Medical Care Development International (MCDI) was selected through a competitive United Nations process and will be responsible for receiving the Global Sanitation Funds in Madagascar and selecting and entering into agreement with the Sub-Grantees who will implement the work programme on the ground.

Madagascar is the first of the seven countries selected for the first round of funding to see the selection of the Executing Agency which formally launches the programme in country.

For more information about the Global Sanitation Fund in Madagascar visit here. To learn more about MCDI visit www.mcd.org.

To read the press release please click here.

Ms. Marlin assumes her post on 1 March. It is the latest stop in a career that has seen her serve as a senior communications consultant for Dynamics Group, Switzerland, manager of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition’s (GAIN) communications programme, and technical officer for communications and information at the World Health Organization. Before that, she worked in Australia at the National Breast Cancer Centre, NSW Cancer Council, and Action on Smoking and Health.

To read the press release please click here.

To read the press release please click here.

WASH United is a new initiative bringing together leading civil society organizations, UN
agencies and governments in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene, using the power
of football to catalyse social and behavioural change. WASH United takes advantage of
the burgeoning football fever across the African continent leading up to the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa and works with African and international football stars as champions
to promote WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) for all in Sub-Saharan Africa.

WASH United's mission: to tackle taboos and help create demand for sanitation;
to promote hand-washing with soap; to advocate for political decision-makers to promote the right to water and sanitation and to sensitiye people that access to these basic services is a right, not charity.

Job purpose: to coordinate WASH United activities in-country.

Post holder reports to: regional coordinator/WASH United international coordinator.

Budget responsibilities: the person will be responsible for a limited budget.

Competitive salary.

Key responsibilities: plan, coordinate, facilitate, supervise, and monitor, in close collaboration with national and local partner organizations, the implementation of WASH United activities in country.

This includes planning and implementation of:

• Country partner workshop and national launch event
• Poster campaign
• Public screening events
• WASH in schools and football clubs campaign
• Broadcast of radio and TV clips

Also, facilitation of contacts with the national media and contacts with and access to
national football stars.

Skills and competences:

• Bachelor degree in social science
• Three years' work experience, including a coordination role, management of
events, marketing, networking and alliance building with other agencies and
organizations
• Knowledge of the water and sanitation sector
• Knowledge of human rights, particularly the right to water and sanitation
desirable
• Experience in financial management
• Ability to think/operate innovatively and strategically
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team
• Ability to develop and implement advocacy strategies
• Excellent representational and lobbying skills, and experience of advocacy with
senior decision-makers
• Excellent oral and written communications skills
• Ability to work under pressure to meet tight deadlines
• Personal qualities that ensure effective work with other people and selfmanagement,
including flexibility, respect for others, and sense of humour
• Experience of using media to further advocacy and campaigns objectives
• Working knowledge of English required for all countries. Working knowledge of
French required for Mali. Knowledge of local languages desirable.

We would also accept applications from an appropriate organization, which could offer a
dedicated person with the above skills.

Please send cover letter, CV and names of references to Virginia Roaf, Senior
Researcher: virginia.roaf[at]wash-united.org

Deadline for applications: 5 February 2010.

For information on WASH United, please contact Virginia Roaf or visit the preliminary website: http://www.wash-united.org/index2.php/

International Anti-Corruption Day,  

The International Anti-Corruption Day takes place annually on 09 December to commemorate the adoption of the United Nation’s Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and aims to raise society’s awareness of corruption. Corruption is a big issue in every sector and must be fought in order to combat inequity. It is often the driving force towards instability, failed institutions and poverty. No country is immune to it.

The UNCAC was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2003 and entered into force during 2005. It is a global treaty signed by 140 countries to date and provides a legally-binding framework against corruption. It is perhaps unique in that it provides a clear mandate for the participation of civil society for monitoring and accountability purposes in interactions with both government and the private sector and in this sense forms very much the back-bone of WIN’s efforts in the water and sanitation sector.

On this year’s occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day WIN has collaborated with the WSSCC to bring to bear a special interview between Teun Bastemeijer, WIN Manager and Jon Lane, Executive Director of WSSCC. The purpose of the interview is to raise awareness of the nature of corruption in the sanitation sector, which we hope will bring to light some of the basic and pertinent issues in the sector. It is hoped that this contribution will be a means by which you can also take action today to raise this awareness amongst your peers and friends in order to recognise it and help fight it.

Corruption in the Sanitation Sector

Participants:

Teun Bastemeijer (TB), Manager, Water Integrity Network (WIN)

Jon Lane (JL), Executive Director, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) 

1.To JL:What is corruption in the water sector and why was there a need to found the Water Integrity Network? 

