Strategy for water, sanitation and hygiene 2016-2030
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Date
2016-08-01
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UNICEF, new york
Abstract
Children need WASH – water, sanitation and
hygiene – to survive and thrive. This is true in
times of stability and crisis, in urban and rural
communities, and in every country around the
world. WASH is important in its own right, and is
also necessary for health, nutrition, education and
other outcomes for children. Girls and women are
particularly affected by poor WASH, as are people
living with disabilities.
A great deal has been achieved over the past 25
years towards the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). Billions have gained access to water and
sanitation, and hygiene practices are improving.
But much remains to be done. In 2016 one billion
people still practice open defecation and over 600
million do not have access to even a basic level of
drinking water. And there are new and emerging
challenges that require us to change the way we
work. It is the poorest who are most often denied
access: more and more of the world’s poor live
in urban slums, and climate change threatens
water resources. The Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) set an ambitious vision to achieve
universal access to “safely managed” water and
sanitation (including hygiene): defining a higher
level of service, whilst prioritising the poorest and
most vulnerable.
The purpose of this new Strategy for WASH is to
guide UNICEF’s organization-wide contribution
to achieving SDG 6: Ensure access to water and
sanitation for all by 2030. It is designed to inform
and support UNICEF’s core planning and strategy
processes, and to guide the implementation of
our programmes. It defines the principles to be
applied to all our work and a menu of approaches
and results areas to be tailored to each country’s
context, with links to guidance documents that
provide further detail on implementation.
We will maintain our focus on helping every child
gain access to drinking water, sanitation and
hygiene, including in schools and health centres,
and in humanitarian situations when children are
most vulnerable. The Strategy signals increased
engagement in “newer” areas such as adapting
to climate change; services in small towns and
informal settlements (urban); and engaging the
private sector as a key partner beyond their
traditional role of providing goods and services. It
shows how WASH can contribute to key outcomes
across the life-course of a child, and how education
and health systems can help deliver wider public
health outcomes in WASH.
UNICEF will support governments to ensure every
child has at least a basic level of service while
addressing inequalities and quality issues that are
important to sustain the gains that have been
made over the past 20 years. The SDG targets for
water, sanitation and hygiene present a significant
challenge over the coming 15 years. The SDGs
move well beyond the MDG targets and aim for
universal coverage. The SDGs also set a higher level
of ambition, described as “safely managed” water and
sanitation, whilst emphasizing the need to address
inequalities. In response to this, the Strategy provides
a set of criteria – the Core Accountabilities – that
commit us to act where children do not even have
a basic level of service. The Strategy also provides
guidance on what types of interventions should be
applied in different contexts.
The Strategy was informed by a review of UNICEF’s
WASH evaluations over the last ten years, a review
of the evidence on WASH and children, and an
extensive consultative process involving over 500
UNICEF staff and external partners. With this new
tool to guide us, we look forward to working with
all partners on the global agenda of WASH for all.