Dear SuSanA Forum Users,

The SFD Promotion Initiative (SFD PI) ( sfd.susana.org) would like to update you on our most recent activities and news.

Events Reports

The SFD PI team were at Loughborough University, England in July attending the 40th WEDC International Conference. We would like to say a special thank you to all those who joined us at any of our events and workshops. SFDs featured throughout the week and some highlights included:

• The Translating Sanitation Tool Results to Policy side event co-hosted by the Center for Science and Environment
• Isabel Blackett, Peter Hawkins and Rebecca Scott’s capacity development workshop on City-wide Sanitation Advocacy and Planning: tools for FSM diagnostics and project planning
• The SFD PI’s capacity development workshop on how to create your own SFD

Photo 1: WEDC Conference Participants in the make your own SFD workshop present the SFD they developed through the group exercise (Photo credit: Rod Shaw, WEDC).

Resources Updates

Latest SFD Graphic Generator: We are happy to announce that the latest version of the SFD Graphic Generator is now available both online and offline. This version is ready for download and comes with a feature that allows you to keep working on and save your SFD even when you aren’t connected to the web. You can find the download link here .
The online Graphic Generator is available here .

Revised SFD Manual (How to make an SFD): Version 2.0 of the SFD Manual Volumes 1 and 2 was launched at the WEDC conference and is now available online in the SFD toolbox. Alongside the release, the SFD Report Template has been updated to align with the changes in the Manual and features a new context-adapted SFD option. sfd.susana.org/toolbox/how-to-make-a-sfd

SFDs Worldwide

Reports from Ethiopia and Tanzania

Barbara and Oscar from the University of Leeds were in Ethiopia from June 18-28 to develop two capacity development workshops. Working in collaboration with WaterAid Ethiopia and Yorkshire Water, they are supporting the development of a faecal sludge management (FSM) plan for 20 Ethiopian cities. The workshops focused on exploring local contexts and challenges to FSM, sharing global experiences of FSM and the SFD tool to develop a Sanitation Business Plans (SBPs). They also held a national advocacy and influencing meeting and a high-level meeting with a representative of the Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Electricity in Addis Ababa.


Photo 2: Capacity Workshop in Bahir Dar with WaterAid Ethiopia and Yorkshire Water (Photo credit: Mr. Haile Dinku, WaterAid Ethiopia)

Oscar was also in Babati, Tanzania developing an Initial SFD and setting the first steps to develop a sanitation business plan for the city. An immediate action plan was developed which outlined five key measures that need to be prioritized. There is also a proposal for a three-day capacity development workshop to strengthen the commitment at the city level to improve the sanitation situation.

Report from Bolivia

Cecilia, from GIZ, travelled to Bolivia , to build capacities for preparing SFDs. She introduced the approach to key stakeholders and together with GIZ local staff have prepared an SFD for Tarija. Another three SFDs are planned to be used to improve coordination between actors in the delivery of sanitation services. On the occasion, key supporting documents for the preparation of SFDs were translated into Spanish including the SFD Graphic , the selection grid and a presentation which altogether can provide guidance in Spanish on how to make an SFD. Additionally, in partnership with AGUATUYA, an NGO based in Cochabamba, she introduced the SFD approach and the available tools to SuSanA partner organizations in the region... The translated documents are available in draft formats and can be requested at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Report from Zambia

In July, Prit Salian and Dominik Giese, consultants on behalf of GIZ, have delivered a training for the development of SFDs in Zambia. The activities were carried out in cooperation with the GIZ bilateral programme in Zambia in the context of district sanitation planning. A two-day workshop was organized in Chipata with active participation from local government (Mayor of Chipata City, Town Clerk and four other representatives of the Chipata City Council), representatives of local NGOs, representatives from Ministry of Health, General Education and Forestry. The response towards the SFD presentation was positive with many questions being asked on the use and relevance of the concept in gaining political support at the local level, its use as a framework for data collection on faecal sludge management and establishing a baseline leading to situational analysis.


Photo 3: District Planning Workshop in Chipata, Zambia (Photo credit GFA, GIZ water programme Zambia)

Report from India

Today, CSE in India launched an online course on Faecal Sludge Management that has attracted over 45 participants, 50 percent of which come from Government. Participants on this course will complete a module that is based on SFDs.

