Humanitarian agencies strive to provide sanitation facilities which are safe, accessible and afford users privacy and dignity. In reality, women in particular have many concerns which can prevent them from using the facilities, especially after dark.

In 2016, the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) set up a research challenge asking: Does lighting in or around sanitation facilities reduce the risk of gender-based violence? During 2017 and 2018, Oxfam and researchers from the Water, Engineering and Development Centre at Loughborough University carried out research to try to answer this question.

Three reports document the field research carried out in Iraq, Nigeria and Uganda. Also available is a review of existing literature and good practice on lighting, fear of crime and sanitation.

See www.oxfam.org.uk/lighting for information about the project and a full list of downloads.