Beyond inclusion: practical lessons on striving for gender and disability transformational changes in WASH systems in Cambodia and Timor-Leste

Abstract

Women and girls, and people with disabilities are often excluded from governance systems and decision-making on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at all levels – from household to the national level. This paper analyses inclusion and empowerment outcomes for these two groups in three WASH system-strengthening programmes in Cambodia and Timor-Leste. The analysis used WaterAid's ‘Equality and Inclusion Framework’ to assess the quality of inclusion and empowerment outcomes at different levels of WASH systems. The review found that household gender equality changes in Timor-Leste were empowering because they shifted women's and men's roles, relationships and attitudes. It found that women's leadership and disability-inclusive approaches in Cambodia achieved inclusive outcomes because they enhanced women's critical consciousness and increased WASH leaders' awareness of the importance of disability inclusion. There was evidence of either individual/self-empowerment changes or changes to the enabling environment; however, no intervention achieved a comprehensive combination of both. The authors conclude that both individual and environmental outcomes contribute to empowerment outcomes in WASH systems at different levels that can shift gender norms, redistribute power and benefit women and people with disabilities. These findings will enable WASH practitioners to better understand empowerment outcomes and how to integrate them with system-strengthening approaches.

Editorial: Systems strengthening and human rights as entry points for WASH

“…Key findings include the importance of engaging with power dynamics to facilitate effective participatory spaces that are non-discriminatory and account for political, socio-economic and cultural differences. As previously mentioned, Huggett et al (2022) highlight the importance of changes at both individual/self-empowerment and enabling environment levels in pursuit of equality and non-discrimination. Hepworth et al (2022), Ceaser et al (2022), Dickin et al (2022) and Coultas et al (2022) all address the principle of accountability, as described further below.…”

Working together: A study of civil society partnerships between WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) and GESI (gender equality and social inclusion) organisations in Timor-Leste

“…Partnering with diverse rights-holder organisations (RHOs) has become part of a broader trend within the rural water sector in low-and middle-income countries in an attempt to move away from infrastructure-focused models towards more integrated service delivery models. Service delivery models are conscious of the combined effect of a range of factors and how a range of governance and behavioural factors affect WASH delivery and success, including gender equality and social inclusion (GEDSI) (Huggett et al, 2022;Water for Women, 2022). WASH system strengthening is understood to involve working with, supporting, and strengthening the institutions and actors that are part of the broader WASH system, as well as the relationships between them (Jenkins et al, 2019;Nhim and Mcloughlin, 2022, p. 1-12).…”

“…Efforts to strengthen the WASH system in Timor-Leste have been undertaken by CSOs (such as the INGO WaterAid) looking to work with, influence, and engage the WASH system as a whole, including several levels of government (from the national to the suco or village level), utilities, businesses and local CSOs. Efforts have also been made by a range of WASH actors to improve gender-equality outcomes, shift gender norms, and empower women and girls in the development and delivery of water and sanitation programmes (Grant et al, 2019a;Huggett et al, 2022).…”

Measuring transformative WASH: A new paradigm for evaluating water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions

“…Generally speaking, transformative gender studies engage with agency, relations, and power dynamics to critically examine gender dynamics inherent in WASH service delivery (MacArthur et al, 2020). For example, gender‐ and disability‐inclusive designs have strengthened WASH programs in Cambodia and Timor‐Leste by shifting awareness, roles, relationships, and attitudes (Huggett et al, 2022). Yet WASH data have traditionally not been sex‐disaggregated, and this obscures intra‐household dynamics, particularly related to gender roles (Caruso & Sinharoy, 2019).…”