Upcoming!

Did you miss us at the WEDC International Conference? Well not to worry, the SFD PI will be at the SuSanA booth (No.44) during the Stockholm World Water Week between 27th August and 1st September in Stockholm, Sweden. If you are interested in finding out more about SFDs and SuSanA then we hope to see you there!

Recent experiences with SFDs will also be presented in the sessions:

26 August; Saturday at 25th SuSanA Meeting (SEI) – this meeting will be streamed
SFDs in the context of local realities and processes, input by Peter Hawkins. Meeting Agenda

27 August; Sunday at SWWW
Safely managed sanitation in small towns: lessons from recent experiences - 14.00-15.30 | Room: FH 307
Safely managed sanitation in small towns : key challenges under scrutiny - 16.00-17.30 | Room: FH 307

28 August: Monday
Operationalizing citywide inclusive sanitation: Right tools? Right use? - 16:00 – 17:30 | Room: NL Music Hall / Musiksalen

For more information on the conference please visit: www.worldwaterweek.org/

Any other business

Peter Hawkins is involved in some interesting work that is looking at how the concept of SFDs could be extended to map pathogen flows. The work is being led by the Institute for Sustainable Futures in Australia and members include SNV, University of North Carolina, University of Leeds, University of Technology Sydney (ISF), Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, World Health Organization and Emory University. These ideas will be discussed in the "Operationalizing citywide inclusive sanitation: Right tools? Right use?" event at SIWI (see above).

You can also follow our latest news on Twitter @SFD_PI
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Kind regards
Angus

Dear SuSanA Forum Users,

The SFD Promotion Initiative (SFD PI) would like to update you on our most recent activities and news.

Event reports

The SFD PI team were in Chennai, India in February attending FSM4. We would like to say a special thank you to all those who joined us at our workshop. It was encouraging to see so many SFDs in posters and presentations. Check out the SFD PI presentations from Barbara Evans on the Lessons learned from developing SFDs at scale and from Suresh Rohilla on Institutional Capacity Building of Ganga Basin Cities on the FSM4 website . Be sure to have a look at the compilation of case studies that is available on that website, in which SFDs have also been used.




University of Leeds supported a workshop in Nairobi on May 5th where[/instagram] the new SFD graphic generator was used in an interactive workshop with 30 people from Nairobi City Water, the County Government, Civil Society and Private Sector and a first draft of an SFD Graphic was produced for the city using the new generator. This was very successful. There will now be a three month consultation period, with two consultants provided by African Population and Health Research Council (with funding from BMGF) and Sanergy supporting the preparation of a full SFD including a Service Delivery Assessment. University of Leeds will continue to back stop this process.

Resources Updates

We are happy to announce that our first set of FAQs has been successfully uploaded to the SFD portal. You can visit the page at sfd.susana.org/faq to find out what people have been asking us about SFDs!

The SFD PI has developed a review procedure with the aim of ensuring transparency and credibility of SFD Reports by evaluating the credibility of the sources used to develop the report. This process will allow authors to have their SFD Reports reviewed as a prerequisite for publishing the report to the SFD web portal. The document has been compiled and can be found in the SFD toolbox .

Upcoming!

In May/June Oscar Veses will be in Babati, Tanzania to help prepare an SFD as part of a DFID SHARE research activity looking at sustainable urban sanitation, in partnership with WaterAid. After that he will travel to Kafue in Zambia to support them in preparing an SFD as a tool to explore equity and effective services as part of a REACH research initiative funded by the DFID REACH project in partnership with LSHTM.

In June UofL will support a series of capacity building workshops in Ethiopia in partnership with WaterAid and Yorkshire Water, working with secondary towns to review SFD reports and develop action plans for follow up improvements in service delivery. This will culminate in a national workshop in Addis Ababa. UofL will coordinate with Christ Heymans at the World Bank to see if this can contribute to the ongoing World Bank support to cities.

Version 2.0 of the SFD Graphic generator is now complete and will be made available online in the coming weeks.

We anticipate 5 new SFD Reports to be published on our website soon.

The SFD PI has been working hard to improve and update the SFD manual and a new version is close to finalization. This will soon be made available on the SFD portal.

