Vulnerability in the sanitation service chain: lessons from the SPLASH urban sanitation research programme

The European Union Water Initiative Research Area Network (EUWI ERA-net, or SPLASH) is a consortium of 16 organizations representing government ministries, funding agencies, national research institutions and technology development authorities from 11 European countries. The main objective of the urban sanitation research programme within SPLASH has been to contribute to the understanding and implementation of at-scale sustainable sanitation service chains in low-income urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The overall findings from the SPLASH sanitation research programme can be viewed through four lenses: the enabling environment, demand creation, vulnerability in the service chain and city wide planning. This paper presents the key findings related to vulnerabilities in the sanitation service chain, which were found to relate to both internal and external vulnerabilities. With greater understanding of these vulnerabilities and how they operate within a particular city context, they can be addressed in a more systematic way as part of city-wide sanitation service improvements.