TB: Defining corruption brings you to some fairly complex discussions that touch upon forms of unethical behaviours that are commonly called ‘corruption’. In the water sector corruption has many faces and commonly manifests in planning processes, policy choices, technology choices, as well as large corruption, regarding for instance, dams. Corruption can also touch upon small issues such as service connection fees for water supply, or illegal payments related to obtaining water rights or licences.  

The WIN initiative was needed because the effect of corruption on the daily lives of people in certain countries is dramatic. WIN is not only about promoting water integrity to prevent corruption, but also to bring in more equity. WIN is unique – perhaps the first kind of initiative where people from the sector itself (water and sanitation, hydropower, irrigation etc), realised that something needed to be done. 

2.To JL:What are the risks and opportunities for corruption in sanitation? 

JL: The sanitation sector like many others is prone to corruption, particularly due to complex planning and construction requirements and since provision of facilities and services involves large amounts of public money and involves many different actors at different stages. This process provides opportunities for diverting public funds for personal gain and the effects of corruption can be devastating, for example in southern India 20 to 30% of funds and materials are diverted from sanitation programmes due to corruption. Funds can be diverted from those in need, by re-allocating funds for remote rural areas towards richer city constituencies, overcharging for construction works, or simply poor construction using inferior materials. Subsidy-driven programmes can be particularly prone to corruption. A problem we face in the sanitation sector is that sanitation is often fragmented between different ministries which greatly complicates and often jeopardizes action-oriented decision-making and budget allocation. Responsibilities, decisions and money are often hard to track to hold people accountable. 

3.To JL:To TB: Who is most severely affected by corruption in sanitation? 

TB: There are two ways of looking at sanitation: household sanitation and environmental sanitation. With household sanitation, there is often an interest to promote technologies that have a higher cost than that which poor people can afford and therefore often require subsidies to get to a solution. Such subsidies can be diverted and tend to benefit higher income groups. Corruption thus mostly affects equity and access to sanitation facilities for poor and vulnerable people. The lack of hygiene and sanitation affects children, families and therefore women more than men.

Household sanitation cannot be seen in isolation from environmental sanitation, certainly not in a world where urban areas are growing fast and where pollution and contamination issues are very important at the wider scale. To cope with these wider issues considerable investments are needed, not only in household latrines or toilets, but also in ways to deal with the waste products. Many processes of public investments will soon be on their way in order to cope with the effects of high density population and to some extent, for adaptation to climate change. Again in these complex processes there are multiple opportunities for corruption. In this case it is likely that poor peripheral urban people will be most affected and it is fairly clear that their health will be put into danger. Environmental sanitation goes well beyond toilets.  

4.To JL: Could you provide an example of the negative effects of corruption in sanitation to ordinary people?

JL: Let's take the example of a woman living in a rural area in India or Burkina Faso. Her husband is a subsistence farmer and they have five children, one of them being a girl. The nearest water source is an unprotected water pond half an hour walking distance from their home, and open defecation is the rule in the village. The reality of that woman is the following: she wakes up at five o'clock to relieve herself in the bush, enduring stomach cramps and being afraid of a sexual assault. She is the one that walks an hour everyday, together with her daughter who often misses school to help her, to bring water home from the pond, unsure of the water quality. She is the one caring for her children sick with diarrhoea. Her daughter's future will be identical to hers as she will leave school once her menstruation starts, because the school doesn't have toilets for girls. Basic human dignity and safety, good health and economic income are all concepts that she will not get to experience during her lifetime. That might be because the village committee official diverted public funds that were dedicated to providing safe wells and water pumps to the people, or because the activities of a CBO working on hygiene education and demand creation for sanitation were prevented from taking place because national government officials diverted aid money towards a city's neighborhood where voices were needed for the upcoming election. For the Indian or Burkinabe family, poor sanitation and lack of clean water, is a matter of life and death.

5.To JL:What are the tools and mechanism that can reduce corruption in sanitation?</ font>

TB: The most important mechanism is people. In spite of a lot of good work done, people are not yet their own allies. This requires a wider communication effort where the link between integrity, honesty and prevention of corruption can gradually be made. Sanitation has a strong cultural element and the link between poor sanitation and disease needs to be realised better, especially where cultural beliefs mask this reality. There is a need for communication and education that continues, to see what can be done better. But the most important mechanism is people themselves, including decision makers – who are toilet users themselves.

There are of course other tools. The WASH campaign is for example, an excellent vehicle for communication with a long track record on these issues, but there are others too, including UNICEF. Another tool is to link up with professional education. I believe that because sanitation has not been dealt with as a priority, it is also low on the priority of many educational institutes, or among professional capacity-building organisations analysing where the corruption risk in sanitation have been and might be, occurring in the future.

