Sustainability without accessibility? Not likely!

A young student at a school in Indonesia stands and presents as part of peer educator WASH health promotion activities

A peer educator gives an oral presentation on WASH behaviours with the help of a poster. In schools across Manggarai and Sumbawa, Yayasan Plan International Indonesia is delivering WASH services and behaviour change education with disability inclusion at its core. YPII's project developed meaningful partnerships with OPDs from the outset of their Water for Women project which created an enabling environment to address accessibility at all levels. (Photo: Yayasan Plan International Indonesia)

Accessibility needs to be hardwired into water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and systems from the outset. It is too often considered (inappropriately) as an ‘add on’. Lately we have been reflecting more on the centrality of accessibility in enabling climate-resilient WASH. And even more so in response to this year's theme for the United Nation’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities — Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future. So today, we are sharing key areas for further attention to shift the dial on equitable development through leadership and accessibility in climate-resilient inclusive WASH.

Firstly, it is important to understand that we can’t have leadership of people with disabilities without accessibility. Accessibility creates the necessary conditions for people with disabilities to be able to participate and lead in determining our collective future. And at the same time, accessibility doesn’t happen without inclusive leadership. We need leaders who recognise the value of diverse members of the community and create the conditions necessary for their participation. The participation, and in fact, the leadership of people with disabilities in influencing WASH facilities, services, information and communications is also critical in ensuring these are all truly accessible. An inclusive and sustainable future requires accessibility, which relies on the leadership of people with disabilities alongside leaders without disabilities.

Water for Women committed to disability inclusion and accessible WASH from the very beginning, and considerable lessons have been learnt during the last seven years about hardwiring accessibility.

Removing barriers for equal access

Targets 1 and 2 of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) refer to “universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all”. However, there is not a consistent understanding across the development and humanitarian sectors of what ‘accessibility’, or ‘access by people with disabilities to WASH,’ means. Drawing from Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, accessibility can be interpreted within the WASH context to mean that appropriate measures are taken to ensure equal access by people with disabilities to WASH infrastructure, services, information and communications. It is important to note that the emphasis on measures being taken, in other words, the actions to remove barriers to facilitate equal access. The need to remove barriers is even more critical to respond to climate change and ensure the most marginalised people can access and participate in decision-making and leadership for climate-resilient WASH.

A woman is pushing a man in a wheelchair in a village in Vanuatu, noticeable in the background is a newly installed accessibility ramp to their latrine

Jule relies on his wheelchair for mobility and his wife Merelyn is his full time carer. With support from World Vision Vanuatu, Jule is now able to better access a latrine (World Vision Vanuatu)

World Vision Vanuatu’s Water for Women project is delivering WASH services and education initiatives in the remote communities of Sanma and Torba Provinces. In doing so, the team has taken care to reduce stigma and ensure community members consider the basic needs of people living with disabilities, as well as support them during times of climate-related disasters so that they are not left behind. The disability committee of Tanovusvus at South Santo area council has actively supported people living with disabilities in their communities by building improved latrines so they have accessible and improved sanitation facilities near their houses. This has helped improve the lives of people living with disabilities, and people with disabilities also report feeling seen and heard when participating in community activities.

Enabling accessibility: Think about not only physical accessibility in WASH programs, but also the invisible barriers for people with disabilities such as discriminatory norms that impact on their access to WASH services and facilities. Take a holistic view of accessibility to work towards reducing stigma and exclusionary practices in culturally appropriate ways that Do No Harm. Think about accessibility as an unrestricted chain of movement or a continuum in the use of WASH facilities and related services, rather than thinking solely about accessibility of certain pieces of WASH infrastructure. Remembering RECU^[1] can help with this way of thinking:

- Reaching a facility
- Entering a facility
- Circulating or moving around a facility
- Using specific features of a facility.

Transforming social norms to foster inclusive leadership

The implementation of accessibility is inextricably linked to a transformative approach to gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI). It requires a fundamental shift in social norms about the value of people with disabilities, their right to access WASH, and the contributions that they bring to the process and outcomes.

Water for Women projects have showcased the shift in mindset that can occur in response to training and steady support on disability inclusion. In Nepal, SNV undertook capacity building efforts with WASH stakeholders in collaboration with local disability partners. As a result, disability helpdesks were established by four rural municipalities in Sarlahi district. One of those rural municipalities decided to place the disability helpdesk on the ground floor and right at the front of the municipal building and Ward offices. The location of the disability helpdesk was selected by the municipality, in close consultation with the networks of people with disabilities for its accessibility and also to increase visibility of people with disabilities and demonstrate that they are a priority for the municipality. Additionally, the municipality developed Standard Operating Procedures to efficiently manage the helpdesk, leveraging the expertise of the networks to deliver accessible services to people with disabilities.

A woman sits at a disability helpdesk in Nepal

Disability Helpdesks serving the WASH needs of people with disabilities

Enabling accessibility: Take a multistakeholder approach to accessibility. Foster inclusive leadership that recognises the centrality of partnerships with Organisations of and for Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in creating more accessible environments. Simultaneously, build contractors’ and other stakeholders’ understanding of accessibility and disability inclusion. If we don’t, we risk the possibility of ‘inclusive’ designs that fall short due to accessibility considerations being ignored or not followed in construction.

Climate-resilient inclusive WASH is sustainable WASH

The most marginalised in communities are at the frontline of climate risk, uncertainties and impacts. Accessibility is critical to enabling climate-resilient inclusive WASH. When people with disabilities are able to access WASH, they are better able to claim other rights, participate in society and be resilient to climate change impacts. And when WASH infrastructure and services are accessible, they are also more sustainable. It is encouraging to see that recent guidance on inclusive WASH^[2] from the United Nations Office for Project Services highlights accessibility as one of five guiding principles and provides some ideas on how to apply accessibility and user-centric approaches. Reflecting on this year’s theme of ‘amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities’, accessibility is fundamental for people with disabilities to take up leadership opportunities. Accessibility is a precondition to meaningful decision-making processes, and the WASH and climate resilience sectors are critical in enabling this precondition.

