Good Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Service Delivery for and with Adolescents and Young People in Sub-Saharan African Cities to Build Better Futures and Nurture Hope

In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescents and young people (AYP, aged 10 to 24 years), who form most of the population in cities, grow up managing their wellbeing by navigating the interface of formal and informal systems that provide water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed WASH service delivery needs with emerging socio-political action, often led by AYP, expressing and protecting service delivery needs.

Working with AYP and local WASH stakeholders, this interdisciplinary study builds on pre-existing research conducted in the contrasting cities of Lusaka and Cape Town, applying the theoretical concepts of stability, open/closed urban systems, and hope, to address WASH governance for AYP.

Participatory analysis and fieldwork will also carve out a co-created development space with and for AYP, identifying strategies for engaging AYP in WASH governance issues and promoting this involvement as core to ‘good cities’ that offer young people hope.

Professor Virginia Bond, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine