ODI theme pages highlight key narratives in international development and humanitarianism. To view some of our other theme pages, choose from the list below.
Our work is carried out within a number of programmes. If you are an individual or organisation wanting to work with ODI, visit the ODI Programme pages.
Water and sanitation are essential for human security and development and for pro-poor growth. Yet more than one billion people lack access to clean water, and 2.5 billion people lack access to proper sanitation. MDG7 requires a halving of the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation between 1990 and 2015. The world is just about on track for the water target, but sanitation remains the poor cousin, lagging behind in attention and funding. 2008, the International Year of Sanitation, aims to move this issue up the development agenda.
ODI believes that the achievement of the MDG7 targets for water and sanitation requires effective governance and sufficient resources, backed by social and political environments that enable progress. Its work in this area is led by the Water Policy Programme, which examines water and sanitation related resource management issues from a range of perspectives: governance, environment and poverty reduction.
