ESAWAS and UNICEF recently launched a publication documenting six Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Regulatory Journeys from East and Southern Africa. This was during a webinar co-convened with WHO and WSUP titled “Showcasing pathways to regulate Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS)” on 29th May 2024. The webinar aimed at showcasing the regional interventions and CWIS regulatory journeys of 6 countries namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Burundi and Tanzania.
The webinar outlined the practical experiences of early adopters of CWIS regulation implementation, including the key actions undertaken to implement effective inclusive sanitation with practical impacts.
The journey of Zambia highlighted by Lloyd Beensi from NWASCO, addressed the triggers of CWIS regulation and key milestones. The critical issues that led to the implementation of CWIS regulation included low sanitation coverage and renewed government direction. The key milestones along the journey were the change in license conditions for Commercial Utilities (CUs) to include onsite sanitation (OSS), implementation of GIS mapping of OSS facilities, CWIS Planning and Service Provision Guidelines, among others.
Jacques Nzitonda from Rwanda amplified the policy, legal basis, institutional and regulatory framework for inclusive sanitation, emphasizing the clarity of roles and responsibilities of sector actors along the sanitation service chain. He illustrated the responsibilities for policy, regulation, standards, environment and service provision in the country.
The Kenya journey presented by Lawrence Miano highlighted the mechanisms put in place to enhance accountability in CWIS. These included the use of performance targets in the license, Standard Operating Procedures for pit emptying as well as inclusion of a Pro-poor KPI in the annual performance monitoring.
Abdu Maliki Muyinda from Uganda delved into the use of digital tools to improve on-site sanitation service provision. The Weyonje tool is helping to improve operator efficiency in providing emptying services and regulatory monitoring of service providers. Equiserve is assisting to analyse the system level performance of utilities and sub-national governments on equity, financial viability and environmental safety and can serve as a powerful M&E tool for regulators and national governments.
The Tanzania journey presented by Titus Safari focused on sector performance monitoring and stakeholders’ coordination for improved sanitation service provision. He highlighted the regulatory tools that have been revised to incorporate onsite sanitation and FSM, the upgrade of the regulators Utilities Information Management System to capture and report sanitation date. A key aspect of his presentation demonstrated sector coordination approaches that included a technical working group as a cross-ministerial and institutional group plus a ministerial task force on sanitation.
Speaking on peer learning to strengthen the regulatory capacity, Dieudonné Sibomana from Burundi explained how the mentor-mentee programme supported by ESAWAS has helped them to improve their sanitation regulation. Some of the key outcomes include capacity development for various sanitation actors, the GIS mapping of 18 urban centres to build a baseline on the status of WSS services and sanitation tariff setting.
The CWIS journeys were presented in the framework of a roadmap for strengthening and advancing sanitation regulation under finalization by the World Health Organization (WHO) which provides high level, step-by-step guidance to support countries in implementing sanitation regulation.
The CWIS journeys and roadmap outline pathways and requirements to implement inclusive sanitation regulation and regional and global interventions to strengthen inclusive sanitation regulation. Several key recommendations emerged from the regulatory journeys and findings across the 6 countries
Strategic Recommendations for Countries Initiating Inclusive Sanitation Regulation:
- Optimize Regulatory Frameworks
- Foster Stakeholder Engagement
- Accelerate Investment and Financing
- Implement Advanced Sanitation Practices
- Strengthen Monitoring and Data Collection
- Build Capacity of Service Providers
- Boost Regional Cooperation and Knowledge Exchange
Download the full and abridged reports on CWIS regulatory journeys; CWIS-Regulatory-Journey-Technical-Report
