BASICS OF COMMUNITY – LED TOTAL SANITATION (CLTS)

¹ Sanitarian A.N. Amadi Ph.D, Fseh, Frsph(Uk) and² Olabisi Agberemi

1.  Head, Public Health Technology & Wash Consultant

Federal University of Technology, Owerri

Email: amadian2003@yahoo.com

2.  WASH Specialist, UNICEF Abuja

RESUME

ASSAINISSEMENT TOTAL PORTE PAR LACOMMUNAUTE          

L’assainissement total porte par lacommunaute est une method innovatrice qui mobilize des communauties a eliminer completement la defecation en plein air. Petra Banqautz et Robert Chambers I’ ont defini comme etent “une nouvelle approche pour la promotion de l’assainissement qui encourage une analyse personelle communautaire des methodes de et des dangers poses par la defecation en plein air”.

toutetois, cette methode fait face a des defis dont quelques-uns incluent: un suivi inadequat par les unites d’hygiene et d’assainissement d’eau du gouvernement local l’existence d’un grand ecert entre les communautes integrees et celles accomplissant la reduction ou l’eradication de la defecation en plein air.

par consequent, il faut qu’il y ait une formation continue de facilitatuers au niveau du gouvernement local et que les communautes forment des comites de suivi et d’evaluation des programmes de l’assainissement total pote par le communaute.

PREAMBLE

Since the down of civilization, man has been involved in various activities within his environment. Those activities have the propensity of generating waste which is susceptible to making the environment inhabitable, i.e., filthy and unhealthy (Kamal and Roberts, 2004).

This view of waste generation is not only limited to man’s activities. As a matter of fact, it is also extended to man himself. It is hardly credible for man to think of himself as an author of nuisance. However, what he produces, after consuming foods of different sorts, is waste, which is also capable of making the environment inhabitable.

It follows, then, that, whenever humans gather their waste, whether as a result their activities or as by-products of what they consume, also accumulates. This accumulation poses a serious health hazard to man, especially, within his habitat, so it has to be kept in check and, if possible, eradicated for the environment to be neat and healthy. 

Generally, excreta management/sanitation can be divided into on-site and off-site technologies. On-site systems (e.g. latrines) store and/or treat excreta at the point of generation. In off-site systems (e.g. sewerage) excreta are transported to another location for treatment, disposal or use. Some on-site systems, particularly in densely populated areas or with permanent structures, will have off-site treatment components, as well.

On-site disposal: In many places, particular in areas with low population densities, it is common to store and treat waste where they are produced – on-site. There are a number of technical options for on-site waste management which, if designed, constructed, operated and maintained correctly, will provide adequate service and health benefits when combined with good hygiene. On-site systems include ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines, double vault composting latrines, pour-flush toilets, and septic tanks. Dry sanitation or ecological-sanitation (Eco-San) is an on-site disposal method that requires the separation of urine and faeces. Building and operating these systems is often much less expensive than off-site alternatives. Some on-site systems (e.g., septic tanks or latrines in densely packed urban areas) require sludge to be pumped out and treated off-site. Composting latrines allow waste to be used as a fertilizer after it has been stored under suitable conditions to kill worm eggs and other pathogens.

Off-site disposal: In more densely packed areas, sewerage systems are frequently used to transport waste off-site where it can be treated and disposed of. Conventional centralized sewerage systems require an elaborate infrastructure and large amount of water carry the water away. This type of approach may work well in some circumstances, but is impractical for many other locations- -e.g., Nigeria.

To ensure a neat and healthy environment, consequently, individuals and communities have to embrace the habit of proper disposal of solid and liquid waste through various means and methods. One of such means and methods is Community – Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) (Bwure, 2010).

Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is one of the latest innovations of encouraging individuals and communities to adapt in order to keep free from any activities injurious to good health, especial for instance, human defecation. This method is based upon the premise that subsidies can slow and inhibit the spread of sanitation.

CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY – LED TOTAL SANITATION

Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is an innovative methodology for mobilizing communities with a view to eradicating Open Defecation (OD). Also, it can be said to be a new approach to sanitation promotion which encourages community self-analysis of existing defecation patterns and threats, and promotes local solutions to reduce and ultimately eliminate the practice of Open Defecation’ (Petra Banqaitz and Robert Chambers, 2009). This definition entails that (CLTS) processes can precede and lead on to, or occur simultaneously with,

-      Improvement of latrine designs

-      adoption and improvement of hygienic practices

-      Solid waste management

-      Waste water disposal

-      Care

-      Protection and maintenance of drinking water sources, and

-      Other environmental health and sanitation strategies.

In many cases, CLTS initiates a series of new collective local development actions by OD communities. (Kamal Kar 2004 & moore Community-Led Total Sanitation is total and involves or affects everyone in the communities. Collective decision-taking and collective local actions are the keys of CLTS, which enhance social solidarity and cooperation in abundance. At the heart of CLTS lies the recognition that merely providing toilets does not guarantee their use, nor result in improved sanitation and hygiene. Rather, people decide together how they will create a clean and hygienic environment that benefits everyone.

PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES OF CLTS

With a view to achieve total sanitation, that is, Open Defecation free communities led by a sustainable use of safe, affordable and user-friendly solutions and/or technologies,

1.  Total sanitation must include provision of sanitation facilities such as dustbins latrines, urines, adequate bathrooms, hand washing equipment, water, soap, etc. in schools, health centers, markets, dormitories and other public places.

