EHS 402COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT

(4 CREDITS)

MS. OLULEGAN

“Happiness doesn't result from

what we get, but from what we

give.” ― Ben carson

…

“You give but little when you give of

your possessions. It is when you give of

yourself that you truly give.” ― Kahlil

Gibran

ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

• CLTS: Community-Led Total Sanitation

• CC: Community Consultant

• INGO: International Non Government Organization

• MDG: Millennium Development Goal

• NL: Natural Leader; Leaders emerging from ODF villages

as a result of CLTS triggering process at the local level

• OD: Open Defecation

• ODF: Open Defecation Free

• PRA: Participatory rural appraisal

• WSSCC: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative

Council

ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

• IHHS: Individual Household Hardware Subsidy

• IRSP: Integrated Rural Support Programme

• Plan RESA :Plan International, Region of Eastern and

Southern Africa

• PM: Participatory Methodology

• RSPN: Rural Support Programme Network, Pakistan

• TSC: Total Sanitation Campaign of the Indian

Government

• UNICEF: United Nations Children‟s Fund

• VERC: Village Education Resource Centre

• WSP: Water and Sanitation Programme, World Bank

Community-Led Total Sanitation

Community-Led Total Sanitation

(CLTS) focuses on igniting a change

in sanitation behavior rather than

constructing toilets. It does this

through a process of social

awakening that is stimulated by

facilitators from within or outside

the community.

When it occurs well, CLTS

• Is total, meaning that it affects all in the community

and visitors as well

• Is based on collective community decision-making

and action by all

• Is driven by sense of collective achievement and

motivations that are internal to communities, not by

external subsidies or pressures

When it occurs well, CLTS

• Leads to the emergence of new Natural Leaders

and/or highly encourages new commitment of the

existing leaders who do not need or follow a blue

print, but do things their own way

• Generates diverse local actions and innovations

• Revives traditional social practices of self-help and

community cooperation and creates new

examples of social solidarity and cooperation

between rich and the poor in achieving ODF status

When it occurs well, CLTS

• Engages men, women, youth and children in a

time-bound campaign and local action to end OD

followed by general cleaning up

• Often through the collective drive of communities

attracts local leaders, elected people‟s

representatives, the local government and NGOs to

help, support, encourage and spread ideas

When it occurs well, CLTS

• ODF communities gradually move up along the sanitation ladder and improve structure and design of their toilets through better linkages with the local businessmen and traders/dealers of sanitation hardware

• Often ODF communities don‟t stop at achieving ODF status but move on to achieving other collective common goals like „no hunger or starvation in the village‟, „no children without school enrolment and all going to school‟ „equal wages for all labours and reduced inequality of men‟s and women‟s labour‟ etc.

Two conditions are crucial:1. The attitudes and behaviour of facilitators:

Not everyone can be a good facilitator. Facilitating

CLTS is an aptitude. It can be learnt, but it will come

more naturally to some than to others. It is different

from facilitating conventional participatory processes

like PRA. Behaviour and attitudes are crucial. What

works best for triggering CLTS is a combination of

boldness, empathy, humour and fun. It demands a

hands-off approach, not teaching or lecturing, but

facilitating to enable people to confront their

unpalatable realities.

2. The sensitive support of institutions.

Not every organization is suitable for promoting CLTS.

Institutional support needs to be consistent and flexible.

Any top-down target and disbursement-driven approach is

liable to undermine CLTS, though general sanitation

campaigns can be effective provided they are used in a

„community empowerment‟ mode rather than a

„prescriptive‟ and „target achievement‟ mode. Two big

dangers are too much money, because CLTS needs

relatively little, and rapid recruitment and inadequate

orientation, training and socializing of staff. This demands a

form of restraint that is difficult in many bureaucracies.

The sequence of steps The following is a rough outline of

sequence of steps which could be

followed, and tools that could be

applied in triggering CLTS in villages.

• Pre-triggering: Selecting a

community, Introduction and

building rapport

• Triggering: Participatory sanitation

profile analysis, Ignition moment

• Post-triggering: Action planning by

the community, Follow up

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