Research alternatives for the knowledge gap

The world may be headed for a perfect storm in the coming years that will stretch human ability to manage the combined pressures of population, climate change and unsustainable economic growth. Despite global progress in WASH significant poverty traps are likely to remain and may worsen in the mega-cities and rural remote areas. Least income Fragile and Conflict Affected States in Africa currently remain the areas of most concern. They exhibit the weakest service delivery pathways but are typically highly complex and challenging operational environments. Lack of hard data inhibits research in this area, which can result in major challenges for WASH programming. This paper presents analysis, reviews probabilistic methods for engineering, and presents a paradigmatic framework for research and knowledge generation, demonstrating that methods and tools exist to underpin judgments and decisions under uncertainty.