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A Framework to Assess and Monitor Human Rights to Water and Sanitation at the Municipal Scale: A Study case in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region

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Abstract

With the aim of contributing to the development of indicators for the evaluation and monitoring of the realization of the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation (HRtWS) at a municipal scale, an analysis of the experience gained in the municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brazil) is presented. By applying international guidelines and recommendations at the municipal level, a system of indicators and indices was developed focusing on the dimensions of the normative content of both rights, which can be addressed with quantitative measures—availability, physical accessibility, affordability and quality/safety—as well as the principle of equality and non-discrimination in access to rights. The indicators were aggregated into indices, which showed adequate for monitoring the HRtWS in municipalities, making it possible to analyze the progressive realization of rights. The system can be utilized by municipal and regional management as a useful tool for establishing sectoral and spatial priorities for governmental actions that promote the implementation of HRtWS.

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Notes

  1. Safely managed drinking water services are those that provide drinking water from an improved source that is accessible on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. Safely managed sanitation services are characterized by the use of improved facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or removed and treated off-site (JMP, 2021 op. cit).

  2. JMP: Joint Monitoring Programme; GLAAS: UN Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water.

  3. From 2015 to 2016, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ-MG) developed the research project “Post-2015 Global Agenda and the Right to Water and Sanitation in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte”, which gave rise to another project, called “Construction of a social indicators system for the evaluation and monitoring of the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte” (2017–2019), addressed in this article.

  4. There is no information available for the rural population regarding sewage collection.

  5. Demographic Census (IBGE); Pesquisa Nacional de Saneamento Básico (IBGE); Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE); Sistema Nacional de Informações sobre Saneamento (SNIS); Sistema Estadual de Informações sobre Saneamento (SEIS); Atlas – Abastecimento Urbano de Água (ANA); Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde (DATASUS); SISÁGUA—Sistema de Informação de Vigilância da Qualidade da Água para Consumo Humano (Ministry of Health).

  6. In both periods, the indicators with the greatest weight were those referring to the access of population subgroups to the general water distribution network and the indicator referring to the “difference between the proportion of the population with at least complete primary education and the population with fundamental incomplete access to the general water distribution network”.

  7. https://infosanbas.org.br/estudos/direitos-humanos-a-agua-e-ao-esgotamento-sanitario-na-regiao-metropolitana-de-bh/introducao/

  8. Portal InfoSanbas: https://infosanbas.org.br – Collaborative tool for studying and creating visual representations for data (graphs and maps) related to basic sanitation in Brazil.

  9. http://www.agenciarmbh.mg.gov.br/estudos-sobre-a-rmbh/

  10. Local agents and actors participating in the Workshop: Secretaria de Planejamento da Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte (PBH); Secretaria de Saúde da PBH (Conselho Municipal de Saúde; Centro de Saúde Barreiro de Cima); Agência Reguladora de Serviços de Abastecimento de Agua e de Esgotamento Sanitário do Estado de Minas Gerais – ARSAE MG; Colegiado Metropolitano da GMRBH (vinculado à Agência Metropolitana de Desenvolvimento da GMRBH); Fundação João Pinheiro (FJP – MG); Instituto Rene-Rachou / Fiocruz-MG; Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental (DESA) da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG); Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT/UFMG); Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional – CEDEPLAR / UFMG; Coletivo “As Margens”; Cooperativa EITA (Elaboração da ferramenta web).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the management community of the Infosanbas web portal for organizing the web site disseminating the results of this work, in the context of the scientific dissemination project “Human rights to water and sanitation in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte: open science for participatory management” (FIOCRUZ /MG).

Funding

This work was carried out with the support of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—Brazil (CAPES).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. René Rachou Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Maria Inês Pedrosa Nahas

  2. Demography Program of the Center for Development and Regional Planning of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (CEDEPLAR/FACE/UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Rodrigo Coelho de Carvalho

  3. René Rachou Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Léo Heller

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  1. Maria Inês Pedrosa Nahas
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  2. Rodrigo Coelho de Carvalho
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  3. Léo Heller
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Correspondence to Léo Heller.

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Nahas, M.I.P., de Carvalho, R.C. & Heller, L. A Framework to Assess and Monitor Human Rights to Water and Sanitation at the Municipal Scale: A Study case in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region. Soc Indic Res 168, 645–665 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03149-y

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