Huge inequalities for young water and sanitation sector employees revealed

Research commissioned by AquaFed reveals a stark warning about the treatment of young potential and current employees, particularly in the global south.

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We have found a generation of young, bright, talented people with immense hunger to drive change, but they are being systemically let down. A lack of equal opportunities to enter the sector and little or no capacity among managers to nurture young people, seriously undermines the future sustainability of water and sanitation services.

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At all levels, the sector is genuinely making efforts to support young people, but the research shows the talking and platitudes have to stop, and that it is time for action.

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The research shows:

• Water supply and sanitation services are at risk because providers are failing to attract and leverage the potential of young people.

• Water supply and sanitation providers need to remove barriers to young professionals’ employment.

• The WSS sector is not providing enough training and development opportunities for young people.

• WSS service providers are not attracting the best young talent, and must do much more to appeal to young professionals.

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But there are also great examples of good practise and we have highlighted these in our summary.

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In the next phase of our work, we aim to produce practical guidance for utility and service managers to help overcome the issues in the report.

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The research was carried out for us independently by the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN).

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The summary of the research is in this Briefing Note. This is based on the results of two separate surveys – one for young people and the other for employers.