JL: Taking into account the human dimension of corruption, and the quest for its true victims, meaning those that can the least afford it but still bear the highest cost, is crucial to meet the sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals, and ultimately to achieve sanitation for all people. Targeted and clear communication is key at all levels, from people themselves who must be aware that they have the right to demand accountability, to government decision-makers and private sector providers, as well as the alliances between anti-corruption, human rights and sanitation sector stakeholders.

WSSCC is a strong advocate of software approaches to sanitation, meaning interventions towards behaviour change, hygiene education and demand creation, as opposed to hardware approaches mostly based on infrastructure and technical only solutions. The same is true when it comes to combating corruption in the sector. Information, people's awareness of what they need and want and small scale entrepreneurship that promotes competition and innovation make up the tools and mechanisms to reduce corruption in the sanitation sector.

4.To JL:What do you perceive is the responsibility of government, private companies, communities and media professionals towards improving integrity and transparency in sanitation? What is the role of the UNCAC in fighting corruption in the water sector?

TB: The UNCAC plays only a small role as a convention. It is those who have signed the convention who commit to applying its rules and principles and should also expect that their compliance is monitored. This is not really happening and the link between UNCAC and the water and sanitation sector is not well defined and thus the link remains rather loose because the UNCAC is not really affecting behaviour in the water sector. There might be an anti-corruption commission or other mechanisms in place with often little capacity. They may succeed in ensuring that certain UNCAC rules and principles are gradually applied in the country, but what we see so far is that it hardly seems to touch the water and sanitation sectors. Where it might become more important is in greater state reform processes, such as decentralization. If the UNCAC starts to be applied in such a way that it touches on decentralized bodies that have mandates to deal with water and sanitation services issues, then it might have certain value.

Communication and media professionals, communities and civil society, ideally speaking would have a role to play on the demand side to create noise about its application and verification mechanisms, which for the moment are not adequately in place. In countries where there is high resistance against the UNCAC principles, or where it is perceived as something from the outside, or that there are other ways to deal with the issue, the only way to proceed might be for people to take responsibility to mobilize through a wider coalition of organisations, CBOs, local authorities and service providers, who really share the principles of WIN and who jointly work together to make transparency and integrity principles apply to the water and sanitation, as well as parts of the health sector.

JL: If you look at the reality of developing countries, there is a strong correlation between lack of access to sanitation, a low rating on the human development index and a high rating on the corruption perception index. These three strong indicators of unacceptable living conditions for poor people in these countries have at least one solution in common: political will. It is the government's responsibility towards its people to create an enabling environment for the provision of sanitation services to all, free from corruption. A legal framework is necessary to restrict corruption's operating space, for example by legalizing informal service providers instead of ignoring them and letting the poorest people bear the cost or forbidding them and jeopardizing the only access that the poor have to water supply and sanitation services. Protection must be guaranteed for 'whistleblowers'. A free media and strong civil society can expose corruption practices and contribute to create awareness at all levels, from slum dwellers to the highest level of government decision-makers, are also sine qua non conditions. In order to achieve tangible and sustainable economic benefits, public revenues and access to adequate sanitation, a long-term vision must be the driving force. Corruption must be reported, and it must be resisted.

My colleague Teun Bastemeijer answered the question about the UNCAC. The only thing I would have to add is that until the 1990's corruption was perceived on the international arena mostly in economic terms, and often as an inevitable part of development work. To take an example, in the World Bank it was only referred to as the 'C word'. It is not until James Wolfensohn's reference to corruption as a question that had to be tackled to reach equitable development and poverty reduction, that the latter was included as an integral part of the Bank's programmes. This institutional shift is characteristic of the general evolution of perception of corruption from a pure cost-benefit analysis to the inclusion in the debate of its human rights and social development dimensions. The road from the OECD convention to the UNCAC also demonstrates a shift from a narrow economic approach to a rights-based one. The creation of Transparency International by a former World Bank employee, and later the creation of the Water Integrity Network are very strong examples of this trend that, in my opinion, is going in the right direction towards improving transparency and integrity in general, and in the sanitation sector in particular.

6.To JL:What is your organization doing to promote anti-corruption practice?

TB: WIN tends to focus on water and sanitation integrity practice to help prevent or reduce corruption. So far, WIN has done a mix of advocacy and communications at the international level, to make it possible for people in countries to talk about corruption in the water and sanitation sector. We have succeeded to quite an extent in changing the situation, in a sense that there is now a lot more discussion about these issues. We are also in the process of implementing a wider set of communication activities: visualizing corruption through different means (photos, artist expressions).

WIN is a young initiative with limited capacity, so we do the maximum with the few resources that we have. Of course we also have an important focus on developing ways to promote water integrity action, which includes sanitation. That is a whole process we are testing at present and we are gaining experience in a number of countries and continents.

