On World Toilet Day, we raise awareness of the value of safe sanitation for all. We can all recognize the importance of toilets for dignity, health, and safety. But less well known is how valuable…

Jennifer J. Sara, Ndeye Awa Diagne, Nishtha Mehta |

The future of the sanitation economy: Perspectives on World Toilet Day

Maria Angelica Sotomayor, Martin Gambrill |

Open defecation is the practice of people defecating outside, such as in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water. Between 2000 and 2017, the world nearly...

Haruna Kashiwase |

Also available in: Español More than two months have passed since the whirlwind that was Habitat III, the UN’s once-every-20-year summit on cities and urban development. From big data to climate…

Sameh Wahba, Sarah Xinyuan Lin |

Building earthquake-resistant housing in Peru. Photo: USAID/OFDA, Auriana Koutnik/Flickr When a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster strikes a poor country, families too often suffer a…

Luis Triveno, Niels Holm-Nielsen |

About this series More blog posts A few months ago, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador claimed hundreds of lives, left almost 28, 000 people injured, and caused $1 to 3 billion worth of damage…

Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Thomas Moullier |

Between 1977 and 1997, the World Bank supported “sites and services” projects in 27 cities across India A freshly-minted architect stood staring at a sea of toilets. Row after row of them, on…

Sumila Gulyani |

Within the next 30 years, urban populations in developing countries will double and UN-Habitat estimates that around 3 billion people will need housing and basic infrastructure. Already, 70% of…

Parul Agarwala, Syed Usman Javaid |

Many regions and countries face urbanization challenges, South Asia is no exception. Although the region is currently the least urbanized region in the world, its urbanization rate is on par with…

Judy Deng |

According to recent estimates, South Asia is facing a shortage of 38 million housing units, largely affecting low and middle-income households. It comes as no surprise that informal settlements,…

Parul Agarwala |