Linked to Sustainable Development Goal 3: Water and Sanitation
Water is a major concern all around the world. Three out of ten individuals are unable to wash their hands with soap and water, and 1.6 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
When the water is not clean, it poses a significant risk to children. Diarrhoea is very frequent, and many children die as a result of it. In reality, approximately 1000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by contaminated water.
When I saw the title of this article, it directly caught my eye. One of the things I have learned during this minor is that it's very hard to define a sustainable development goal as more important. In my point of view, all the sustainable development goals are linked with each other and keep each other in a vicious circle. When people have bad sanitation, they are at risk of not being in a good health. Diseases lead to less opportunities in work, education and income. This leads to poverty. Therefore I think it is good to mention the importance of water and sanitation in developing countries.
To summarize the article, I start with the first sentence: 'access to water and sanitation underpins every other issue of development in the world's poorest countries - from improving access to education to tackling disease, eradicating hunger to promoting gender equality'. Children and teachers are frequently ill from diseases related to dirty water and poor sanitation. Ofcourse, if a child goes to school this will lead to better future employment and economic opportunities. But I agree, if a child is too sick to attend school, too busy with collecting water or teachers refuse to work because water / sanitation facilities are poor, then the child will not receive education either.
A World Bank study in Bangladesh found a 15% increase in school attendance when water-hauling time was reduced.
The article also illustrates that donor governments and donor agencies like the World Bank, do not prioritize clean water and sanitation, which makes other development spendings ineffective.
To summarize: I totally agree with the fact that investment in water and sanitation should be more a priority within development aid. It brings many advantages like less diseases and more children attending school. Referring back to the title, I don't think you can choose the sustainable development goal of water and sanitation over the sustainable development goal of education. Yet again I think they rely and depend on each other, and are both very important to achieve development. Furthermore, there are circumstances that need to be addressed. In rural villages, women must walk long distances and sometimes even multiple times per day to get fresh and clean water. If you make a water access point in the village, women have more time to work in the garden or go to school.
This seems beneficial, but we have learned during the course that this brings certain downsides. Women are much more at home, which can lead to friction with the husbands. Violence within households happens much more frequently because the women don't need to walk hours anymore to get water. Abuse and (sexual) violence lead to more gender inequality and negative consequences in society.
Despite this given fact, I do agree with the article that projects surrounding water and sanitation should get more attention.
What do you think? Should development aid invest more in water and sanitation projects or education projects?
Hi Femke, I read this blog and it looks very well written, I think if there is good education and maybe a basic knowledge of sanitation that would be the way to go. Of course one sustainable development goal shouldn't be more important then the other I think. But my guess is when there is more investment for education purposes sanitation will follow because you can also educate how to apply sanitation themselves and you can learn locals how to create such sanitation projects.