JL: WSSCC is a membership based organization, whose raison d'être is to foster knowledge and information flows and partnerships to achieve safe water supply and sanitation for all people. Through networking and knowledge management work, together with advocacy and communications activities, we produce and share information and concrete messages with field actors directly working with communities and with media professionals for example, while also targeting ministers and advocating for leadership in the sanitation sector at the global and national levels. WSSCC's vision is to be a collaborative platform and to ensure the flow of information within its membership and networks in countries where the sanitation need is the greatest, and to work through collaboration and coordination, and not duplication of efforts and initiatives. Anti-corruption messages are therefore integrated in our work through our partnership with WIN, and milestone events such as the International Anti-corruption Day are an example of joint efforts. The latter are also happening at the national level between WSSCC's National WASH Coalitions and WIN's network in the same countries. Talking about corruption and talking about shit have an essential thing in common: it is way too often taboo and politically incorrect. Communications and advocacy work linking these issues can provide tools to sanitation and anti-corruption advocates and potentially have a very powerful outcome.

7.To JL:How do you envision a world free of corruption?

TB: A world without corruption seems difficult to envision because corruption is not easily defined and doesn’t present the same face everywhere and may change over time. Therefore what I would envision is a world with reduced corruption and enhanced ethical behaviour for the betterment of human beings, with a special focus on the poor and the vulnerable.

JL: Corruption means different things to different people. But one thing that can't be questioned is that corruption is the opposite of good governance. When there is no good governance and no accountability in place, poor people are sidelined and their voices are not heard. So I would like to envisage a world where human need and not human greed, directs decisions that impact human lives. 2.5 billion people, that is one in every four human beings, don’t have a safe place to relieve the most basic of human needs and politicians reading their newspaper in a safe and clean toilet must remember that before accepting a bribe or turning a blind eye.

Download the interview in PDF version here.

About 250 participants from sector ministries, regional and woreda bureaus, donors, CSOs, higher institutions, professional associations, private sectors, media etc. are expected to attend the festival. The festival comprises plenary and parallel sessions on urban sanitation and hygiene issues, joint learning field trips, exhibition and knowledge fair, national sanitation and hygiene award, student performance and award and a media conference. 

Download the programme of the festival here. For more information contact Michael Negash, WSSCC National Coordinator for Ethiopia at michaelN[at]wateraidet.org.

• Donwload the document in French
• Download the press release in French

Government, Civil Society Organisations, Private Sector, Faith-based Organisations and individuals cooperate in the Ethiopian coalition. The major focus of the WASH Ethiopia Movement is promoting Water, Sanitation and Hygiene issues throughout the country and contributing to reduction of existing high morbidity and mortality caused by lack of safe and adequate water, poor sanitation and hygiene for domestic use.

The AMCOW AfricaSan Awards will take place on November 12th during the Africa Water Week, and serve to recognize sanitation and hygiene achievements in Africa.

To learn more about the WASH Ethiopia Movement visit the coalition's web page or read the Ethiopia case study from the WASH Case Study Series.

Read or download the newsletter in English, French or Spanish here.

About 1.2 billion of the 2.6 billion people who do not have access to adequate sanitation regularly defecate in the open. Feces and urine-contaminated water mean that people are literally drinking down bacteria, worms, and larvae that cause diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, and cholera, among other life-threatening diseases and conditions.

Diarrhea, usually caused by poor sanitation, is the second leading cause of death of children under five and is responsible for the deaths of at least 1.5 million kids under five every year. Improving sanitation in a poor area regularly causes the local annual child death count to plummet.

“No access to sanitation is a polite way of saying that people draw water for drinking, cooking, and washing from rivers, lakes, ditches, and drains fouled with human and animal excrement,” said Kevin Watkins, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office.

While about 70 million more people gain access to safe and sanitary toilets every year, that number roughly matches the world’s annual population growth—the vast majority of which occurs in urban areas of developing countries—leaving the number of people without access to toilets largely unchanged.

Investment in sanitation provides a significant economic boost to the communities that it touches. A recent UN University study found that hygiene, particularly hand washing, is the single most cost-effective health intervention available.

“For every $1 invested in sanitation, $9 in direct or indirect economic benefits are earned,” David Trouba, a program officer with the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), told MediaGlobal. “This is mainly due to savings in time from not being sick, which burdens the health system and causes people to miss work.”

To read the full article visit http://www.mediaglobal.org/article/2009-08-19/investing-in-safe-and-clean-toilets-vital-to-curb-deaths-by-water-born-diseases

As Public Funding for Sanitation explains, the discussion on appropriate sanitation financing mechanisms for the poor goes far beyond the use of hardware subsidies. It must take into account aspects of hardware and software, capital and operational expenditure, the type of sanitation system being built, and, ultimately, the users of the sanitation system. This primer assists the reader in understanding the global debate on subsidies and sanitation financing, and provides guidance on how to select the most appropriate funding arrangements for sanitation programming in different situations.

