A closer look at the sanitation ladder: issues of monitoring the sector

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) reports progress in sanitation by looking at the use of a set of pre-defined sanitation technologies. A technology-based approach offers several advantages, but it does not effectively deal with such problems as hygienic conditions of infrastructure and equity. In this study the monitoring strategy employed by the JMP is reviewed with reference to experience in Ethiopia and Tanzania. Although findings may not accurately represent the complexity of the sanitation status worldwide, a comparison of the two cases shows that many of the issues to effective monitoring are generic. On the basis of this analysis, two recommendations are identified for further study: (i) to extend list of criteria when assessing improved sanitation by considering aspects related with hygienic condition of the latrine; and (ii) to review and validate those aspects that prevent shared latrines from counting towards improved sanitation.