General Emergency

Humanitarians increasingly view market-based programming (MBP) and cash-transfer programming (CTP) as an effective response to address humanitarian needs of affected people. This is particularly reflected in the cash commitments made under the Grand Bargain of the World Humanitarian Summit. The humanitarian WASH sector is still in its early stages of integrating MBP/CTP as a standard practice.

Engagement with market actors is increasingly being recognised to be a key part of humanitarian programming as these actors are well positioned to provide services and distribute commodities to affected communities. At the same time, cash transfers are becoming more widely utilised to enable these same communities to access markets of goods and services that they urgently need during and after an emergency. To enable programmes to monitor their market based WASH programmes better a generic Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) framework has been developed.

This report is based on a desk-based review of secondary data, comprising published material as well as grey literature, supplemented with key informant interviews for programmes that lacked documentation. Section One summarises the current use of CBI in WASH programming in refugee contexts. Section Two summarises the best practices and lessons learned including challenges faced, drawing on evidence from the project examples found. Section Three provides recommendations and best practice guidance for use of CBI in refugee settings.

Chlorine tablets are often a good choice for water treatment in emergencies because they are widely available, cost-effective, easily transported, and simple to use. However, the availability of multiple tablet sizes in an emergency can result in users treating their water improperly, and some doses may be unpalatable to users. This document provides tools to assess water needs in an emergency and make a recommendation for the best chlorine tablet to avoid confusion and provide water that users will accept.

This guidance document for supporting people with incontinence in humanitarian and low- and middle- income contexts (LMICs), has been developed by an informal group of professionals interested in incontinence in humanitarian and development contexts. Members have recognised that people who experience incontinence face many challenges that can significantly affect their quality of life, and that of  their family members.

Since its relatively recent creation in 2010, the Save the Children (SC) Humanitarian WASH team has steadily increased its integrated support to other SC sectors’ outcomes. In 2017-2018 SC implemented 168 humanitarian WASH interventions across 30 countries. These interventions reached 8 million beneficiaries for an overall global humanitarian WASH portfolio of roughly $80m USD.

Providing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to emergency-affected populations is necessary for dignity and
disease control. Coordination, via the ‘cluster approach’, is key to WASH program success. We summarized the
outcomes and impacts of WASH cluster coordination using a mixed-methods approach, including literature review,
summary of UNICEF documents, and key informant interviews with experienced cluster staff. Across these three
data sets, consistent themes were identified, including: the cluster approach as a cost-effective ‘best-fit’ model that

Legal principles and moral obligations that guarantee the basic needs of people living in humanitarian crisis situations (HCSs) predate inclusive development (ID). This review of the scholarly literature on access to water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) in HCSs links: (a) legal principles and moral obligations for WASH in HCSs, (b) technological, assessment and participatory instruments for WASH provision in HCSs, and (c) the social, relational and environmental dimensions of ID.

The use of cash transfers and market based programming (CT/MBP) to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of emergency responses is gaining prominence in the humanitarian sector. However, there is a lack of existing indicators and methodologies to monitor activities designed to strengthen water and sanitation (WaSH) markets. Gender and vulnerability markers to measure the impact of such activities on different stakeholders is also missing.

The purpose of this document is to provide practical guidance in preparedness, assessment, program design, implementation and monitoring related to Market-Based Programming (MBP) in humanitarian WASH assistance, and more specifically on:
     • How to identify linkages between markets and WASH services & goods;
     • How market based programming can complement and improve WASH programming;
     • How to conduct a WASH market assessment;