ToolSanDurban
Policy Toolkit for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Durban, SA, through Sanitation (ToolSanDurban) is a joint project between UCL and eThekwini Municipality.
Policy Toolkit for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Durban, SA, through Sanitation (ToolSanDurban) is a joint project between University College London’s (UCL) Engineering for International Development Centre, the Bartlett School for Sustainable Construction, the Bartlett Development Planning Unit and eThekwini Municipality that aims to co-develop a policy toolkit to aid improved SDG monitoring and evaluation. By focusing on sanitation for all (SDG6), the project builds on the evidence review work already completed by UCL where it was found that sanitation had synergies with 130 SDG targets and was vital for achieving all 17 SDG Goals. The project is characterised by its interdisciplinary nature, with the project team contributing their experience and knowledge from a range of fields such as engineering, urban development planning, health and social science.
In the short term, ToolSanDurban aims to support eThekwini Municipality in becoming a pioneer in the process of localisation and implementation of SDGs in the Global South. ToolSanDurban will demonstrate the wide-ranging benefits of sanitation supporting current initiatives in the municipality. In the longer term the project aims to impact outcomes for sanitation policies in the city as the work to be undertaken aspires to influence thinking on how improved policies for sanitation can deliver benefits across the SDGs.
ToolSanDurban will provide the evidence base required to leverage larger grants for the development of a longer-term collaboration with the eThekwini SDG Contextualisation Committee for which discussions are ongoing with potential external funders. There is potential to transfer lessons from this project and outputs such as the toolkit to other municipalities in the region and also to other sectors such as water, health and energy. This work will further lay the foundation for co-creating an online SDG monitoring platform and tools for municipalities.
Funder details:
This project is funded by UCL Grand Challenges and the Global Engagement Office at UCL.
UCL Grand Challenges convenes and cultivates cross-disciplinary collaborations that explore interconnected solutions in six areas related to matters of pressing societal concern. Click here for more information.
The Global Engagement Office at UCL aims to increase UCL’s global impact and puts partnerships of equivalence at the heart of everything they do. Click here for more information.
ToolSanDurban
UCL Team Members
- Dr Priti Parikh
- Dr Pascale Hofmann
- Professor Monica Lakhanpaul
- Dr Luiza Campos
- Dr Ine Steenmans
- Dr Lucila Carbonell: As research associate for ToolSanDurban, Lucila has conducted an extensive evidence review focusing on Durban-centric sources to identify over 140 linkages between sanitation and the SDGs in the local context. In co-producing the policy toolkit, Lucila leads the fortnightly stakeholder consultation workshops, and is writing up the methodology - which has been adapted to include considerations that apply to the local context - and findings of the research.
Durban Team Members
- Dr Sandile Mbatha is the Senior Manager responsible for Research and Policy Advocacy in the Office of Strategic Management Department at eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa.
- Ms Nevana Srikissoon works at the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Unit and works on SDG indicators, implementation and monitoring.
- Mr Vishnu Mabeer works with the eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit on data and statistics.