Did you miss us at FSM4? Well not to worry, we’ll be hosting a Capacity Development Workshop at the 40th WEDC Conference in Loughborough, England on the 28th of July and hope you can make it! For more information on the conference please visit: wedc.lboro.ac.uk/conference/40/ .

Other Stuff

We are sad to announce the departure of Claire Furlong as part of the SFD PI team. Her contributions have been a great benefit to this team and, undeniably, she will be deeply missed here. We wish her all the best with her work at UNESCO-IHE!

Are you interested in joining the SFD PI team? WEDC are currently accepting applications for the position of Research Associate in Urban Sanitation. More information can be found here: forum.susana.org/20-jobs-consultancies-i...orough-university-uk .

You can also follow our latest news on Twitter @SFD_PI
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kind regards

Angus

Dear SuSanA Forum Users,
The SFD PI (sfd.susana.org/) would like to wish SuSanA a Happy 10th Birthday and to update you on our recent activities and news.

Join us at FSM 4!
The SFD PI team will be in Chennai, India for FSM 4, please come and join us at one of our events.






SFDs in the News
SFDs are mainstreaming in India! Two articles have been published that use and mention SFD in relation to faecal sludge management. The first article was in the Down To Earth magazine and highlights faecal sludge management in the towns and cities on the River Ganges www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/blind-sp...n-namami-gange-56619 .
The second was in the Times of India and illustrates the use of SFDs as an advocacy tools blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-ed...-the-waste-business/

Resources Updates
Our new Graphics Generator is now online sfd.susana.org/data-to-graphic and short tutorial on how to use it can be found here:



On the 18th January a SFD PI webinar was hosted by SuSanA. It included an update on our activities in India by Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla from CSE, a guided tour of the new Graphics Generator by Prof. Barbara Evans from the University of Leeds, and a review of our helpdesk by Dr Susanne Bieker from GIZ. This webinar can now be viewed:



New Reports
Three new SFD city reports have been published on our website:
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/49
Holleta, Ethiopia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/23
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/9

Other Stuff
Lara Fernandez Martinez an MSc student from the Water Engineering and Development Centre at Loughborough University (UK), successfully defended her thesis on “Using the Shit/Excreta Flow Diagrams (SFDs) - for modelling future scenarios in Kumasi, Ghana” www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2688

You can also follow our latest news on Twitter @SFD_PI
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kind regards

Claire

Dear Chris,
In my role as moderator:
I have fixed the 3 links now in Cecilia's post above. It's working now.

Reminder to all: please don't put a full stop at the end of your URL when it's the end of a sentence (rather put a gap and then the fullstop of the sentence) and do check any URLs that you've inserted after making your post. Thanks.


In my role as interested SuSanA member: I like the point you are making that using only two colours (red/green) in these SFDs is extremely simplistic. Using in-between colours would be really interesting, but I suspect that it goes against the philosophy of SFDs which are meant to be highly simplistic advocacy tools (perhaps saying that any form of treatment is - as a start - better than no form of treatment).

But I also get a stomach ache looking at these graphs that state "safely managed" and "unsafely managed"... very black and white. But this is just my personal opinion; I have my doubts about SFDs but I seem to be proven wrong as they seem to be popular with decision makers and lots and lots of people are now keen to produce them for their cities. So... as long as they serve a purpose for awareness raising perhaps that's all that matters for now. (?)


Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Cecilia,

Thanks for responding to my suggestions, but I would say that each remains standing and valid.

Unfortunately, none of the links you mentioned worked.

Almost all of the letters in the new graph are much too small and do not take advantage of the space that is available. I suggest that the words occupy the entire width of each stream. In that way, the most important streams are the easiest to read.

I know that the idea of these SFD graphs is to summarize the situation, but I consider that these can include more of the reality of the situation. Dividing everything between red and green makes for simple graphs, but reality is more complicated.

In particular, in these graphs, if wastewater gets any treatment, it gets a green arrow and everything looks beautiful, even though we know that most wastewater treatment in the world is deficient, especially with respect to pharmaceuticals. If sewers only transport feces to the rivers, this is nearly the same as open defecation. I would like to suggest that the arrows showing treatment and discharge not just be red or green, but instead the color can range between red and green according to percent efficiency of the treatment. These colors can be obtained easily in Excel with "conditional formatting".