2.  In CLTS, communities must be in charge of the change process and use their capacity to attain their envisioned objectives. Community members themselves must be allowed to play a control role in planning, with special attention to the need of women, children and other vulnerable groups;

3.  Subsidies (in the form of funds, hard wares, etc) are not to be given straight to households. Community rewards and incentives should be acceptable only where they encourage collective action, total sanitation, and are used to attain sustainable use of sanitation facilities (as opposed to the construction of infrastructures without educating people on how to use and maintain them)’

4.  For sustainable CLTS, local communities must be empowered towards more participatory activities;

5.  The visibility of community activities must be strengthened;

6.  Local and international linkages with donor agencies and other stakeholders on sanitation should be strengthened;

7.  There must be improvement upon initiation of community – driven health and sanitation activities such as the one organized by Center for Women, Gender and Development Studies (CWGDS).

8.  There must be capacity building in rural and urban areas through training;

9.  Local and international policies should be made available to communities so that these may contribute to policy debates;

10.              There should be routine tests of self-mobilization of communities;

11.              CLTS must contribute to research in order to enhance community knowledge on the operations of land use Decrees and Acts, etc. (Kamal 2004, Moore & Mckee 2012).

STRATEGIES OF CLTS

In order to attain its objectives, CLTS employs several strategies, which include the following:

1.  Given priority to sanitation and hygiene.

2.  Mobilizing political will.

3.  Requiring good approaches to sanitation and hygiene development.

4.  Building on existing practices.

5.  Paying attentions to gender,

6.  Harmonizing institutional frameworks for service delivery.

7.  Enforcing existing sanitation laws.

8.  Involving NGOs, community-base organizations (CNOs) and private sectors.

9.   Sourcing for more funds, specially for sanitation and hygiene     

ATTRIBUTES OF CLTS

CLTS possesses attributes that depict its actions. it is….

1.  focused: It focuses on stopping open defecation;

2.  Encompassing: It employs and relies on the collective action of the members of a community to stop defecation within the community;

3.  Insightful: It recognize that sanitation is both a public and a private good, and that individual hygiene behavior can affect a whole community;

4.  Unprovisioning: I t does not take the responsibility of building toilet for a community; rather, it mandates households to finance their own toilets;

5.  Promotional: It promotes low cost home – made toilets constructed with local materials (rather than standard toilet designs imposed by outsiders) with provision to climb up the sanitation ladder; 

6.  Improving: It seeks general improvement in personal, household and environmental hygiene (including hand washing);

7.  Additional: It increases ownership and sustainability of hygiene of sanitation activities.

DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH POOR SANITATION

It is a well known fact that human excreta have been implicated in the transmission of many infectious diseases including cholera, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, polio, cryptosporidiosis and ascariasis. WHO (2004) estimates that about 1.8 million people annually where 90% are children under five, mostly in developing countries.

Poor sanitation gives many infections the ideal opportunity to spread. Common sanitation and hygiene related diseases are Lice, Lymphatic filariasis, Ringworm, Scabies, Soil transmitted helminthiasis and Trachoma.

Others are amebiasis, Buruli Ulcer, Campylobacter, Cholera, Cryptoporidiosis, Cyclosporiasis, Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), Escherichia coli) Fascioliasis, Giardiasis, Hepatitis, Leptospirosis Norovirus, Rotavirus Salmonella, Schistosomiasis, Shigellosis, Typhoid Fever.

Sanitation and hygiene are very important to health, survival and development. A great amount of disease can be prevented and averted through better access to convenient sanitation equipment and better hygiene practices. Improved sanitation facilities (for example, toilets and latrines) allow people to dispose of their waste appropriately, which helps break the infection cycles of many diseases. (Amadi, 2009).

CLTS IN NIGERIA AND CHALLENGES

Community-Led Total Sanitation and its adaptations were piloted in Nigeria from 2004-2007 in a number of communities. The pilot interventions were carried out by such organizations as UNICEF, Water Aid, State and Local Governments. Based upon the outcome of such interventions, CLTS was adopted as a major approach for moral sanitation development.

In 2010, UNICEF engaged DR. Kamal Kar to make a fast evaluation of CLTS implementation in Nigeria and facilitate a national training of master trainers on the effective scaling up of CLTS. The main finding of the evaluation was that the CLTS approach in the project areas had been generally very successful in promoting significant reduction in t he practice of open defecation free status. 

However, many problems are still recorded in the project areas. They are as follows:

1.  The government is not pro-active in following up and monitoring CLTS activities in designated areas.

2.  There is lack of baseline data on community sanitation owing to poor record keeping and documentation.

3.   There are delay in implementing open defecation free guidelines and discrepancies in recording open defecation free status.

4.  The upward movement on the sanitation ladder is very slow.

5.  NGOs scarcely get involved in promoting community-Let Total Sanitation.

6.  Facilities for scaling up CLTS are inadequately skilled.

7.  There is still a big gap between the number of triggered communities and the numbers achieving open defecation free (ODF) (Rukuni, 2010).

There is need for on-going research in the area of CLTS.

REFERENCE

Amadi, A.N (2009) Modern Environmental Sanitation; Owerri, Nationwide Printers & publishing Co. Ltd. Bwure, Buluwa (2010) Breaking Shit Taboos: CLTS in Kenya; participatory learning & Action, 61(1) Pg 91-96.

Da silva Wells, Carmen and Sijbesma Christine (2012) Development in Practice’ 22 (3)P 417-426 Kamal Kar &Robert Chambers (2004) Handbook on Community-led Total Sanitation Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK. 

Moore Tom & Mckee Kiai (2012) Empowering Local Government? An international review of Community Land Trust Housing 27 (20 pg 280-290).

Rukuni Samuel (2010): Challenging Mindsets: CLTS and Government Policies in Zimbabwe’ Participatory Learning and action (10 pg 1141-14).