Read the press release here. Download the report here.

The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) is pleased to invite entries for the maiden AfricaSan Awards competition.

This announcement is for the first set of award categories: Leadership and Ministerial Award; Technical Innovation Award; and, the NGO/Civil Society Award.

Those interested may nominate themselves or other individuals or institutions. Nominations should include the name and contact details of the nominee, and a short statement (no more than 500 words) about their work and why they deserve the award. The nominees must be involved in sanitation and hygiene-related activities within Africa.

Nominations (in English, French or Portuguese) should be sent to nominations[at]africasanawards.org by October 9, 2009.

Entries will be reviewed by a technical committee of experts and judged by a panel of eminent sector leaders. Winners will be announced in mid-October and sponsored to attend the Second African Water Week in South Africa, from November 9 to 13, 2009, where they will receive a prize, a trophy and a certificate.

For more information please write to: nominations[at]africasanawards.org or call: Thompson Abu (+234(0)803 311 9493).

Read more by clicking on the links below:

• Press release, ENG, FR, ESP
• Questions & Answers, ENG, FR, ESP
• Letter to WSSCC members from the Chair, ENG, FR, ESP

Sharing, Learning and Innovation at the Annual Planning Meeting of National Coordinators

WSSCC endorses sanitation as a human right

The Global Framework for Action: speeding up progress towards MDS targets

Members & Partners

Benin: when voices of the people meet political will

Aquacol: providing services and information for Colombian communities

Call for total sanitation in Pakistan by 2015

WSSCC in Motion July - September 2009

AND MUCH MORE!

Download the July Newsletter in English, French or Spanish here.

ENVIRONMENT

"The Taboo of Poo"

Why are we so reluctant to talk about one of the greatest threats to human health?

Text by SEAN MOONEY

Picture this: The setting sun is spreading a warm glow over your small rural village, but you are inside your house doubled over with intestinal pain. All you want is for darkness to fall so you can stagger out into the night, find a relatively secluded spot in the fields and void your bowels. You have been resisting the urge to defecate for most of the day as it is considered disgraceful in your community for a woman to be seen heeding nature’s call. You sometimes suffer from urinary tract infections and constipation, and you have almost been bitten by scorpions and snakes while squatting in the open. You have even suffered sexual violence at the hands of unknown men under the cover of night. You fear for your own health and safety, and for that of your young daughter and disabled mother. Your life is tormented by the taboo of poo.

This sad tale is repeated every day in poverty-stricken regions across Asia. It is estimated that about 1.7 billion people in southern and eastern Asia don’t have the proper means of dealing with their human waste. Many are forced to practise what is known as ‘open defecation’, which involves the use of buckets, plastic bags or simply nothing at all. They might use fields, rivers, railway lines or squalid, foul-smelling unsanitary latrines. This is not only embarrassing and undignified, it is also extremely dangerous, as the majority of the world’s illness is a result of the dispersal of human faeces. Contamination of food and water with faecal matter causes the transmission of deadly diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Every year, 1.5 million children under the age of five die from diarrhoeal diseases. It’s a human tragedy, whichever way you look at it.

So why is it so difficult to get people to talk about defecation and urination? Maggie Black, co-author of The Last Taboo: Opening the door on the global sanitation crisis, says it is primarily a social issue. “From the smallest age, Indian women have had to learn to hold themselves in, in such a way that they often do themselves internal damage,” she says. “If a respectable Indian woman disgraces herself by being in any way identified with having to use a toilet, how can she ever express the misery and indignity she experiences by not having one in the home? Is it surprising that customer demand for toilets is not vocal? I think this kind of social attitude – an extreme form of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – is the main problem. There needs to be strong social endorsement for things to change.”

Thérèse Mahon runs WaterAid’s country programs in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. She thinks that the absence of discussion about women’s personal matters means that the provision of private toilets is given very low priority. “This paradox results in women living in a constant state of anxiety as they strive to meet their sanitation needs without losing their dignity,” she says. “While men and boys are found squatting by roadsides in broad daylight, similar behaviour for women and girls is unthinkable. If there are no separate latrines for girls at schools this can also prevent girls from attending school particularly once they reach puberty.”