I would be glad to help, if you like.

(By the way, your response did not come to my Inbox, for some reason. I was lucky to find it in the Daily Digest.)

Best wishes,
Chris

Dear Chris,

Thank you so much for taking the time to review and comment on our project and resources. I will try to answer your questions:

1. We have developed a new version of the SFD graphic which addresses some of your concerns about the layout and readability. The black ovals for example are gone and the diagram is simpler and easier to read. Since December, the graphics can be produced using the SFD Graphic Generator. You may like to look at this new version here: sfd.susana.org/data-to-graphic . Based on user feedback we may consider making this graphic editable so that users can adjust font sizes etc., so your feedback in this regard is very helpful.



2. We have invested a lot of time in discussing the terminology used, which is based on functionality, as we have found that terms are used interchangeably for systems that have a different functionality. We have therefore developed a glossary to aid people: sfd.susana.org/toolbox/how-to-make-a-sfd . This is currently under revision, as we want to address some of the new features from the Graphic Generator.

3. The naming of the water bodies could be added on the editable diagram, but you need to consider that there may be many water bodies in a town and city, which may diverge and converge so this could be confusing. The labels in the graphic are only there to give the reader a rough indication of how close the pollution source is to the majority of the population in the city. The real detail is contained in the report, which the graphic is embedded into. In the report, you can describe the context and outcomes of the service provision.

4. We are also looking into how we can incorporate recycling and reuse into our tools, currently our focus has been on piloting both the methods and tools. Some aspects of reuse are covered in the report.

5. How clean is the wastewater that is treated? Again this is another issue that we have been exploring. Generally we have had to estimate this due to a lack of monitoring and data. The assumption we make to draw the SFD are clearly stated and justified in the report. The SFD reports are intended to be the first step for understanding the sanitation situation in a city. From it and depending on the priorities locally defined, you will be able to identify the additional data to be collected and research to be conducted, i.e. water quality, treatment efficiency etc.

Many of your points highlight the importance of not viewing the SFD graphic alone, it should be viewed with the report or executive summary where it is embedded. Here you can find some reports available: sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide . The SFD shows the pathways taken by excreta in the city, but the details and assumptions are in the report.

We hope that helps!

Kind regards,
Cecilia.

Hi Everyone,

Congrats to all involved in this important SFD initiative.

Please allow me to make some constructive suggestions:
(1) I find most of the numbers to be too small. I would leave out the black ovals and make each percentage as big as will fit on the respective flow. I know this sounds nitpicky, but the idea is to impress, so this should be as impressive and easy to read as possible.
(2) For the same reason, I suggest making each bit of text as brief as possible. For example, one could say "Sewer" instead of "Off-site Sanitation" (which takes a while to decipher).
(3) It would be good to name the water bodies that receive the treated and untreated waste. This would link each SFD to the people who are affected downstream.
(4) It would also be excellent to indicate the percentages that get recycled productively and the techniques that get applied.
(5) Finally, to what degree does the wastewater get cleaned (taking into account pathogens, pharmaceuticals, etc.)?

I would be glad to help develop en example of such a format, if you like.

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday

Dear SuSanA Forum Users,

The SFD PI (sfd.susana.org/) would like to update you on our recent activities and news. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

News

The Manual for SFD Production has been online for one year and has been downloaded more than 2,000 times (sfd.susana.org/toolbox/how-to-make-a-sfd). If you have downloaded the manual, but have any questions please contact our Help Desk.

The SFD Help Desk has been operational since August 2017 and we have a team of experts ready to help you implement our methodology and answer any questions or queries. If you are a SuSanA member, you can log-in here: sfd.susana.org/toolbox/sfd-helpdesk; otherwise please contact our Help Desk via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Over 32 SFD PI city reports are now available on our website (sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide). These reports were produced using the methodology in the manual. They are now being downloaded and used as resources, our most popular city reports have been downloaded over 200 times each, they are:

1. Dar es Salaam (sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/43)
2. Kumasi (sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/14)
3. Agra (sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/18)
4. Moshi (sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/4)
5. Delhi (sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/50

