Gather

We empower municipal governments to pre-empt repetitive outbreaks of enteric and diarrheal disease. We will demonstrate how enhanced, geospatial analysis can inform better investment in sanitation infrastructure and services and avoid fecal contamination of water supplies.

There are currently 2.5 billion people living in cities around the world without access to a safe, clean, accessible toilet.  This leads to increased healthcare costs, decreased income and reduced productivity. Sanitation organisations do collect data, but it’s often of low quality and is rarely shared or enhanced. The resulting data gap is preventing the sector from getting toilets to people who need them most. 

We want to use data to shift the needle on one of the world's greatest, most unglamorous issues and see lives transformed. By 2025, we want to have empowered local decision makers to direct investment for five million people to gain access sanitation in four emerging cities.

2.5 billion people living in cities around the world without access to a safe, clean toilet. The sanitation crisis disproportionately disadvantages the most vulnerable people in society. Water sources get dangerously polluted by fecal waste, children get sick and households cannot work. Without toilets, girls drop out of school when they start their periods. Every year the urban sanitation crisis results in increased healthcare costs, decreased income and reduced productivity totalling more than US$200 billion (Gates Foundation, 2018).

The sector collects a lot of data, but it rarely records the location, type of toilet or the amount of waste in the same way. As a result, no one can bring together data from a variety of resources to show the state of sanitation in one area. This data gap prevents the entire sector from getting toilets to people who need them most. It also prevents decision makers from being able to pre-empt the outbreak of enteric and diarrheal diseases. They cannot identify where to invest to avoid fecal contamination of water supplies. 

We have launched a unique partnership in Antananarivo, Madagascar is the first of its kind in the world. We have launched a unique partnership with Commune Urbaine d’Antananarivo, (the municipality of Antananarivo), Service Autonome de Maintenance de la Ville d'Antananarivo (the utility company of Antananarivo), Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (a trisector partnership) and Loowatt (a waterless, container-based sanitation provider). 

Madagascar is rated fourth worst in the world for sanitation provision. In Antananarivo 67% of people use unimproved pit latrines, 7% use bucket toilets and 4% are without any toilet at all. It is estimated that less than 10% of fecal waste is effectively collected and safely disposed of. Diarrheal diseases are the second leading cause of death after malaria and affect more than half of kids under the age of five. The Ministry of WASH’s Suivi Eau et Assainissement à Madagascar (SE&AM) database does not contain data on sanitation infrastructure in urban areas. Data published by the water and sanitation sector’s Joint Monitoring Programme lacks geospatial information on waste collection and processing. This lack of data makes it difficult for Antananarivo authorities to build a case for vital investment in onsite sanitation and treatment infrastructure.

We are working with local municipal partners to transform how they standardise, collect, manage, share and analyse data. Municipal governments and their partners lack the capacity to create predictive analysis. We reduce this data burden and provide them with the critical analytical capacity they need via a simple, easy-to-use dashboard. We then generate enhanced geospatial health data by linking it to data on sanitation service provision and contextual datasets including demographics, topography and flooding risk. This insight can underpin accountability, collaboration and action.

A key component of our work is the creation of geospatial shit flow diagrams (SFDs). Traditional SFDs show where fecal waste enters the environment and pollutes groundwater and rivers along the sanitation value chain. Our geospatial SFDs will enable collaboration between government, private and non-profit sanitation organisations, to target and track investments effectively to prevent fecal waste from entering water sources. Decision makers will now be able to understand whether the problem is, for example, due to a lack of toilets forcing people to defecate outside, or whether in fact it is because companies are dumping fecal the waste into rivers because there are not enough transfer stations. 

International policy makers have frequently used precision mapping to understand the causality of outbreaks in enteric and diarrheal diseases. This descriptive analysis is helpful for historical cases but has rarely been used for predicting and preventing future outbreaks. We demonstrate how enhanced geospatial analysis can help municipal decision makers pre-empt disease outbreaks by optimising their investments into sanitation infrastructure and services in high risk areas. 

By transforming local data practices and applying geospatial analysis we can show where investment and action is needed within a geographic area, so that the sector can work together to target their investments and track their impact. 

We consulted extensively as part of the design process to ensure that there no other similar initiatives happening within or between the government, private or non-profit organisations. No organisation has created a global standard for urban sanitation data, nor proposed a methodology for cross-sector data collaboration at the municipal level.

