Development of a Climate Resilient Framework for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services to households, schools, early childhood development centres and healthcare facilities

Although access to household sanitation has increased in South Africa, almost 3 million households still lack access to improved sanitation services. Climate change is bringing more severe, more frequent droughts and flooding, with impacts on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and services. Rural and informal settlements (including schools and healthcare facilities) are often the most severely impacted, because of inadequate, or poorly maintained infrastructure and/or lack of services. A clear set of criteria is required to determine the climate-resilience of existing technologies and systems and other emerging technologies in WASH.

OneWorld has been contracted by UNICEF South Africa to develop the required framework. It will outline a set of criteria to determine the climate-resilience of sanitation services, technologies, or systems to be adopted in households, schools, early childhood development centres, and healthcare facilities. This framework for WASH will support and guide the Department of Water and Sanitation’s due diligence process while articulating elements that determine the ‘climate-resiliency’ of basic services, as well as technologies and systems that could be used to mitigate potential risks and shocks.