Giving Compass' Take:

• Skoll discusses the progress made toward SDG 6: Ensuring availability and sustainable management of WASH for all, and finds that many urban areas around the world lack the infrastructure to reach people who need clean water the most.

• Governance, finance, and capacity development are identified as the key areas where gaps are prevalent. What can WASH-related nonprofits do to make sure systems are strengthened through these three components? 

• Find out why when it comes to WASH funding, there is a need for less data and more action.

What do you think of when you think about improving water and sanitation? No doubt the first thing that springs to mind is a tap; probably followed close after by a toilet.

These are the visible aspects of efforts to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” But they aren’t the most important aspects.

Without systems in place to manage water and sanitation services, clean water and safe sanitation cannot reach the people who need it most. And right now, there’s a lot of work to do to improve systems.

The UN’s High-Level Political Forum will convene in New York to assess progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. For SDG 6, discussion will revolve around how the world is well behind goals to meet targets. Of all the countries below 95 percent coverage in 2015, only one in five is on track to achieve basic water services for all by 2030. The picture is worse in sanitation, where only one in 10 countries below 95 percent coverage in 2015 is on track to achieve universal access.

This is a real problem because water and sanitation underpin so many other areas of development: health, education, employment, gender equality, and climate resilience.

In cities, where Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) focuses, inequality is a major issue, with many countries unable to implement policies that target the most vulnerable.

Given that cities and towns will be home to two-thirds of the world’s population by 2050, this rising inequality presents a particular concern. How can we improve systems in urban areas so that water and sanitation services can reach the poorest?

Read the full article about the challenges of urban water and sanitation by Neil Jeffery at Skoll.