Our work builds on lessons learned by similar initiatives for water data. The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) has established international definitions for the provision of water and sanitation services, and the Water Point Data Exchange (WPDx) has created a global standard for the collection, sharing and use of rural water point data. Several fantastic tools for data collection exist. One tool, mWater currently lists a data standard for water points in its library. We have asked them to list our data standard for urban sanitation so that mWater users can easily adhere to it.  

We use an online analsyis dashboard to demonstrate how geospatial analysis can inform better investment in sanitation infrastructure and services to avoid fecal contamination of water supplies in high risk areas.

Our local Sanitation Data Hubs brings together the key sanitation providers across a city and transforms how they collect, manage and share data so that they can act on analysis. This includes a geospatial SFD, a live, online visualisation that shows where investment and action is needed within a geographic area.

Our global Sanitation Data Commission leverages the work of the Hubs to creates data standards for the location, type of sanitation infrastructure and volume of waste. Worldwide adoption of the data standard will allow decision makers within local sanitation organisations, national policy makers and international regulators to collaborate and curate geospatial GFDs that they can use to drive real change

Our goal is for the partners to use the geospatial SFD for at least 50% of their investment and operational expansion decisions. We also expect each partner to have achieved at least 80% adherence to the data standard i.e. correctly implementing eight of the ten data points for the location, volume and transportation of waste. 

In 2016 we investigated why there had been no change in the number of people living in cities who do not have access to a proper toilet change over the past three decades.

We connected with more than 100 sanitation organisations. We found that a lack of accurate, actionable data was hindering their efforts to get sanitation to those who needed it most. Sanitation organisations collect data as part of their operations, but this data is often of poor quality and is rarely shared or analysed fully to produce actionable insight. Without proper data they do not know where their services are most needed. 

Our research was corroborated by the World Bank in 2017 when it reported that a lack of trusted, actionable data had led to an ineffective allocation of resources across the sanitation sector. In 2018 the United Nations found that the current lack of quality data had limited the sector’s ability to monitor its progress, and stated that “reliable, consistent and, whenever possible, disaggregated data are essential to stimulate political commitment, inform policymaking and decision-making.”

We have previously trained young people to map household sanitation for 180,000 people in Nairobi in Kenya, launched a demo of an online global platform for data sharing, and hosted the world’s first data dive for urban sanitation, which assessed sanitation services for 370,000 people in Lusaka, Zambia. Our data dive brought together an industry-defying level of participation: nearly 50 percent female, and one third from minority backgrounds.

This year, our pilot in Antananarivo will help improve the lives of
350,000 people in the 5th arrondissement. Next year, we will scale across the city, home to nearly 2 million people. In five years time, we plan to have replicated across Lusaka in Zambia, Nakuru in Kenya and Kumasi in Ghana. In total, we want to have transformed the lives of 5 million people by first transforming local data practices.

We believe in systems change. Gather is focused on helping implement action that will achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2: universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation. We are starting in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar and anticipare our partners using our analysis for 50% of their investment decisions.

Cross-sector collaboration is central to our approach. Over the next five years, we want to play our part toward achieving SDGs 3.3 (end water-borne diseases), 6.1 (universal access to drinking water), 11.6 (reduce adverse environmental impact of cities) and 17.6 (knowledge sharing for innovation).

Uptake of the geospatial SFD is key to scale and will be driven by alignment to local priorities, user incentives and financial sustainability. We will continue to allign to local priorities of municiapl governments and create an accurate mechanism for sanitation organisations in Antananarivo to rigorously prove where investable, sustainable sanitation services should be deployed. This will empower them to raise investment from financial instruments created to improve sanitation for the urban poor.

Our work in Madagascar faces two primary risks. First, organisations could withdraw from our partnership. The risk level is low. Partner organisations have been involved in the design of the project from the start. Our team speaks with each member every two weeks to ensure that any concerns are quickly identified and addressed. Second, the municipal government may not have the personnel and financial capacity to act as the primary owner of ongoing geospatial activities beyond the lifetime of this project. This will be assessed by our team who will create a plan with all our partners to identify who will be responsible beyond the lifetime of the project, and an agreed financial plan to support them.

Collaboration has been a primary mitigation strategy. Collaboration has helped us overcome the challenges of funding and skill deficits. Partnerships with leading technology companies and sanitation providers have allowed us to pioneer several geospatial projects to bridge the sanitation data gap. For example:

• We are resident innovators at Geovation, the UK Ordnance Survey’s hub for location data;
• We have received mentorship from IBM Emerging Technology;
• Morrison Foester have helped us with legal work including our data sharing agreements;
• KPMG’s data science team participated in our data dive for urban sanitation.

