What does “quality” really mean in WASH programme delivery?

In emergency settings, the pressure to act fast is intense. But after more than two decades coordinating and leading WASH responses across Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Palestine, South Sudan, and beyond, I’ve learned that speed without quality rarely delivers lasting impact.

True quality in WASH is not just about meeting technical standards on paper. It is about three things working together:

• Community-centred approaches – Designing and delivering services with, not just for, the people who will use them. Hygiene promotion, behavioural change, and local ownership are as critical as infrastructure.
• Cost-effectiveness – Achieving the greatest possible reach and sustainability with limited resources. This means prioritising interventions that governments and communities can maintain, not just what looks impressive in a proposal.
• Balancing urgency with standards – Moving quickly in a crisis while still protecting dignity, safety, and long-term viability. Compromising too far on quality in the name of speed often creates bigger problems later.

I have seen many toilets turn into storerooms simply because the community was not involved, or because the quality of construction did not match their expectations. After contributing to the construction of over a million toilets and helping provide safe drinking water to more than a million people over the last 25 years, I feel strongly about this: any infrastructure we build must be grounded in genuine community engagement. We must empower communities, respect their demands, and actively promote ownership of the facilities.

In my experience coordinating multi-partner WASH clusters and leading large-scale responses, the programmes that performed best were those that kept communities at the centre, used resources wisely, and treated standards as non-negotiable even under pressure.

Quality is not a luxury in humanitarian or development WASH work. It is the foundation for both immediate impact and sustainable outcomes.

What does quality mean to you in WASH programme delivery?

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