But this is not just a South Asian problem. Sanitation disaster areas exist in that other extremely populous Asian nation, China, as well as many other countries across south and south-east Asia. World Bank Senior Water and Sanitation Economist Guy Hutton estimates that the cost of not investing in sanitation is US$9 billion per year in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam alone. Nor is it simply a rural issue. The Indian co-ordinator for the Swiss-based Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Depinder Kapur, believes sanitation is a health time bomb for Asia’s urban areas, where more than 50 per cent of the population lives in shanty towns and slums. “The governments have no accountability to provide for basic services as the people living there are seen as illegal tenants,” he says. “Expensive infrastructure projects for sanitation are being brought in that bypass the slums.” Mr Kapur cites the example of the city of Trichi in south India, where the non-government organisation (NGO) Gramalya, along with other NGOs, has built community-owned and managed toilets for nearly all of the city’s urban slums. “The challenge that they faced was not technology but working with the municipality in slum areas to erect and maintain community sanitation and bathing and washing complexes,” he explains. “To provide for not just sanitation but also all other hygiene facilities for poor slum dwellers.”

In an effort to encourage large-scale action to tackle this problem, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), with a stated aim of ‘breaking the taboo’. Thérèse Mahon feels that the IYS “helped to galvanise governments, civil society, communities and other stakeholders around the most neglected Millennium Development Goal”. This goal, declared by the United Nations in 2002, aims to reduce by half by 2015 the numbers of people without access to sanitation in 1990. But judging by current progress, it will take until mid-century to get anywhere near this target.

So what can be done? Ms Mahon suggests that all the goals and declarations that have been made by governments need to translate into urgent action “to ensure lasting results and to realise citizens’ rights to sanitation”. Depinder Kapur says sanitation issues are best addressed by making adolescent girls and women leaders in creating sanitation, drainage and waste-disposal systems. However, Mr Kapur admits that many challenges lie ahead, and that they might require a rethink of current practices. “Making a loo in the rural setting of Asia means creating additional space and finding water to clean the toilets,” he says. “In terms of behaviour, rural people find it easy to go out and defecate and this needs to be addressed by bringing in issues of dignity and behaviour change and not the health imperatives as is being done currently by many agencies. It is difficult for rural people to understand health impacts of safe sanitation.”

This focus on dignity and behaviour change is already being employed in many parts of Asia, and is commonly referred to as community-led total sanitation (CLTS). It was pioneered in the Rajshahi district of Bangladesh in 2000 by Indian development consultant Kamal Kar, together with the Village Education Resource Centre (VERC), a partner of WaterAid Bangladesh. To put it bluntly, this strategy explains to community members that they are eating each others’ faeces. Mr Kar explains it this way: “The method used encourages local communities to visit the dirtiest and filthiest areas in the neighbourhood, appraising and analysing their practices; it shocks, disgusts and shames people. This style is provocative and fun, and is hands-off in leaving decisions and action to the community.” Thérèse Mahon says that these shock tactics create a powerful realisation within the community that collective action is necessary because if any individuals continue to practise open defecation then they will all be at risk. “This process begins to break down the notion that sanitation is not a purely private/individual matter, but is a significant issue for public health,” she says. “Support is then given to show communities how they can build low-cost, hygienic latrines using locally available materials, and technical support is provided.” Guy Hutton adds a note of caution, based on the World Bank’s experiences in Cambodia: “Sometimes [CLTS] works great, where all the preconditions are there. But we are finding that CLTS in Cambodia has many challenges due to weather (after rainy season most of the self-made latrines have broken down), traditional attitudes (preferences for doing your business in nature), and also supply constraints (non-availability of good and cheap materials for constructing a long-lasting but simple latrine). It needs a sustained effort, and close collaboration of all the national and local actors.”

Once a community is aware that it has a sanitation problem, it needs to work out how to fix it. Mr Hutton says that there are as many different solutions as there are types of communities. “Asia varies from poverty-stricken rural areas and slums to first-world mega-cities, so the technology required varies from a cheap basic [but hygienic] pit latrine in rural areas, to public toilets for slum areas, to costly water-based sewerage (with treatment) in cities.” Maggie Black states that the main alternative technology is the pour-flush pit toilet. “This is used in many countries, including India, Bangladesh and Thailand, and has many, many different variations,” she says. The World Health Organization’s A Guide to the Development of on-Site Sanitation outlines a selection of sanitation systems, with indications of their suitability for particular situations, the constraints on their use, and their disadvantages. There’s everything from simple pit, pour-flush and composting latrines, to septic tanks and aqua-privies. Factors to be considered include cost, cultural acceptability, simplicity of design and construction, operation and maintenance, and local availability of materials and skills. The Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies, published by WSSCC and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science, sheds even more light on the diversity of sanitary systems and technologies available. It offers a mind-boggling selection of sanitation systems, such as waterless systems with urine diversion, double ventilation pits, aquaculture ponds and dehydration vaults, as well as so-called ecological sanitation systems.

