Abstract
Safe and accessible water services for hand hygiene are critical to human health and well-being. However, access to handwashing facilities is limited in cities in the Global South, where rapid urbanisation, service backlogs, lack of infrastructure and capacity, and water scarcity impact on the ability of local governments to provide them. Community participation and the co-production of knowledge in the development of innovative technologies, which are aligned with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) principles, can lead to more sustainable and socially-acceptable hand hygiene systems. This paper presents the outcomes of the testing of the Autarky handwashing station, a technology that provides onsite treatment and recycling of handwashing water, in an informal settlement in Durban, South Africa. The transdisciplinary research approach adopted enabled the participation of multiple stakeholders with different knowledge systems in the framing, testing and evaluation of the system. The process of co-producing knowledge, as well as the outcomes of the testing, namely high levels of functionality and social acceptability of the technology, supported the WASH principles. The evaluation revealed that the Autarky handwashing station is a niche intervention that improved access to safe and appealing handwashing facilities in an informal settlement. Its novel design, socially desirable features, reliability and ability to save water increased its acceptance in the community. The testing of the system in a real-world context revealed the value of including communities in knowledge production processes for technology innovation. Further work is required to ensure that real-time monitoring of system function is feasible before such systems can be implemented at larger scale.
Highlights
The provision of safe, accessible, reliable and dignified water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is a major global concern
This paper presents the results of the field-testing of the Autarky handwashing station (AHWS) for six months in Quarry Road West informal settlement in Durban, South Africa, using a transdisciplinary (Td) research approach
The Communal Ablution Blocks (CABs) are usually located on the edges of informal settlements, due to space constraints and the need to be close to bulk sewer infrastructure
Summary
The provision of safe, accessible, reliable and dignified water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is a major global concern. This paper presents the results of the field-testing of the AHWS for six months in Quarry Road West informal settlement in Durban, South Africa, using a transdisciplinary (Td) research approach The fieldtesting comprised both the technical testing of the AHWS, and a community-centred social assessment, with all stakeholders framing the problems to be addressed (Bhaskar et al, 2010; Max-Neef, 2005; Pohl et al, 2017; Sutherland et al, 2021; You et al, 2020; Ziervogel et al, 2021). Non-governmental organizations and private companies (e.g., GIZ, Oxfam, Lixil Group) have developed a range of low-cost prefabricated handwashing stations, most of them for public settings All these solutions require manual refilling of a tank with water, and require a safe source of water nearby, as no treatment of the water takes place in the systems. The technology was evaluated using principles for Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) interventions as the assessment criteria
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