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This research aims to increase the visibility of women in water, sanitation, and hygiene research and practice.

The specific fellowship goal is to accelerate the integration of gender-related indicators into national and global monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 WASH targets, with a specific focus on hygiene. Currently there are no gender-specific SDG6 targets, preventing the needs of women and girls from being seen and addressed. The proposed work builds off of previous and current work in partnership with the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (JMP). The JMP is the custodian of global data on drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene and is responsible for producing reliable estimates of national, regional, and global WASH SDG progress to inform decisions and investments by governments, donors, and civil society organisations. Integrating gender-related indicators into JMP reporting could illuminate long ignored gender inequities in WASH and compel action in response.

This work aims to:

1. Work with the JMP to report on gender-related indicators recommended for adoption based on relevance, valid measurement, and existing data.
2. Validate and pilot measures for other potential gender indicators.
3. Understand the facilitators and barriers of indicator uptake in a country identified as having exemplary hygiene monitoring to inform the uptake of indicators elsewhere, particularly those related to gender.

Fellowship Updates:

• On World Water Day 2024, Dr. Caruso and her team published “Priority Gender-Specific Indicators for WASH Monitoring Under SDG Targets 6.1 and 6.2”, which outlines key recommendations for national and global WASH monitoring. This document includes full explanations of the priority indicators and the survey questions that can be used to collect the necessary data.

• In September 2025, Dr. Caruso worked with the WHO/UNICEF JMP team to officially launch the priority indicators, which was highlighted by two webinars featuring Dr. Caruso, JMP team members, and experts from UN Water, UN Women, USAID, Equal Measures 2030, Athena Infonomics, and government representatives from South Africa and the Philippines.

• Dr. Caruso’s team, in partnership with Athena Infonomics, is conducting cognitive interviews with men and women in Bangladesh to validate the survey questions that support the gender indicators. Based on these findings, revisions to the survey questions will be made, and a larger-scale survey will be launched in April 2025.

• Supported by the RGHI fellowship, Dr. Caruso is currently based outside Geneva to facilitate her collaboration with the WHO and JMP team.