Gap analysis in emergency water, sanitation and hygiene promotion

Excreta disposal issues, urban sanitation, weak community participation, hygiene promotion design, sustainability, the emergency development continuum, disaster preparation and resilience, exit strategies and environmental considerations, were identified as the most important gaps in emergency water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH).

The emergency WASH gap analysis project was funded by The Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), a program managed by Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) in partnership with the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), and is a component of a larger initiative to identify and support innovations in emergency WASH.

The project was commissioned to identify the major challenges that require innovative solutions in humanitarian WASH. It is a targeted effort to identify different stakeholder perspectives of the gaps and spaces for innovation in emergency WASH, rather than a systematic review of the evidence around WASH programming.

A total of 909 people were consulted across around 40 countries, involving individual practitioners and approximately 45 different organizations, spanning donors, the UN system and international and national NGOs (author abstract).