SDG-6 in India: Challenges and innovation for sustainable sanitation

Author(s): Manjari Manisha

Working Paper No.: 2018-05

Keywords: Sanitation, sustainable, health, innovation, social innovation

Inadequate sanitation remains a big challenge in India and has a multidimensional negative impact on children’s health, education for girls, the environment, social dignity and national as well as individual economic growth. Sustainability is one of the key features to win universal access of sanitation that has social, technical, financial and institutional challenges at every step of the way. Unfolding the background of sustainability with allusion to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by studying and analyzing the current situations in India, this paper systematically explores the multidimensional impact of inadequate sanitation, the structural and functional challenges that may hamper the expected outcomes of Sustainable Development Goal-6 and attempts to propose a theoretical framework to represent pathways of sustainability and answer the challenges of sustainable sanitation with the lens of the innovation system, and put forward recommendations with practically achievable solutions useful for government, policy making agencies and private sector practitioners. Increased sanitation coverage will have significant positive spillovers on many of the other SDGs and targets.

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