Introduction to livelihoods, water and sanitation
One point two billion people across the world lack adequate access to safe water. The UN’s Human Development Report (2006) states that insufficient access to clean water and sanitation is responsible for 2 million children’s deaths each year. People need water for a range of activities vital for their livelihoods including:
- domestic uses such as sanitation, washing, cooking and drinking
- productive uses for agriculture, livestock husbandry, vegetable gardening and other enterprises, such as brick making.
The use of water is highly gendered: every day millions of women and young girls spend hours collecting water for household needs, at the cost of education or other productive activities.
Livelihoods approaches have helped to broaden the focus of the water and sanitation sector. Rather than focusing purely on water for domestic uses and health impacts, there is greater recognition of households’ own demands and priorities and the importance of water for productive uses. Given the different vulnerability contexts and shocks that people face, a range of interventions is advocated according to different situations. Understanding the role of water within wider livelihood strategies is vital, and should inform the design of any relevant programmes and policies.
This section addresses the linkages between livelihoods, water and sanitation, including ways in which livelihoods approaches can offer insights into the water and sanitation sector. Recommended readings are provided; as well as latest additions to offer a regularly updated list of relevant documents.
Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a particular approach to sanitation that draws heavily on the principles of sustainable livelihoods approaches. More information and resources on CLTS can be found here.
Recommended reading
- Secure water?: poverty, livelihoods and demand-responsive approaches
- ( Overseas Development Institute, London , 2008)
- This article conceptualises a methodological framework called Secure Water Assessment (SWA) which offers a way of thinking through the complex and multiple linkages between water, poverty and liveliho...
- The productive use of domestic water supplies: how water supplies can play a wider role in livelihood improvement and poverty reduction
- ( P. Moriarty;J. Butterworth / IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre , 2008)
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Contrary to the beliefs of many planners and engineers, large quantities of any 'domestic' water supply are used for 'non-domestic' productive purposes. People do not just drink water, or use it to...
- Integrating 'livelihoods' into integrated water resources management: taking the integration paradigm to its logical next step for developing countries
- ( D., J. Merrey;P. Drechsel;F., W., T. Penning de Vries / Southern African Regional Poverty Network , 2007)
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Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is now the dominant paradigm for water management in both rich and poor countries. This paper examines the weaknesses in the current understanding of IW...
- Securing water to enhance local livelihoods: guidelines for implementing a water and livelihoods planning process
- ( Natural Resources Institute, UK , 2004)
- This file, designed for water sector and rural development practitioners, contains detailed guidelines for implementing a water and livelihoods planning process. Securing water to enhance local liveli...
- Water and the rural poor: interventions for improving livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa
- ( Land and Water Development Division, FAO , 2008)
- Insecure access to water for consumption and productive uses is a major constraint on poverty reduction in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. This publication addresses the linkage between water and r...
