With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) now agreed, the real test of their success lies in their implementation. Over half the world's population now live in cities and by 2050 this will rise to two-thirds. Most of this growth will take place in developing countries due to rising migration from rural areas.

Based on the experience of slum sanitation initiatives implemented in a number of urban centers in India, over the last decades, this Guide draws out the critical drivers that appear to explain some facets of successful community slum sanitation initiatives.

Data collection methods and poverty measures have not caught up with the reality of an increasingly urbanised world; as a result, it is increasingly likely that urban poverty is underestimated.

The 'Swachh Survekshan', is a survey commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development – the first for Swachh Bharat Mission, launched on 2nd October 2014.

Paralleling the increasing disparities in income and wealth worldwide since the 1980s, cities in developing countries have witnessed the emergence of a growing divergence of lifestyles, particularly within the middle classes, reinforced by the widening gap between the quality of public and private educational and health care institutions, spatia