We currently forecast that our work can be funded through grants until at least the end of 2021. Between now and then, we want to move from a grants-based model to a partnership model. We want our data standard and analysis to become the benchmark through which most global funders of sanitation assess the need within a city and track the long-term impact of their investments. We expect this model to be subscription based, keeping access to the insight free for local municipalities and city organisations.

Three full-time:

1. John Peter Archer, Cofounder and Partnerships Director
2. Lindsey Noakes, Cofounder and Programmes Director
3. Luiz Henrique Rodrigues, Data Analyst

One part-time:

1. Fiona Watters, Operations and Research Assistant

Our small, ambitious team are all currently based in the UK:

Lindsey Noakes and John Peter Archer met in November 2015. Four weeks later, they decided to launch Gather! We quickly realised we shared a common belief that toilets change everything. We also agreed that sustainable development should be about leveraging the power of collaboration and accountability. Their work has been recognised by Forbes, MIT Tech Review and the World Bank. 

Luiz Rodrigues is our Data Analyst. Luiz joined Gather after applying data science to improve the legal system in Brazil. In the five months since he joined Gather, Luiz has created a prototype of our geospatial dashboard, built a machine-learning algorithm for toilet photographic identification and assessed key data sets from our partners in Antananarivo.

Fiona Watters is our Operations and Research Assistant. Fiona joined Gather after completing a degree in geography and working in geospatial data. In the six months since she joined Gather, Fiona has catalogued geospatial data sets, established the terms of reference for the creation of a new data standard and conducted literature reviews for key reports and presentations.

We have launched a unique partnership with Commune Urbaine d’Antananarivo, (the municipality of Antananarivo), Service Autonome de Maintenance de la Ville d'Antananarivo (the utility company of Antananarivo), Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (a trisector partnership) and Loowatt (a waterless, container-based sanitation provider).

We are supported by several pro bono partners including the Ordnance Survey, IBM and Morrison Foester.

A multidisciplinary board of trustees oversee our governance, and we are supported by a panel of expert advisors from organisations including Ed Parsons (Google), Esther Shaylor (UNICEF), Vera Bukachi (KDI), Lars Schoebitz (Biomass Controls) and Gemma Graham (Restless Development).

Gather’s work is supported by a group of private philanthropists who fund thirty percent of our costs. This group has supported Gather since 2016. Gather also receive pro bono, in kind support from numerous professional organisations. In 2018, we raised £1.50 in pro bono support for every £1 we raised from our private philanthropists.

To date, we have received grants from:

• The World Bank’s Data Innovation Fund
• United Kingdom Department for International Development’s Small Charities Challenge Fund
• Sir Halley Stewart Charitable Trust
• Former Vice President Al Gore’s Generation Foundation
• The Vitol Foundation

We currently forecast that our work can be funded through grants until at least the end of 2021.

We want to move from a grants-based model to a partnership model. We want our data standard and analysis to become the benchmark through which most global funders of sanitation assess the need within a city and track the long-term impact of their investments. We expect this model to be subscription based, keeping access to the insight free for local municipalities and city organisations.

We are also working with a team of pro bono partners from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to identify additional sources of sustainable revenue that can fund our systems change work. They are currently exploring and forecasting options that include expert consulting, specialist services, thought leadership and the partner subscription model outlined above.

Working with expert partners has enabled us to make an impact far beyond our resources and skillset. We are particularly hopeful to gain support from the award’s team with experience in scaling our pilot and replicating our model in other emerging cities across the world. 

The funding would help support our newest recruits to nurture their talent, release their potential and transform sanitation data. They are the lifeblood of the work applying their knowledge and expertise to drive systemic change in the sanitation sector through data.

We have set ourselves a daunting challenge. As we start this next phase in our journey, we are eager to learn from the experience, expertise and enthusiasm of individuals and organisations that can help us achieve our goals. 

Collaboration has always been one of Gather’s core values. Working with expert partners has enabled us to make an impact far beyond our resources and skillset. We are particularly hopeful to gain support from the Solve partners with experience in scaling a proof of concept into a sustainable enterprise. Our work in Madagascar will impact 350,000 people but we do not want to stop there. We would love the support of partners who can help us replicate our model in other emerging cities across the world. Expert advice would help us navigate legal, financial and operational issues that could otherwise stop us from scaling successfully.