Subsidy or Self-Respect? Participatory Total Community Sanitation in Bangladesh
Kamal Kar (2003)
How can participatory methods inspire community-led village sanitation? What are the impacts on livelihoods of this approach? This IDS working paper describes the pioneering experience of the author, a Bangladesh NGO, and Water Aid in using empowerment-focussed participatory methodologies to improve environmental sanitation. The methods enabled local people to analyse the extent and risk of environmental pollution caused by open defecation, and to construct toilets without external subsidies. Based on the success of the Bangladesh project and in particular its self-replication, the programme has also been taken to villages in India, Zambia and Cambodia.
Villagers are encouraged to design their own latrines, develop methods for including the whole village, and spread the project to neighbouring villages. Lessons from the programme include that:
The impact on livelihoods has been considerable: better prices have been obtained for crops inspected by buyers previously unwilling to enter open-defecation sites; better health –and the ability to work – have had considerable effects on income.
Good facilitation at all three levels of community, implementing agency, and donor agency/government have been key to project success.
The paper highlights some important policy implications:
Financial subsidies should be used to facilitate community understanding of the risks of open defecation, and to train community catalysts to spread the programme, rather than investing in infrastructure.
The final impact (elimination of open defecation) of a project is the relevant measure of success, rather than final output (construction of toilets).
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Document Relevance
- DFID Programme Sector: Health, Infrastructure, Sanitation
- DFID Programme Process: Analysis, Empowerment, Environmental Assessment, Participation
- DFID Programme Region: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Zambia
Publication Details
- Publisher: Institute of Development Studies
- Language(s): English
- Series: IDS Working Paper 184
- Year: 2003
Comments on gaps in or recommendations for the Key Documents database
are welcome at: livelihoods-connect@ids.ac.uk
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