Sanitation
Markets
Quality
Research
Training and
Facilitation
Faecal Sludge
Management
Urban Sanitation
Planning
i-san

i-san stands for Integrated Sanitation Solutions for Urban Development and our approach to improving urban sanitation is to seek out interventions that address an array of technological, social, financial and governance issues, at local and national levels.

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The Challenge

The world is urbanizing rapidly. The number of people living in cities is projected to increase by 50 per cent from 4 to 6 billion between 2016 and 2045. Much of this growth is occurring in low-income and lower middle-income countries where expansion is unplanned, informal and takes place predominantly in peri-urban areas or at city fringes.

The UN estimates that currently 4.5 billion people in the world do not have access to safely managed sanitation. Governments in developing countries are struggling to provide functional sanitation infrastructure and service provision to their citizens. The results are a high number of people exposed to severe health and environmental risks because they are not served by the city’s sanitation systems.

The fundamental and persistent challenges in developing countries are weak or non-existent policies to guide development, lack of regulations and enforcement, fragmented institutional structures, insufficient human and financial capacity, weak frameworks for business development and limited political will. Additionally, for a long while the approach to sanitation was looked at as the provision of toilets rather than considering a systems approach, i.e toilets, collection & transport, treatment and reuse, and this has to change.

Approach

We approach the challenges in the sanitation sector through:

An enabling
environment

Improving the enabling environment

Developing informed policies, realistic regulations and enforcement mechanisms, supporting pro-poor financing, enhancing capacities of state and non-state actors, improving governance and developing a robust monitoring & evaluation mechanism

City-wide
Sanitation

Developing a systems approach to inclusive and city-wide sanitation

Pro-poor based planning and infrastructure provision across the sanitation chain focused around faecal sludge management

indulge in
innovation

Sustaining services to support sanitation

Supporting private sector involvement to improve service delivery, provide business incubation and innovate to enhance services

Our Services

i-san provides technical advisory, research and support services to public, private and third sector organisations. We specialise in integrated sanitation solutions for urban development in the Global South. We seek to improve organisational effectiveness and facilitate client learning through

Our Focal Areas

Faecal Sludge Management

  • Design of Freetown public toilets management system (WSUP Advisory)

  • Identifying Opportunities to Integrate FSM Into the Circular Economy (World Bank Water)

  • SFD for Freetown, Sierra Leone (WSUP)

  • Evaluating existing CBS solutions in order to assess their affordability, viability, reliability and effectiveness (World Bank)

  • Support to the Operationalization of the Freetown City Council Faecal Sludge Management Unit in Freetown, Sierra Leone (WSUP Advisory)

  • Promotion of the Shit Flow Diagram (SFD) approach in Africa (GIZ)

  • Diagnostics and Guidelines for Service Delivery in Poor Urban Areas. Providing subject matter expertise on urban sanitation markets

  • Project for the Structuring of the Faecal Sludge Management Market for the Benefit of Poor Households in Dakar Faecal Sludge Management

  • International Comparative Study of Institutional Models to support the development of Ghana’s proposed National Sanitation Authority (NSA)

  • Developing capacities of Ugandan state actors in Urban Sanitation Planning and Improvements

  • African Cities for the Future

Urban Sanitation Planning

  • Sustainable WASH Systems for Small Towns in Ethiopia (TetraTech)

  • Design and Implementation of Incusive City-wide Sanitation Plans in six Northern Ugandan towns (USAID GIZ)

  • Developing an urban sanitation up-scaling strategy in Uganda (GIZ)

  • Reviewing the District Planning Approch in Zambia (GIZ)

  • Strengthening of the Regulatory Environment – Improved Public Infrastructure for Faecal Sludge Management in Freetown (WSUP Advisory)

  • ACCESSanitation, Developing Inclusive City-wide Sanitation Plans for small/medium towns (ICLEI)

  • Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation Planning (EAWAG SANDEC)

  • Sanitation Technologies Costing tool (EAWAG SANDEC)

Sanitation Markets And Business Development

  • Market assessment for waste to resource business

  • Barriers and opportunities for sanitation SMEs: a study of the wider market system in Ghana

  • Development of strategy for sanitation marketing in Tajikistan

  • Study of the private markets for urban water and faecal sludge management services in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

  • West African Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Initiative

  • Designing low-cost, pre-cast, modular institutional toilets for schools and health centers

Behaviour Change Communication

  • Nutrition and WASH behaviours in North East Nigeria

  • Hygiene practices in Eastern DRC

Learning, Dialogue And Dissemenation

  • Sanitation Product System Documentation

  • BMGF MEDS Convening Series

  • Masters course for Water and Sanitation for Low-income Areas

Rural Sanitation

  • Scaling up Rural Sanitation and Water Supply Faecal Sludge Management (World Bank)

Where we have worked

We bring valuable professional experience from Asia, Africa and South America

Our Team

We are a multidisciplinary team of experts that find sanitation solutions

  • Prit Salian

    Ing.
  • Ed Ramsay

    Msc.
  • Adrien Mazeau

    Dr.
  • Joana Forte

    Dr. -Ing. Arquitecta

Some our funding members have on going other responsibilities and do not take on consultancy at the moment

Contact Us

If you would like to know more about our services or would like to partner with us, you can reach out to any one of the team via the team profile pages, or simply email

Work With Us

i-san is often looking for talented people to work with us. If you are interested please contact us for current opportunities.