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Dr Rathelot receives ESRC funding to research improving sanitation in poor urban settings

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Dr Rathelot receives ESRC funding to research improving sanitation in poor urban settings

Dr Roland Rathelot was recently the recipient of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Transformative Grant.

The funding will be used to research how to promote the purchase and the use of improved sanitation solutions in poor urban settings.

The project, entitled ‘Networks, Externalities and the Adoption of Improved Sanitation Solutions in Urban Slums’, is addressing the problem that even when charities and NGOs invest in better sanitation solutions, the uptake is often lower than expected or hoped.

About the project, Dr Rathelot said:

“We will be working in a neighbourhood of Lusaka, Zambia, and run a large-scale randomised experiment to measure the impact of subsidies and credit on the adoption of a bundle pour-flush latrine/septic tank.

In a second stage, we will investigate whether and how adoption spreads in the district, for example are you more likely to adopt it if your friends did?”