PROJECT | 2018-2020
Citywide inclusive sanitation in Bangladesh
ISF helped to develop a manual to guide local governments in the implementation of safe and inclusive sanitation services for low-income communities in alignment with the Government of Bangladesh and United Nations Development Programme's National Urban Poverty Reduction Programme.
Location: Bangladesh
Client: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Partner: UNDP
Wider program: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS)
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Freya Mills
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Urban Sanitation in Low-income Communities: A manual for city governments in Bangladesh (2022) (Manual)
PROJECT | 2018-2019
Women’s leadership in infrastructure development in Indonesia
Women are under-represented in leadership positions in the infrastructure sector, and yet their needs must be considered in designing infrastructure and services.
ISF facilitated workshops with Bappenas (National Planning Agency) and advised on a background paper on women’s leadership in the Indonesian infrastructure sector. This paper was designed to inform the Australian Government's Kemitraan Indonesia Australia untuk Infrastruktur (KIAT)'s strategies going forward over five to 10 years.
Location: Indonesia
Client: Cardno Acil
Researcher: Juliet Willetts
PROJECT | 2017-2018
Public health risks in urban sanitation planning
This research developed a conceptual approach to model faecal pathogen flows and public health risks in urban environments to inform sanitation planning. This work forms part of Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor’s Urban Sanitation Research Initiative.
Location: Global, Bangladesh
Client: Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)
Researchers: Freya Mills, Juliet Willetts, Cynthia Mitchell
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Modelling faecal pathogen flows and health risks in urban environments to inform sanitation planning - conference presentation (2018) (Presentation)
Faecal Pathogen Flows and Their Public Health Risks in Urban Environments: A Proposed Approach to Inform Sanitation Planning (2018) (Journal Paper)
Modelling faecal pathogen flows in urban environments: a proposed approach to inform sanitation planning - Policy brief (2018) (Report)
WSUP’s Urban Sanitation Research Initiative (Website)
PROJECT | 2016
Making pathogens visible: improving urban sanitation
Wastewater treatment systems at household and community scale in Indonesia and other urban contexts are limited in their effectiveness in removing disease-causing pathogens. This paper put forward a tool, the Pathogen Hazard Diagram, to support understanding of the pathogen levels resulting from wastewater treatment systems.
Location: Indonesia
Client: DFAT
Wider program: Australian Development Research Award
Researchers: Cynthia Mitchell, Katie Ross, Kumi Abeysuriya
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Making pathogen hazards visible: a new heuristic to improve sanitation investment efficacy (2016) (Journal Paper)
PROJECT | 2015-2016
Revision of BORDA’s global monitoring and evaluation framework
Through a collaborative process, ISF and BORDA reviewed the BORDA global monitoring framework, used to assess the performance of decentralised wastewater treatment systems built through BORDA’s international programs.
A quality data cycle approach was applied to ensure that BORDA’s organisational resources and investments in data collection and analysis create the best value for all involved. Engaging with BORDA regional and country staff and implementing partners, ISF developed a theory of change forming the basis of the revised monitoring framework.
Location: Global
Client: BORDA
Researchers: Freya Mills, Cynthia Mitchell
PROJECT | 2014-2016
Strengthening governance arrangements for small city and town sanitation
This research examined ways to improve urban sanitation planning and governance by local governments in small towns in Sumatra, Indonesia. The research included six city case studies.
Location: Indonesia
Clients: SMEC, AusAID // DFAT
Partners: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Kemitraan, Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas)
Wider program: Australian-Indonesia Infrastructure Research Awards [AIIRA]
Researchers: Kumi Abeysuriya, Joanne Chong, Juliet Willetts
PROJECT | 2013-2017
Governance of community-scale sanitation
With increasing numbers of community-scale sanitation systems in Indonesia, this research sought to improve the governance of these systems to ensure sustainable long-term services.
Sanitation service delivery in dense, low-income urban areas in Indonesia is challenging. Local-scale sanitation systems (serving around 50–200 households) offer an affordable way to manage the public health and environmental hazards of untreated wastewater in urban areas. But these systems need effective governance in order to operate in the long-term. Reviews of these local-scale systems have found that effective governance is difficult to achieve and the service does not always last as long as planned.
Community Sanitation Governance was a three-year research project investigating effective governance for successful long-term operation of community-scale wastewater systems in Indonesia. For this project, governance means the financial, stakeholder, organisational, regulatory, and technical support necessary for successful, long-term service delivery.
The research was led by ISF and supported by the Australian Development Research Awards Scheme. It was delivered in partnership with the Government of Indonesia Ministry of National Development Planning, in collaboration with BORDA Germany, the Overseas Development Institute, AKSANSI (Association for Community Based Sanitation Organisations in Indonesia) and the Center for Policy Regulation and Governance at Universitas Ibn Khaldun Bogor.
Location: Indonesia
Client: AusAID // DFAT
Partners: BORDA, AKSANSI, "Centre for Policy, Regulation and Governance, Universitas Ibn Khaldun Bogor Indonesia", Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas)
Wider program: Australian Development Research Scheme
Researchers: Katie Ross, Cynthia Mitchell, Kumi Abeysuriya, Juliet Willetts
PROJECT | 2012
Legal and institutional arrangements for urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan
This review explored the legal and institutional frameworks guiding urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan. It was commissioned by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in April 2012 to inform the Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All in Small Towns program being undertaken by SNV Bhutan and the Ministry of Works and Human Settlements.
Location: Bhutan
Client: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Researcher: Naomi Carrard
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Legal and institutional arrangements for urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan (2012) (Report)
PROJECT | 2009-2011
Investigating the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of sanitation options for Can Tho, Vietnam
Commissioned by AusAID, this study assessed the costs and sustainability aspects of sanitation options for a peri-urban area in Can Tho, Vietnam.
This study was awarded the 2011 International Water Association Project Innovation Award for applied sanitation research in a developing country context.
Location: Vietnam
Client: AusAID // DFAT
Researchers: Naomi Carrard, Monique Retamal, Juliet Willetts, Cynthia Mitchell
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Selecting sanitation options: a case study of South Can Tho – Technical Report (2010) (Report)
Cost-effectiveness analysis as a methodology to compare sanitation options in peri-urban Can Tho, Vietnam (2010) (Conference Proceeding)
Modelling costs for water and sanitation infrastructure: Comparing sanitation options for Can Tho, Vietnam (2011) (Conference Proceeding)
