September 2024 Sanitation Workers Research Awards 2024- Meet the awardees
Touch (52), with her colleagues, unclog the sewer, Battambang province, Cambodia, March, 2022. Credit: WaterAid/ Dep Kimny
Introducing the distinguished recipients of the 2023 Sanitation Workers Research Awards! These awards, a partnership between the Initiative for Sanitation Workers and the esteemed Water and Health Institute at the UNC, hold a profound purpose: to ignite transformative research on the challenges and rights of sanitation workers.
Sanitation workers provide an indispensable public service, but they often do so at the expense of their own health and dignity, grappling with subpar working and living conditions, and job insecurity. Despite their pivotal role in delivering sanitation services, their fundamental rights to health, safety, and dignity frequently go underappreciated. A glaring gap exists in understanding their circumstances, challenges, and the mechanisms required to safeguard their rights. Research plays an indispensable role in shedding light on this issue, facilitating a more reflective comprehension, and paving the way for policies and initiatives that will enhance sanitation workers' working conditions and protect their rights.
To encourage research on this subject, The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, and the Initiative for Sanitation Workers (a joint global advocacy initiative by the International Labour Organisation, WaterAid, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation) are supporting the Sanitation Workers Research Awards. These prestigious awards are designed to recognize studies that exemplify excellence, relevance, and impact, and they are unveiled each year at the UNC Water and Health Conference
2024 Sanitation Workers Research Awardees- Best Published Paper
The awardee of the 2024 Sanitation Workers Research Awards, in the Best Published Paper category, is:
Tanvir Ahmed, Dewan Muhammad Shoaib, Kazy Farhat Tabassum, Mehedi Hasan, Fazle Sharior, Mahbubur Rahman, Makfie Farah, Md Azizur Rahman, Alauddin Ahmed, James B. Tidwell, Mahbub-Ul Alam, for their research paper
Evaluation of occupational health and safety intervention for the waste and sanitation workers in Bangladesh during COVID-19
2024 Sanitation Workers Research Awardees- Best Original Research Abstract
The awardees of the 2024 Sanitation Workers Research Awards, in the Best original research abstract category, are:
First place
Tazrina Habib Ananya, Afia Zahin Nita Hossain, Tanvir Ahmed, Michael Poustie, Mariam Zaqout, Dani Barrington, for their abstract
Unforeseen adverse outcomes associated with formalization of fecal sludge emptying services in municipalities of Bangladesh
Second place (ex aequo)
Hakimu Sseviiri, Irene Mutesi Nakayenga, Abubaker Semukoteka for their abstract
Analysis of Working Arrangements and Financial Conditions of Sanitation Workers in Kampala city, Uganda
Second place (ex aequo)
Rehema Nannozi, Claire Furlong, Folake Monsurat Babalola, Zahid Hayat Mahmud, Marij Zwart, Christine Maria Hooijmans for their abstract
Impact of faecal sludge emptying technology on the occupational health of humanitarian sanitation workers, Bangladesh
Second place (ex aequo)
Leunita Sumba, Caroline Kabaria, Ivy Chumo, Simon Thuo, Martha Keega, Sylvia Murunga, Elizabeth Wambui, Beatrice Langat, Blessing Mberu for their abstract
Strengthening Social Accountability for Improved Sanitation and Occupational health of Manual Pit Emptiers in Kenya