2. Concepts of sanitation and livelihoods

For the purpose of this TOP, ‘safe sanitation´ refers to the secure and effective management of human excreta, including treatment and reuse, and universal coverage (ie. widespread usage of safe toilets).

In this context, the concept of ‘livelihood’ refers to the use of capacities and resources by poor men and women in rural areas and on the periphery of towns and cities to undertake activities in order to survive in adverse circumstances. Livelihoods are people’s means of survival, and are fundamentally affected by the situation in which people find themselves, especially their physical, economic, social, environmental and psychological conditions.

Resources of little value to the rich, such as flooded or eroded land, may be used by the poor to improve their livelihoods. Applying this thinking to populations on the periphery of cities and small towns, where an increasing number of poor people live, points the way to developing opportunities for livelihoods both in the provision of safe sanitation, and in the production, sale and re-use of safely treated sanitation outputs.

Organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), CARE and Oxfam broadly agree that a sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) involves helping poor people to build their knowledge, skills and assets so that they are able to strengthen their environments, withstand sudden shocks from natural disasters and adapt to longer-term change. Poor people need access to natural resources (land, water etc), physical assets such as houses and roads and to political and social rights. Activities that enhance livelihoods include jobs, services and small-scale production of foodstuffs, wood, etc.

Good governance and a policy and institutional environment that reflect poor people's priorities are important elements of a sustainable livelihoods approach. Some would include a rights framework that covers economic rights, gender and social equality and the right to participation.

A livelihoods approach is people-centred, which starts from the knowledge, ideas and aspirations of the poor, and which encourages organisation and empowerment, so that poor people access resources and assets as agents of their own solutions. However, the complexity of poverty also demands cross sector support from agencies concerned with basic services, health, environment and income generation.

Once the poor stop being seen simply as beneficiaries of sanitation products and services, they can become:

• Consumers of sanitation products and services, with a variety of demands for acceptable, usable and sustainable toilets
• Producers of sanitation products as small-scale entrepreneurs
• Workers in formal or informal sanitation services sector
• Citizens participating in decision- and policy-making

Agencies and allies need to pay attention to important differences in the ability of people to play these roles related to gender, financial situation, age, and societal position. Differences also exist between rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in accessing and controlling resources.

Decentralisation has been an important factor in the change from beneficiaries to consumers, producers and workers.

The poor in many regions are gaining access to housing and learning to negotiate the acquisition of land, legalise it as their property and initiate home improvements that include new sanitation facilities. They are obtaining access to work, and transforming this into a job regulated by law, with financial and social benefits. They are also receiving appropriate training to work with communities in upgrading sanitation.

In this dynamic context, the poor should not be left to cope alone. Enabling policies, information, training, and other types of support have an important contribution to enable communities and neighbourhoods to take action and mobilise for sanitation systems, increased coverage, hygiene behavioural change and opportunities for income generation.

Sanitation provides direct support for livelihoods, for example, through ecological sanitation (EcoSan) latrines, the use of faecal material for soil reconstitution and as soil fertilizer, the use of organic waste in pisciculture and forestry, waste water treatment and reuse for urban agriculture, and a diversity of small-scale sanitation services. Manual cleaners, suction truckers, masons, public toilet operators and maintenance workers derive direct employment from sanitation services.

The indirect benefits of sanitation for livelihoods come from training, capacity building, organisational development and lobbying, and from higher level of health and hygiene.