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27 January 2011
By Juanita During- Source www.allafrica.com
lll too often I have seen latrines built and used as broom cupboards or goat sheds while the people carry on the way they have always known - using the great outdoors. Those trying to help scratch their heads and wonder why the latrines aren't being used. If only it were that straightforward, then we would probably have made a lot more progress on the sanitation MDG target than we have so far. Local knowledge is everything.
WaterAid is adapting an approach known as community-led total sanitation (CLTS) in west Africa. First conceived in Bangladesh, it is a concept that has been sweeping across south Asia with impressive results, and many are hoping that it can bring similar results to Africa. It is based on an understanding that the people themselves have the solutions and are best able to determine which interventions will enable them to attain a self-defined, collective destiny.Instead of focusing on the supply and installation of sanitation hardware to communities, CLTS focuses on changing attitudes and behaviour through community mobilisation to stop open defecation, and to build and use latrines.
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