Maggie Black sees an important role for ecological sanitation, which usually separates urine and faeces. The faecal matter can then be treated to make safe fertiliser pellets rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Considering that an IYS study estimated that 90 per cent of human excreta in China is used in agriculture, a system that ensures that raw sewage is not put on the fields is extremely useful. One of the great characters of the sanitation movement is Jack Sim, head of the World Toilet Organization. He says that if we recycle our nutrients back to the farms, we can reduce our reliance on energy-intensive chemical fertilisers. “We will also help conserve the depletion of phosphorous mines,” he says. “I think we really need to know that our phosphorous rock mines are depleting at a rapid pace and chemical fertiliser supply will soon face a similar crisis to the oil-depletion problem. Therefore, the sustainable way is to recycle our excreta into fertiliser and soil conditioner.”

This year’s Stockholm Water Prize Laureate Dr Bindeshwar Pathak is the founder of the Sulabh International Social Services Organisation, a non-government group that since 1970 has installed low cost and ecologically sustainable toilets in more than 1.2 million houses across India. Dr Pathak  has also designed biogas technology that allows for the complete recycling and reuse of human excreta from public toilets. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion of human excreta in a biogas digester, and is used for cooking, lighting and electricity generation. In addition, biogas plant effluent is treated by a simple method to make it colourless, odourless and pathogen-free, rendering it quite safe for irrigation or discharge into any water body. These facilities are used by 10.5 million people in India and have made a marked difference to the environment, both in urban and rural areas.

Despite the immense challenges facing the fight for better sanitation, with the right technology, implementation and funding, progress has already been made. Now it’s time to tackle the reluctance of many societies even to talk about human-waste management. Jack Sim says that the taboo of poo can be overcome with a concerted effort to be open about the issue. “The problem is people refuse to talk about toilets, and what we do not discuss, we cannot improve,” he says. “If you ask a person how many times he eats a day, he’ll know. If you ask him how many times he visits the toilet a day, that’ll be the first time in his life he starts counting. Just like other taboos such as sex, leprosy, AIDS, women’s liberation and so on, after we are able to speak about it, we will wonder why we were so coy about it before. When public toilets are finally accepted as a lifestyle product, life will be wonderful inside the toilet – it will be a room full of inspiration!”

Sean Mooney is a writer and editor based in Sydney, Australia. He has lived and worked in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. When he isn’t writing about travel and cultural issues, he is editing a group of free magazines for parents that encourage a better understanding of our children.

Did You Know?

Resources available for communities seeking sanitation solutions:

* The Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies can be downloaded free of charge at www.sandec.ch and www.wsscc.org.

* A handbook on Community-led Total Sanitation is available for free download at www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/resources

* Go to www.wateraid.org/splash_out/fun_and_games/7195.asp for The Adventures of Super Toilet, a fun reminder for children of the importance of clean toilets.

* A collection of songs, photos, posters, games, artworks and other advocacy materials promoting sanitation can be found at www.worldtoilet.org/resources.asp?no=2

* The World Health Organization’s catalogue of water, sanitation and hygiene information products is online at www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en/

* The General Assembly of the United Nations’ International Year of Sanitation website is http://esa.un.org/iys/

In May I passed through the busy Frankfurt airport and what I have always admired about that airport is the way they have tried to place sanitation facilities in almost every corner. Certainly one does not lack access to that facility no matter how needy. However, having come from a meeting of  National Coordinators with the WSSCC who had alluded to the fact that there are some marginalized communities that do not have  access to sanitation and if they do it may not be safe or dignified, I started looking at the facilities at Frankfurt from a different lens. By some stroke of coincidence I was standing with my four old just coming out of the ladies toilet where he had seen some ladies cleaning themselves up when a gentleman rushed in with a six year old girl. He ushered his little girl into the ladies, stood outside hesitantly, urgently called the girl out. Needless to mention the little girl was dancing with the need to use the loo. The father had obviously had second thoughts about leaving an unaccompanied minor alone. This gentleman rushed into the gents with the little girl. I have not used the gents before so I don’t know how it looks like but if it is the standard room that has urinals with lots of men using the toilet, I felt sense of panic for the little girl - what would she see?

When we talk about improved access and coverage for sanitation, it is generally assumed that we are talking about an adult who is able to use a latrine without supervision. In recent years a debate has emerged about meeting the needs of the vulnerable and marginalized communities. This debate looks into the different gender needs, physically disabled and perhaps the elderly, homeless and so forth. Rarely do we consider children or do we see a problem in the provision of sanitation. Children are assumed to be infants generally looked after by their parents and their fecal waste managed by the adults. And yet there are these age groups that are still not adult enough to use the public facilities alone and will need adult supervision. It is not always that adults are traveling with the same sex children, which is posing a problem on deciding which toilet to use. The forgotten or marginalized community here are children who are are still young and need supervision.

