Social Network Analysis for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): Application in Governance of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment in India Using a Novel Validation Methodology

Frontiers in Environmental Science

Manuel Fischer¹  Christoph Lüthi²  Abishek Sankara Narayan³ 

[1] Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland;Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dubendorf, Switzerland;Institute of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland;

关键词: social network analysis;    validation methodology;    decentralized wastewater treatment;    mega and secondary cities;    citywide inclusive sanitation;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fenvs.2019.00198

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Social network analysis (SNA) is a versatile and increasingly popular methodological tool to understand structures of relationships between actors involved in governance situations. Given the complexity of the set of stakeholders involved in the governance of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and the diversity of their interests, this article proposes SNA to the WASH sector. The use of SNA as an appropriate diagnostic tool for planning Citywide Inclusive Sanitation is explored. Missing data is a major problem for SNA in the studies of governance situations, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, a novel validation methodology for incomplete SNA data, relying on information from internal and external experts is proposed. SNA and the validation method is then applied to study the governance of decentralized wastewater treatment in four cities of India. The results corroborate key differences between mega and secondary cities in terms of institutions, community engagement and overall sanitation situation including aspects of decentralized wastewater treatment plants, based on the city types.

【 授权许可】

Unknown