Gather is transforming how sanitation data are collected, shared, and used by organisations working in Antananarivo, Republic of Madagascar. Gather’s approach harnesses geospatial data to help municipal decision-makers understand where and how to invest to improve sanitation infrastructure and services for vulnerable communities.

Gather’s Centre for Sanitation Analytics recently completed the first assessment of the sanitation data gap in Antananarivo, to help decision-makers prioritise the collection of location data on the sanitation value chain. Gather have also led the creation of a new data standard, sanitation risk index, and sanitation data platform in partnership with Antananarivo’s Commune Urbaine d’Antananarivo, Service Autonome de Maintenance de la Ville, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, and Loowatt SARL. These three data tools are being refined, tested, and improved to transform how organisations collect, share, and analyse sanitation data. The aim for the geospatial visualisations is to make it easier for organisations to identify priority areas for investment for 350,000 people.

Gather have also launched a new Benchmark tool to help improve the integrity of location data collection for sanitation and development for the 50 countries at the end of the UN Human Development Index. The tool allows decision-makers to explore and compare the availability, accessibility, and accuracy of publicly available sanitation data including location; it encourages the global sanitation sector to sign up to eight principles to overcome some of the practical and ethical problems with how data are currently collected, shared, and used; and it invites local decision-makers to share publicly available data so that the tool’s analysis can be updated.