Across the Pacific, 71% of Islanders have access to basic sanitation services (JMP 2020, excluding PNG). Lack of safe sanitation access is not only a major health concern but also affects educational and health outcomes, as well as Pacific island country overall development. As the contexts and cultures in the Pacific are so diverse, sanitation systems and solutions must also be diverse.

This latest Pacific WASH webinar explored Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS), a holistic approach to solving urban sanitation problems. Traditional sanitation approaches, namely sewered infrastructure investments, can fall short on their own in meeting development goals due to high capital and operating cost, inadequate management and attention to social inequalities, and weak governance. CWIS offers an alternate approach that breaks-down common urban sanitation myths: that there isn’t demand sanitation; that households are unwilling to pay for sanitation services; and that centralized conventional sewerage is the only and best solution. CWIS takes an explicit focus on equity and inclusion because many urban sanitation projects, particularly sewerage projects, have typically benefited the commercial and more affluent areas leaving poorer communities and marginalized groups, including women and girls, lacking access to safe sanitation facilities and services.

A panel of experts presented the sanitation situation in Vanuatu’s urban areas and shared how fecal sludge diagrams can help us understand and prioritize risks in the local sanitation service chain for context-specific solutions.