ADBI-Gates Foundation Leadership Capacity Development on City-wide Inclusive Sanitation

Special Issue: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Technologies and Governance in Urban Development

Tang, T., L. See, Y. Wada, N. Hosfstra, A. Patel, S. Setiawati, D. Wibowo, D. Rahut, and K. E. Seetha Ram, eds. 2022. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science 49(8).

Special Issue: Empirical Studies on Sanitation and Development

Augsburg, B., M. Lipscomb, and D. Rahut, eds. Journal of Development Economics.

T20 Brazil 2024 Bridging the Gap: Innovative Approaches to Global Water and Sanitation Access

Govender, T., N. Parekhelashvili, K. E. Seetha Ram, P. Dupas, B. Kumar, and A. Agarwal. 2024. T20 Policy Brief, Task Force 1: Fighting Equalities, Poverty, and Hunger. T20 Brazil.

28 May 2024 Water, Sanitation, and Society in ASEAN

Seetha Ram, KE, and D. Wibowo. 2024. The ASEAN, 28 May.

19 December 2023 Cultural Currents: Tracing ASEAN’s Water and Sanitation Heritage

Parekhelashvili, N., D. Wibowo, and KE Seetha Ram. 2023. The ASEAN, 19 December.

5 February 2024 Water security through effective wastewater management: Lessons from Japan’s public–private partnerships - Asia Pathways

Well-functioning wastewater management systems contribute to water security by improving resilience and welfare, but many countries are falling short of their wastewater management targets.

20 August 2021 How can the private sector help solve the sanitation challenge? - Asia Pathways

The private sector can play a vital role in solving the sanitation challenge. The following four aspects highlight the importance of private sector participation in sanitation in developing countries, including in Asia.

14 May 2021 Climate change impacts in Asia are all essentially a water story - Asia Pathways

Global climate change caused by human activities will continue to be catastrophic for humanity. In particular, climate change is having serious impacts on the world’s water systems (United Nations 2020), and changes in these systems can have an enormous impact on people’s lives.

7 May 2021 Top journal articles on sanitation reveal new policy insights - Asia Pathways

An examination of the published journal articles on development economics reveals a striking pattern—very few are devoted to the analysis of sanitation interventions and development.

18 January 2021 Making citywide inclusive sanitation a reality through capacity development - Asia Pathways

Over a billion people across Asia and the Pacific still lack access to basic sanitation services (JMP 2019). Most low- and middle-income countries in Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia still do not have safely managed sanitation services.

10 December 2020 Does sanitation access improve schooling outcomes for girls and boys? - Asia Pathways

All the sanitation improvement projects and investments over the years beg the question of whether we have seen a significant increase in school enrollment and gender parity in education or not.

14 October 2020 COVID-19 reminds us to prioritize "water supply, sanitation, and hygiene" (WASH) to reduce child mortality - Asia Pathways

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has registered 959,116 deaths worldwide as of 21 September 2020. While the number is alarming, it is still not large compared with the 5.2 million children who died due to various causes in 2019, according to UNICEF.

24 March 2020 Improve handwashing access to combat COVID-19 - Asia Pathways

Medical experts and institutions tell us that a critical but simple lifesaving action to reduce vulnerability to COVID-19 is literally in our own hands—regular handwashing with soap. Public awareness efforts underscore the need for greater behavioral compliance.

31 August 2018 The sanitation economy: Digging for treasure - Asia Pathways

In both respects, sanitation is deeply embedded. Grids of sewer pipes have been fixed into the surface of cities in the developed world for more than a century, and it has become a strong and important part of most policy makers’ belief that this is how to provide sanitation.

14 August 2018 Evidence-based capacity building can inspire policy makers to accelerate sanitation interventions in Asia - Asia Pathways

National and local governments in Asia are facing significant challenges to effectively deliver access to sanitation, as well as to properly collect, transport, dispose of, and treat fecal sludge.

14 August 2018 Composite Water Management Index: A pathway to solve the water crisis in India - Asia Pathways

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and, more importantly, the citizens of India have acknowledged that the country is undergoing the "worst water crisis" in its history—and they are making commendable efforts to address it.

14 August 2018 "Commitment" as a success factor for fecal sludge management - Asia Pathways

Leh, a high-altitude cold desert in India, is a popular tourist destination hosting around 250,000 visitors annually. At present, the poorly designed septic tanks and soak pits installed by households, hotels, and guesthouses to contain fecal sludge are posing a serious threat to groundwater contamination.

14 March 2018 Minimizing the Cost of Fecal Sludge Management through Co-Treatment - Asia Pathways

The City Development Initiative for Asia, the Asian Development Bank, other multilateral agencies, and national governments are funding sewerage systems for medium and large cities throughout Asia.

19 January 2018 What can countries in Asia learn from the Republic of Korea and Malaysia about sanitation and its economic impacts? - Asia Pathways

In 2014, when I first moved to the Republic of Korea from India, I was impressed and awestruck by the country’s infrastructure and ease of mobility. Being an architect, the aspect I found most endearing of the city-wide master planning was the access and provision of toilets almost everywhere, be it at metro train stations, bus terminals, shopping plazas, parks, or even on mountain hikes.

