Humanitarian Sanitation Hub

In the humanitarian WASH sector, there are various tools and information as well as standards and guidelines available. However, the challenge is that many of these resources are not made available systematically and thus they are difficult to access in practice. Sanitation and especially faecal sludge management in emergencies are affected - this is most problematic as rapid assistance can be life-saving. In addition, the sector lacks practical knowledge and personnel capacities for faecal sludge management.

After a detailed analysis, the “Technical Working Group for Faecal Sludge Management” (FSM TWiG) of the Global WASH Cluster (GWC) concluded that an open-source knowledge hub with all relevant and quality-assured contents would substantially improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the work in the humanitarian WASH sector. Against this background, seven FSM TWiG member organizations (BORDA, CAWST, Eawag, GTO, IHE Delft, Netherlands Red Cross and Solidarités international) agreed to form a consortium and develop the SANIHUB. The project is coordinated by the GTO and financially supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In May 2023, the beta version of the Hub was officially launched at the Global Wash Cluster Annual Meeting in Budapest. Currently, the Hub is tested in close cooperation with different user groups, and new functionalities and content are being developed and added. The SANIHUB will help to close the knowledge and capacity gaps in faecal sludge management and sanitation. It will make essential knowledge and the best existing tools available in a structured and quality-assured manner. One example for this is the integration of the Compendium of Sanitation Technologies in Emergencies. In addition to various interactive online tools and an extensive knowledge database, the hub will include a continuously and actively operated helpdesk for humanitarian WASH practitioners.

The user-friendly open source platform, facilitates access to tools and knowledge resources for different target groups according to their needs via different entry points:

• Humanitarian Programme Cycle
• Location
• Challenging Contexts
• Technologies
• Cross Cutting Issues

As global humanitarian disasters evolve dynamically and potential response options and sanitation systems are also subject to change, the Humanitarian Sanitation Hub will be continuously maintained and adapted to the state of the art. It is designed to bring together all the knowledge in the sector and is considered to become the gold standard.

Here you can find the platform.