
Welcome to the world of SFDs
Improving understanding of urban sanitation
Find guidance and support for creating SFD graphics and reports: the SFD Graphic Generator allows you to create your own SFD graphic for any given city.
Welcome to the world of SFDs
Find guidance and support for creating SFD graphics and reports: the SFD Graphic Generator allows you to create your own SFD graphic for any given city.
New SFD Reports
There are five new SFD (Siraha Municipality, Mangalsen Municipality, Dakneshwori Municipality, Odagaon, Mahdia) accessible through our database now.
New SFD Reports
There are three new SFD Reports from Nepal (Patan Municipality, Badimalika, and Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality) accessible through our database now.
New SFD Reports
There are two new SFD Reports from Costa Rica (San Pablo and Liberia) and our first SFD from Jamaica - Saint Mary, which are accessible through our database now.
Check out the new drawings on the SFD graphic generator - when selecting sanitation systems, you can now see what each of the systems look like and double check that it matches the situation in your city.
A BIG thank you to the artist James McKay of the University of Leeds for producing the drawings – we think they are great!
Please take a look at the page and let us know what you think?
SFD Reports
Browse through all the entries and read more.
NEW SFD DATA PAGE
Check out the new page where you can compare SFD data from over 150 cities.
New Report available
SFD Promotion Initiative
Discover the brochure of CSE's SFD Phase III activities. CSE officially launched their SFD phase III in India in collaboration with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, in South Africa, and in Bangladesh.
SFD Thinking
Explore the new SFD Thinking and discover interesting facts, ideas and approaches on how to use SFDs.
SFD Manual
The SFD Manual was translated to Arabic and can be downloaded from the SuSanA Library!
An excreta flow diagram (also often described as shit flow diagram, SFD) is a tool to readily understand and communicate how excreta physically flows through a city or town.
The fate of excreta produced by populations across the globe is often poorly understood. SFDs show how it is or is not managed as it moves from defecation to disposal or end-use. The SFD report presents the service delivery context of the city or town and the data sources used for the assessment.
Sanitation systems are complex and include both household services such as toilets and sewer connections, and city-scale services such as sewers, collection and emptying services, wastewater treatment plants and faecal sludge treatment plants. In any given city many different organisations may be involved, each with different sources of funding. Few people working in sanitation understand how the entire system works; they are often only familiar with their own small part. Critical areas of failure and the needs of some groups, particularly low-income communities and unplanned areas, are thus often overlooked and may not be considered in planning at all.
The SFD is a process, report and diagram that allows multiple actors to come to a joint understanding of the entire sanitation system as it currently operates. This allows for identification of gaps and problem areas. The SFD can form a sound initial basis for planning investments to achieve citywide inclusive sanitation.
The SFD Promotion Initiative has developed a methodology and tools to enable the easy production of standardized SFDs by city stakeholders, development agencies and non-governmental organizations.
The SFD Graphic Generator is a quick and simple tool that allows the production of SFD graphics in three steps. Once you have the data for your city, you can easily generate the SFD graphic and download the results for reports and publications. Manuals and templates are readily accessible in multiple languages to provide further assistance.
Discover the SFD reports, training events and presentations across the world.
As sanitation practitioners and city officials recognize how effective SFDs are in engaging and stimulating dialogue on excreta management to achieve better sanitation, the number of SFDs being prepared all over the world is increasing.
Do you want to prepare an SFD? Check out the tutorial videos, FAQs and the SFD Manual.
The SFD Manual describes the process followed within the SFD Promotion Initiative for the production of SFD graphics and reports. It includes guidance on data collection and analysis on how to use the SFD Graphic Generator and the definitions of terms and variables.
Discover the world of SFDs!
From 2014 – 2018 the SFD Promotion Initiative has been managed by GIZ under the umbrella of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through two grants (2014-2015 and 2016-2018). Phase III of the SFD Promotion Initiative is being managed by the University of Leeds and the Center for Science and Environment, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through two additional grants. The secretariat of the SFD Webportal and Helpdesk are remaining with GIZ as part of the SuSanA secretariat.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE); the Global Sector Program on Sustainable Sanitation of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH); commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ); the Department of Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development (Sandec) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag); the water@leeds research group of the University of Leeds (UofL); the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) of Loughborough University and the World Bank Water Global Practice