Measuring empowerment in WASH
Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is critical for gender and social equality, including women’s empowerment. This is because in many low-and middle-income countries women do the majority of water collection and management work. Therefore, women are more prone to negative impacts, such as exposure to water-related disease, missed educational opportunities, and unrealised economic productivity. It is also important to consider
that some women may have less say in decision making about WASH services in their households and communities. Although gender disparities related to poor WASH services are well known, there is a lack of widely used quantitative indicators to monitor empowerment in the WASH sector.
Improved monitoring tools are key to ensuring that gender and social equality outcomes receive priority attention within policy and practice related to WASH. The Empowerment in WASH Index (EWI) is a new assessment and monitoring tool that aims to close the evidence gap on the links between WASH interventions and the empowerment and wellbeing of individuals. Challenges identified by EWI go beyond infrastructure-oriented solutions and address more structural (e.g. social norms, governance systems) changes. Thus, quantitative data collected with the EWI tool allows for more informed and equitable action planning of WASH interventions. This policy brief provides an overview and key findings of the EWI study in Asutifi North District, Ghana and presents recommendations drawn from dissemination workshops held at a District Level Learning Alliance Platform (DLLAP) at the Asutifi North District Assembly and a National Level Learning Alliance Platform in Accra.
Un indice pour mesurer l’influence des usagers de l’eau et de l’assainissement
L’accès à l’eau potable et aux services d’assainissement est promu comme un élément essentiel pour l’égalité des sexes et l’égalité sociale, y compris la capacité d’influence des femmes dans les décisions qui les concernent (en anglais, l’expression adoptée est « women empowerment »). En effet, dans de nombreux pays, la majorité des travaux de collecte et de gestion de l’eau à usage domestique sont effectués par des femmes. Ce travail a souvent des effets négatifs, notamment une plus grande exposition aux maladies liées à l’eau, des occasions d’éducation manquées et une productivité économique non réalisée.
Également, certaines femmes ont moins de poids dans les décisions liées à l’amélioration des services d’approvisionnement en eau potable, d’hygiène et d’assainissement (AEPHA), au sein de leurs ménages et communautés. Il est important d’y réfléchir afin de répondre à leurs besoins. Bien que les disparités entre les sexes liées aux problèmes d’approvisionnement en eau et d’assainissement soient bien connues, il n’existe aucun indicateur quantitatif permettant de surveiller l’influence, c’est-à-dire documenter la capacité des individus à influencer les décisions prises dans le secteur de l’eau et de l’assainissement.
Empowerment in WASH Index
This brief presents a new Empowerment in WASH Index (EWI) that is designed to measure empowerment in the WASH sector. We describe how the EWI tool is constructed using a series of indicators, and a case study applying the EWI in Burkina Faso.
Gender and WASH connections
Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by poor WASH services due to both social norms and biological factors. Gendered division of labour often means that women and girls conduct more WASH-related work, such as collecting water for the household, cleaning WASH facilities and caring for sick family members. These activities contribute to the burden of unpaid domestic work and are thought to limit time for income generation, education and leisure. Safe WASH services are also particularly critical for women and girls during menstruation, pregnancy and nursing.
Cash Transfers and Improved Water Access in Ghana’s Upper West Region
Water insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa significantly burdens women, impeding broader economic development. This brief demonstrates that Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program, through unconditional cash transfers, substantially alleviates household water insecurity and promotes investments in durable water storage infrastructure. This improves daily living, builds resilience, and yields cascading benefits in health, education, and productivity. Notably, integrating cash transfers with women-focused credit programs significantly enhances positive water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) outcomes. Our research shows LEAP cash transfers reduce Household Water Insecurity Experience (HWISE) scores by 6.21 points, decreasing anxiety and improving hygiene. Beneficiaries are also nearly five times more likely to own water-storage containers. Women’s participation in credit schemes further reduces water insecurity by 1.79 points and more than doubles container ownership. These findings highlight the profound power of integrating social protection with financial services for sustainable WASH benefits. Policymakers can leverage these synergies to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).
Promoting Water Security Through Social Protection: Insights from Ghana’s LEAP Program
Water insecurity continues to be a pressing issue, particularly among the most vulnerable populations, threatening both human health and well-being (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2021). Despite two decades of global water policy interventions, two billion people in the world still lack safely managed drinking water. Half of these individuals live in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (United Nations Children’s Fund [UN], 2021). To address these challenges, gender-sensitive programs like Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) are needed. The Government of Ghana implemented this social protection program in 2008. LEAP provides cash grants to vulnerable groups, promoting access to water, and helping people adopt coping strategies. This policy brief highlights the role of LEAP in promoting water access among its beneficiaries and the coping strategies they adopt to stay secure. The findings and policy recommendations presented here are based on data collected from LEAP beneficiaries in the Upper West Region (UWR).
Exploring barriers to gender transformative policymaking and programming in Ghana’s health and WASH sectors
Ghana has made notable progress in advancing gender equality through constitutional commitments and sector-specific initiatives in health and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene). Programs such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, Community Water and Sanitation Program, and Community-Based Health Planning and Services have improved access to healthcare and sanitation for women. However, persistent barriers hinder the realization of gender-transformative policies.
Key challenges include entrenched socio-cultural norms that restrict women’s participation, underrepresentation of women in leadership and policymaking, bureaucratic inefficiencies that slow implementation, and insufficient financial resources. These barriers disproportionately affect rural women and girls, limiting their access to essential health and sanitation services.
To address these gaps, the brief recommends strengthening monitoring and evaluation frameworks, tailoring programs to rural contexts, ensuring adequate funding, promoting inclusive community engagement, increasing awareness and education to shift harmful gender norms, and adopting bottom-up approaches that integrate local perspectives into decision-making.
Sustained investment, advocacy, and inclusion of women in leadership roles are critical to advancing gender equity in Ghana’s health and WASH sectors.