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Informal toilets and a safe circular water economy<\/strong><\/p>\n International Symposium, Lancaster University, 28-29 March 2022<\/em><\/p>\n A venue for the exchange of ideas and knowledge between researchers, practitioners and policy makers concerned with \u2018sanitation for water and health\u2019 \u2013 for the benefit of informal urban dwellers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n For most informal dwellers, water is unaffordable, intermittent, and unsafe. Even when relatively safe municipal water is accessible, water may be contaminated by faecal bacteria as it enters the shared, often over-used dispensing facilities and the \u2018human infrastructure\u2019 that carries it to people\u2019s homes. We already know of many adverse consequences for the dwellers. Researchers now also warn of future global pandemics.<\/p>\n Ambitious targets, such as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 6.2, aim to address this everyday challenge faced by over one billion informal dwellers globally. New approaches and tools are emerging. Yet, achieving safer sanitation at scale remains a challenge. That shared toilets are defined as problematic, and hence often excluded from official policy, remains a key barrier. The solution requires more than supply-driven, hardware-focussed interventions. Community-driven, demand-led approaches have an important role to play, not least to better align sanitation with the everyday realities of the direct users \u2013 the informal dwellers. This may be aided by:<\/p>\n In short, to \u2018leave no one behind\u2019 as we work towards SDG Target 6.2, we need to connect informal toilets to a safe circular water economy: a concerted and sustainable set of actions to\u00a0capture faecal matter<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>from, and\u00a0prevent faecal contamination<\/strong> within, informal communities. The activities range from maintaining the technical integrity of the sanitation facilities, periodically collecting and safely treating the faecal matter, to a complementary suite of empowerment and capacity building initiatives. Success rests on co-producing solutions, working for and with people and across disciplines and scales. Innovative education pathways are needed to ensure that invisible faecal contamination is (metaphorically) \u2018made visible\u2019 to ordinary people, those tasked with water provision, and those with a mandate to set global agendas. This \u2018visibility\u2019 could:<\/p>\n What is needed is a sanitation strategy built on rigorous interdisciplinary analysis that \u2013 like the provision of clean drinking water \u2013 is a cause for celebration and pride. Exploring this proposition has been a key objective of the GCRF-funded RECIRCULATE<\/a> and ACTUATE<\/a> projects, and our earlier work on the Last 100 Metres<\/a>. The initial findings of these projects are very encouraging and deserve to be discussed and shared with research and practitioner communities.<\/p>\n Call for Abstracts<\/strong><\/p>\n We invite researchers who are exploring any aspect of \u201cConnecting the unconnected: informal toilets and a safe circular water economy\u201d to submit papers discussing their methodologies, findings and learning. We identify the following guiding questions for papers:<\/p>\n Delegation number and arrangements <\/strong><\/p>\n Depending on COVID-19 measures at the time of symposium, we plan to hold the event using a blended approach. Those who are able\/willing to attend the event in person (capped to 50 delegates) will be invited to do so. We will select up to 24 papers on countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America, alongside keynote speakers and discussants.<\/p>\n Registration<\/strong><\/p>\n To register to attend in-person, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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