Africa: Tapping into the Sanitation Challenge

In my first post , I really tried to contextualise the ‘Why’ and the ‘Where’ of this blog’s grounding. My hope was to demonstrate how pervasive inadequate sanitation is throughout the world and why a focus on Africa is paramount in addressing the issue. In revisiting it, however, I realised that the paraphernalia of sanitation practices had only briefly been mentioned. This felt problematic, as to really do a blog on sanitation surely I would need to establish all the sanitation practices that might be relevant for an enriching discussion? Quickly it became apparent, however, just how expansive the literature on sanitation technology already is, with Mara (2012) showcasing the work already undertaken for urban and rural settings alike.  So where could my own voice be found? Unsurprisingly, as a geographer fascinated by the spatial interconnectedness of communities, my answer came through Langergrabera and Muelleggera's (2004) explanation of Ecological Sanitation (Ecosan), which ...

What does it mean to you when I say “Water, Sanitation and Africa”? Indeed, if I were to ask you to do a word association, what would your next 3 words reveal about your lens of perspective?  Would they inspire hope and optimism toward solutions, or reflect sympathy and frustration toward problems? Would they suggest a keen reliance on building sanitation hardware, or initiate a thoughtful questioning of the cultural softwares in need of updating? Would they make you read on, or decide to stop here? Whatever your three words of association might be, it was my own answer – ‘opportunities being missed’ – that has prompted me to write the following blog exploring Water and Sanitation in the context of Africa. Of course, I think it is understandable that my own response revealed a sentiment of 'missingness'. It only takes one quick google search of the statistics, using keywords such as UNICEF and UN, to fully appreciate the seriousness of the sanitation deficits still being wi...