In Yayasan Plan International Indonesia's Water for Women project, staff reflected on what works in progressing accessibility for people with disabilities. For them, developing meaningful partnerships with OPDs from the outset created an enabling environment to address accessibility. As a result, they developed a disability accessibility tool and guidelines to supplement the government’s accessibility guidelines and collaboratively undertook community climate risk assessments.

People with a disability practice the triggering process in the sub-district level after completing the training

Climate change within community WASH triggering & monitoring for people with a disability

Enabling accessibility: Utilise a universal design approach to maximise the accessibility and usability of new WASH infrastructure, services, information and communications. Universal design is an approach that relies on co-design with end-users so that products, environments, programs and services can be used by most people without the need for further adaptation. It deliberately facilitates the participation of marginalised groups, including people with disabilities, from the beginning of the process and helps to ensure that the design responds to the diversity of users for the long-term. This is fundamental for climate-resilient communities.

Accessibility Terms

Accessibility/Universal Accessibility: Ensuring persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public. Universal accessibility is used by the Fund to refer to the ability of all people (not just those with disabilities) to have equal opportunity and access to a facility, service or product irrespective of age, ability, gender, etc.

Inclusion/inclusive: Ensuring that all people including people with disabilities have the resources and opportunities to participate in and benefit from development on an equal basis with each other.

Universal design: It is recommended that measures to achieve accessibility in public spaces (e.g. schools, health centres, other public institutions or any information and communications for the public) apply the Principles of Universal Design. This set of seven principles can guide the design of products, services, or information and communications to be “accessible and usable by the majority of people without the need for adaptation by the user”. Application of the principles relies upon a process by which the full range of end users are included in the design, implementation, and evaluation process. Universal design is a key mechanism for facilitating participation of marginalised groups. A link to universal design principles can be found at the end of this blog.^[3]

Indicators for accessibility are vital

Indicators for accessibility and approaches to measuring accessibility vary widely due to different national definitions. The 2022 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) guidance update on WASH in Schools^[4] articulates this challenge and notes the gap in national monitoring systems for measuring usability as a hindrance to progressing access for all. It also highlights a promising shift by many education programs towards a universal design approach in an effort to maximise usability for all students. This leads to further questions among WASH practitioners on how to effectively measure and set indicators for accessibility and usability. Water for Women has an end-of-program-outcome on equitable access and use of WASH services and is conscious of the need to measure both.

The current JMP indicators for monitoring progress on WASH are global standards for the WASH sector and countries to follow. However, the indicators and core questions for schools place ‘accessibility to all users’ in the ‘Advanced service’ level of the service ladder for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. This can have the unintended effect of putting accessibility in the ‘let’s deal with it later’ category. Within JMP core questions for healthcare facilities, accessibility is referenced in ‘basic service’ of the service ladder but only for sanitation. And similarly in core questions for households, accessibility is an expanded question for sanitation only.

Enabling accessibility: WHO and UNICEF are currently reviewing the global JMP indicators to support efforts to monitor climate-resilient WASH at both global and national levels. It is prudent to reconsider accessibility within the JMP ladder and develop appropriate criteria for measuring universal accessibility and usability at schools and healthcare facilities. Given that accessibility can support the long-term usability of WASH for different ages and generations within a household, criteria for measuring accessibility for households should also be considered.

To support greater understanding of how accessibility can be measured, Water for Women has developed indicators with qualifying elements for measuring accessible WASH infrastructure within schools and healthcare facilities. These indicators are being used in Water for Women WASH projects across Asia and the Pacific. Water for Women’s indictors may support other WASH practitioners as well as the current JMP review. This along with other learning will be made available in a forthcoming guidance on disability inclusion for climate-resilient WASH.

A table of disability inclusive WASH indicators

New disability-inclusive WASH guidance from Water for Women

Water for Women is developing further guidance on accessibility in early 2025, based on learning from upcoming project evaluations. Make sure you subscribe to Water for Women updates to be the first to know when this guidance is released.

This insight was authored by CBM Inclusion Advisory Group's Teresa Lee and Aleisha Carroll and Water for Women's Jose Mott and Lee Leong

The views expressed in this article are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Water for Women, the Australian Government or our partners.

December 3rd is the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

This year's theme, 'Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future' conveys the centrality of people with disabilities in our ability to shift the dial on equitable development. Disability inclusion is a precondition for climate-resileint, inclusive WASH.

Across Asia and the Pacific, Water for Women partners are united in action for SDG 6 - safe water and sanitation for all - upon which all 17 goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development rely.

Working in partnership with Organisations of Persons for and with Disabilities, rights holder groups, communities, sector stakeholders and governments, our partners are accelerating access to climate-resilient, gender equitable and disability inclusive WASH services for all.

[1] Plantier-Royon, Eric, Priscille Geiser & Hugues Nouvellet Accessibility: How to design and promote an environment accessible to all , Policy Brief 2, Handicap International (now Humanity for Inclusion), 2009.

[2] A Soriano, S Gaikwad, S Stratton-Short, G Morgan, Guidelines for developing inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, United Nations Office for Project Services, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024.

[3] AusAID, Accessibility Design Guide: Universal design principles for Australia’s aid program, January 2013, Registration Number 13. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2014

[4] Joint Monitoring Program, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools: 2000-2021 data update (Section 3). New York, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO), 2022.

[5] Arnstein, S. R. A Ladder Of Citizen Participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), 216–224, 1969

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