Not only do we not have latrines that are child friendly and can be used at public airports, but the technology often does not carter for children. If we look at the toilet seat, most children are unable to use the latrine without having to touch the seat, which compromises their hygiene. Furthermore seating on a large seat designed for adults is uncomfortable and must make the job even more difficult. Secondly most airports and public places are now going for automatic technologies to minimize the risk of transmitting germs; children are unable to touch the sensors that will trigger the flow of water. Thus if a child goes into the toilet alone, he will definitely not wash his hands.

In my country (Zimbabwe) the debate over sanitation and its appropriateness has long been raving. If we look at the Ventilated improved pit that has a squat hole, children are generally unable to use it. Furthermore the toilets are dark in order to control flies and it is this darkness that is a deterrent to them. There are some communities that are still using public shared latrines in some parts of Zimbabwe and again talking to parents in Mutate, they indicated that their children below the age of eight do not use the public latrines but rather use buckets. The fear is that usage of public latrines compromises the safety, hygiene and security of the children.

It seems to me that the writing is on the wall- children are the forgotten community in the provision and design of latrines. The Convention on the rights of the child which has been signed by over 180 countries emphasizes meeting the needs of the child and protecting these minors. Sanitation provision should not therefore place the children in danger (as has been recorded that some abuse takes place in toilets), it should ensure their privacy, safety and dignity. As we strive to meet our sanitation target let us think about this growing population that is sometimes voiceless and is often not given an opportunity to articulate their specific needs.

Noma Neseni, IWSD, Zimbabwe, May 2009

noma[at]iwsd.co.zw

New Steering Committee members elected

WSSCC makes its mark at the 5th World Water Forum

WSSCC Members & Partners

The widening world of WSSCC

Member article - the impact of advocacy workshops

From vision to reality: WASH Coalitions working for safe water and basic sanitation

Reaching out to people in a language they understand

WSSCC in motion May - August 2009

AND MUCH MORE!

Download the newsletter in English, French or Spanish here.

The social mobilization group, a sub-unit of the Health and
WASH clusters, was formed to support scaling up hygiene
promotion nationwide. Oxfam, Unicef and WHO are lead
agencies supporting the Ministry of Health in its efforts to
ensure a cleaner environment for today's and future generations.
The social mobilization team supports a broad scale movement
to engage people’s participation in achieving awareness and
behaviour change to prevent cholera. The team will endeavour
to involve all segments of society; decision and policy makers,
opinion leaders, bureaucrats and technocrats, professional
groups, religious associations, the private sector, communities
and individuals. The principle of community involvement is
critical to empower individuals and groups for action.

This group of sanitation ambassadors is among many other
activities mobilising for the establishment of a National Clean-up
day. Experiences elsewhere have shown that if organized well
and supported at policy level this could be an answer to the
mounting sanitation challenges in most urban areas in Africa.
Those who have travelled to Uganda where a national clean-up
day has been declared report that people take the exercise seriously
and all other essential services stop to pave the way for the clean
up. If as a foreigner you have to travel on the day, you may find
no transport because everyone is expected to be cleaning. One
visitor to that country said they had to book into a hotel close to
the airport so that once the clean up is finished, they could
easily rush to the airport to catch their flight.

This exercise has shifted responsibility for a cleaner
environment to everyone as opposed to just the service
providers. It then means that even individuals take responsibility
of their environment.

We in Harare used to have a “Keep Harare Clean” slogan which
over the years has been relegated to the archives, but we
believe it is time to revive our clean cities campaign. With the
advent of cholera in our cities the call can not be over
emphasized. The social mobilization group is the beginning of
such a movement and the Institute of Water and Sanitation
Development is proud to be part of this process.

Sanitation is dignity, aluta continua.

Read the 2009 third issue of the Institute's of Water and Sanitation Development (Zimbabwe) newsletter here.

The theme for the workshop was “promotion of safe water, sanitation and hygiene”. The objectives were to increase the knowledge of media personnel on basic sanitation and hygiene issues; to develop appropriate information, education and communication materials for sanitation and hygiene promotion and to translate key messages for sanitation and hygiene into four major Nigerian languages. Participants were drawn from the print and electronic media as well as NGOs.

The workshop included lectures, message development and translations, as well as pre-testing of designed materials. At the end of the workshop, the following recommendations were made:

1. The translated key messages should be aired by media houses at appropriate times.
2. Participants should be able to positively change Governments’ perceptions of sanitation and hygiene for positive action.
3. Participants should use these materials to promote sanitation and hygiene issues.
4. Media participants should be supported by Government at all levels, UNICEF, WATERAID and WSSCC as they continue to promote sanitation and hygiene issues in Nigeria.

For more information contact David Trouba at troubad[at]who.int.