26 August 2025 Citywide Inclusive Sanitation: Shalini’s Story of Respect and Resilience in Telangana, India

1 August 2025 Explainer: ADBI - City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS)

18 March 2025 ADBI Visits Hamamatsu City's Water Symphony

15 September 2023 Accountability Mechanisms for Inclusive City-Level Public Services in Asia

This book stresses the critical role of performance assessment in enhancing transparency and accountability in sanitation service delivery and compiles insights from a global perspective.

18 February 2021 Spotlight on Japan’s "Johkasou" Sanitation System: A Model for Asia

Japan’s decentralized wastewater treatment system, known as "Johkasou," has made affordable on-site sanitation facilities widely available and contributed to the country’s high sanitation standard.

7 May 2020 ADBI-Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Renewed Sanitation Partnership Explained

An overview of ADBI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s new three-year partnership agreement to support further enhancements in urban sanitation and human waste management in Asia and the Pacific.

26 September 2018 Spillover Effects from Fecal Sludge Management: Dumaguete City

Developing countries in Asia face great challenges in fecal sludge management (FSM). Yet, governments hesitate to invest in it because user charges are not enough to recover costs. This video shows the benefits of improving city-wide FSM in Dumaguete, Philippines.

31 May 2018 Multimedia Webinar: Scaling Up Solutions for Non-Sewered Sanitation and Fecal Sludge Management

Webinar to acquaint viewers with scalable solutions to implement Non-Sewered Sanitation and Fecal Sludge Management.

29 August 2024 Don’t ignore the power of water culture

Listen to the latest episode of Asia’s Developing Future. To mark World Water Week, join Yoonjin Kim, Director of Strategy and Development of the World Water Council, and Victor Shinde, Head of the Climate Center for Cities at the National Center of Urban Affairs in New Delhi, as they discuss the crucial role that culture plays in successful and sustainable water resource projects.

15 August 2023 How Japan’s sanitation and wastewater management breakthroughs can be applied to developing Asia

In this podcast, the Asian Development Bank Institute’s Santi Setiawati spotlights Japan’s innovative sanitation and wastewater management systems and the implementation lessons they offer developing countries in Asia seeking to address coverage gaps within the sector.

20 April 2021 How latrines can promote girls’ education - Asia's Developing Future

In this podcast, the University of Chicago’s Anjali Adukia presents her research on the link between school sanitation infrastructure, education growth, and development in India. Adukia describes the importance of latrine construction in schools for driving primary school enrollment, particularly among girls. She also discusses the policy implications of these dynamics for education and sanitation development, investment in school infrastructure, and gender equality.

9 April 2020 Improving handwashing access is vital to combating COVID-19 - Asia's Developing Future

The novel coronavirus continues to test health systems and economies worldwide. In this podcast, ADBI’s KE Seetha Ram discusses barriers to a simple life saving action to reduce exposure to COVID-19 – handwashing – and how efforts to further strengthen sanitation management can help communities in developing Asia and the Pacific thrive again.

15 February 2018 Better sanitation systems lead to economic growth - Asia's Developing Future

Providing total and improved sanitation services is a challenge across Asia, as population growth—up 5.7% on average in the past two decades—overwhelms existing infrastructure and outpaces planning.

[画像:Japan Sanitation Consortium (JSC)]

Building on Japan's expertise in sanitation, the Japan Sanitation Consortium (JSC) was internationally recognized and launched in 2009, as the Asia-Pacific Water Forum's Knowledge Hub for sanitation. ADBI and Japan Sanitation Consortium (JSC) have been working closely with development partners to incorporate Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) in sanitation investments in developing Asia, as well as to design joint capacity building and research activities on implementing CWIS.

[画像:Japan International Cooperation Agency]

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is an implementing agency of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) that supports the socioeconomic development in developing countries in different regions of the world.

ADBI and JICA have jointly organized successful training programs on Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS). ADBI collaborates with JICA in an ongoing effort to introduce CWIS within JICA’s projects and to strengthen the capacity of staff and consultants on best practices in CWIS implementation.

Toyo University is a private educational institution in Japan renowned for its diverse range of international programs. ADBI and Toyo University have organized 3 cohorts of training on Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS). Topics included the development history of sanitation in Japan, technologies, procedures and policies, organizational systems, legal and regulatory practices in Japan, financial aspects of projects, etc. Organizations aim to continue collaboration in future joint activities.

Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) is an institution of excellence and national importance, providing advisory services, training, and research support to government officials, industry leaders, and professionals in urban management, urban wash, citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS), in India and other Asian countries. The collaboration with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) through the leadership development course on the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) program has been highly impactful, successfully building the capacity of over 400 practitioners over five cohorts. This program reflects a sustained effort to empower professionals working on inclusive sanitation issues, demonstrating a commitment to advancing knowledge and skills and becoming change champions.

The Global Sanitation Graduate School (GSGS) is the world’s largest and most impactful mechanism for capacity development in postgraduate education on sanitation. It is a platform where academic and capacity-building institutes collaborate with practice and co-create water and sanitation resources to mainstream interdisciplinarity in curriculum and empower professionals working in the domain. GSGS aims to embrace diversity, equity, safety, and inclusion in acknowledgement of the complexity of water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges in the world and lead to climate-responsive, liveable habitats. GSGS applies a collaborative approach to develop and disseminate context-specific knowledge on water, sanitation, and hygiene through postgraduate education, tailored professional training, applying pedagogic innovations and fostering applied, interdisciplinary, innovative, cutting-edge, locally relevant research.