Events Reports

The SFD team attended the Habitat III Conference in Quito which hosted over 30,000 urban specialists including policy-makers, students and civil society organizations. This gave us the opportunity to present the SFD approach to a broader audience during the ‘Data, Visualization & the City’ panel session. The team had time to reflect on the importance of visualizing excreta flows in cities. Our presentation from this event is available online: www.susana.org/files/SFD_Intro_Habitat_III_v2.pdf

The SFD PI conducted a Training of Trainers titled “Preparation of SFD” in New Delhi, India. The aim of the training was to build capacity in the sector and to highlight how SFD could be used, with a focus on septage management and the SDGs. This workshop was attended by 22 participants from national and international organisations. The four international participants were from Kenya Water Institute and Water Aid Bangladesh.

Additionally two regional meetings were held in India in Kerala and New Delhi. The aim these meetings were to sensitise local organisations in the use of SFD for advocacy. Over 100 participants attended these meetings from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and the Ganga basin. Participants from the 10 India cities that we developed SFD for in Phase 1 of our project also attended.

Resources Updates

An interview series that was recorded during the SFD Exchange Meeting in Stockholm is now available sfd.susana.org/resources/videos-sfd. Roland Schertenleib, Barbara Evans, Linda Strande, Mariska Ronteltap, Kim Anderson, Arne Panesar, Christine Moe, Graham Alabaster and Martin Gambrill discuss the history of this approach and how it has been used by different organisations.



Additionally the paper that was presented at the WEDC on the learnings from implementing the SFD PI process in Kumasi is now available on our website:
sfd.susana.org/resources/recommended-readings?details=2659

New Reports

Two new SFD city reports have been published on our website:
Bishoftu, Ethiopia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/28
Bure, Ethiopia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/24

Upcoming!

The SFD PI has been working on a new data to graphic converter. This tool will be soon available on the SFD Portal.

You get our latest news on Twitter @SFD_PI

Regards Claire

Events Reports
We held well attended SFD Exchange Meeting in Stockholm on Friday 26. The aim of the meeting was to bring organisations together so they could share learning, ideas and to engage with other organisations who are working in this field. You can see the feedback and conversations at #SFDexchange2016.This meeting stimulated lively debate and was streamed live, but if you missed this session you can have a look at the presentations and watch it on:

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0gMdVBup...s7cRd8ftyG073Bsi5Iof

Resources Updates
If you were unable to attend our SFD Capacity Development Workshop in Kumasi, the resources are not available online: sfd.susana.org/resources/presentations?details=2610.

At the moment our Help Desk is online and being tested, but if you require help to prepare your own SFD for a town or City, you can log in using your SuSanA credentials or contact us via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

New Reports
Five new final reports which have been published on our website:
Axum, Ethiopia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/70
Dhaka, Bangladesh sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/5
Hawassa, Ethiopia sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/13
Lima, Peru sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/54
Nakuru, Kenya sfd.susana.org/sfd-worldwide/cities/57

Other Stuff
Our reports are now being used as resources for other organisations, check out Water Aids Report on Kumasi www.wateraid.org/what-we-do/our-approach...7a-83d1-d444a42b16c8
You can also follow our latest news on Twitter @SFD_PI

Hello SFD'ers,

I envisage SFD's as being the first step of city sanitation planning process.

I can see that the SFD enables an overview of the amount of untreated shit going into the environment The next thing to do is to assess what are the environmental health risks / who is being affected etc. Then it becomes feasible to start to make a prioritized plan to do something about it.

This can be in addition to advocacy activities

Is this the sort of thing that is intended ?

I'm interested to know where this is all going

best regards,

Jonathan

Dear Cecilia,

I am interested how you made the SFDs. Do you use special software? Which one?
I would like to use it for my work as well. I am looking for something to visualize volume proportional flows.

Thank you!
milli

Hi, I am familiar with EFD's (aka SFD's.. OK don't start that one!) but I have been wanting to know more about how they will achieve the purpose to inform urban sanitation programming and how specifically what is the proposed approach to use them to engage city stakeholders in a coordinated dialogue about excreta management. There must be more to it than just presenting the diagram at a workshop and I am sure someone must be working on this part of the SDF initiative. But I don't know who, and I am interested to learn more. Jonathan