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The Influence of the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Normative Content in Measuring the Level of Service

Author

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  • O. Flores Baquero

    (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
    Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC))

  • J. Gallego-Ayala

    (Water Regulatory Council of Mozambique)

  • R. Giné-Garriga

    (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
    Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC))

  • A. Jiménez-Fernández. Palencia

    (Stockholm International Water Institute)

  • A. Pérez-Foguet

    (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
    Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC))

Abstract

Human Rights to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) have been consolidated as relevant frameworks to measure different levels of services. It is essential to move forward with specific initiatives that interpret the content of these human rights and operationalize them through specific metrics. However, some critical issues emerge in attempting this. Different approaches are proposed in this article to tackle this challenge: (1) utilizing a participatory technique to discuss the relative importance of the normative criteria to define water and sanitation services, (2) defining a short list of key indicators to measure the different dimensions of HRWS, and (3) assessing the impact of different weighting systems in the constructing an aggregated index, which has been proposed as a useful tool to monitor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) from a rights perspective. Two municipalities (in Mozambique and Nicaragua) were selected as initial case studies. The results suggest that there is a common understanding among the experts about prioritization of the HRWS criteria. Differences in the relative importance given to the HRWS criteria can be explained due to the particularities of the local context. Further, the research suggests that expert opinions may be partially conditioned by targets and indicators proposed at the international level. Although the influence of weighting techniques on aggregated measures and their utilization in the decision-making process are limited, this methodology has a great potential for adapting specific WASH metrics to different regional, national, and/or local contexts taking into account the HRWS normative content.

Suggested Citation

  • O. Flores Baquero & J. Gallego-Ayala & R. Giné-Garriga & A. Jiménez-Fernández. Palencia & A. Pérez-Foguet, 2017. "The Influence of the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Normative Content in Measuring the Level of Service," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 763-786, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:133:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1374-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1374-6
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    2. Ricard Giné-Garriga and Agustí Pérez-Foguet, 2018. "Measuring Sanitation Poverty: A Multidimensional Measure to Assess Delivery of Sanitation and Hygiene Services at the Household Level," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp116.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    3. Alvaro Cavalcanti & Arthur Teixeira & Karen Pontes, 2019. "Regression Model to Evaluate the Impact of Basic Sanitation Services in Households and Schools on Child Mortality in the Municipalities of the State of Alagoas, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Demetrios E. Tsesmelis & Nikolaos A. Skondras & Syed Yasir Ahmad Khan & Elpida Kolokytha & Christos A. Karavitis, 2020. "Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Index: Development and Application to Measure WASH Service Levels in European Humanitarian Camps," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 34(8), pages 2449-2470, June.
    5. José A. Gómez-Limón & Manuel Arriaza & M. Dolores Guerrero-Baena, 2020. "Building a Composite Indicator to Measure Environmental Sustainability Using Alternative Weighting Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Ricard Giné‐Garriga & Agustí Pérez‐Foguet, 2019. "Monitoring and targeting the sanitation poor: A multidimensional approach," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 82-94, May.
    7. Matheus Pereira Libório & Oseias da Silva Martinuci & Sandro Laudares & Renata de Mello Lyrio & Alexei Manso Correa Machado & Patrícia Bernardes & Petr Ekel, 2020. "Measuring Intra-Urban Inequality with Structural Equation Modeling: A Theory-Grounded Indicator," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-18, October.

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