Integrating climate resilience into sanitation programming in Bangladesh

This field note shares an innovation in UNICEF's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programming, detailing its experience implementing this innovation in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change and extreme climate events. The Global Climate Risk Index ranks Bangladesh as the seventh most affected country in the world from extreme weather events between 2000 and 2019.

To reduce the impacts of climate change on sanitation services in the country, UNICEF Bangladesh mainstreamed climate change into its sanitation programming through three linked strategies:

1. creating demand for climate-resilient sanitation in the ongoing CATS/CLTS1 programme;
2. promoting and expanding the supply and installation of climate-resilient sanitation designs and products through sanitation marketing; and
3. providing climate-resilient sanitation services with a focus on constructing flood-resilient latrines in vulnerable areas. In 2021, UNICEF Bangladesh supported 529,000 people with access to climate-resilient sanitation services using these three strategies.