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Community Led Total Sanitation approach : some personal field experiences from Bangladesh

Abstract
Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a participatory approach to hygiene. Developed in Bangladesh in late 2000. It has inspired people to carry out their own appraisals and ensure total sanitation of the community. The approach has successfully engaged all sorts of people, including children, to work collectively for total sanitation. The early success and rapid spread of CLTS has occurred without much research into its processes.

The most significant outcomes of CLTS are:

  • People can buy cheap latrines, which means they can install them immediately using their own resources.
  • Government Organization (GO)- Non- Government Organization (NGO) coordination has brought momentum to the issue.
  • There has been mutual support for installing latrines at community level.
  • Spontaneous leaders have emerged as part of the process to mobilize the people.
  • Rural Sanitation Engineers have developed among the community; they provide technical support on the installation of latrines.
  • Use of safe water has increased significantly though water remains scarce in some areas during the dry season and floods.

Community initiatives and outside support have significantly reduced open defecation, despite a lack of subsidy for domestic latrines. However, some people still practise open defecation. This is mostly because they did not repair latrines after they collapsed, or failed for a long time to share other latrines. Some NGOs are providing and subsidizing tube wells to the community at public places, including educational institutions and growth centres. Local government is using 20% of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) fund for the total sanitation programme.

Management of solid domestic waste and better hygiene practice are the two major components of CLTS that require more in-depth attention and follow-up by the spontaneous leaders and the implementing organisations. Change in practice from open defecation to the use of hygienic latrines and other hygienic practices will take time and requires strong commitment from all stakeholders.

Regular monitoring and follow-up by the community and NGO staff are necessary for the sustainability of the CLTS approach. The general assumption is that once people are accustomed to using latrines and safe water, they will not opt for open defecation.

We have identified the following issues as effective and essential to scale up this approach:

  • proper ignition
  • systematic facilitation support
  • active community participation
  • affordable options for latrines and tube wells
  • easy access to raw materials
  • coordination with local government and other organisations
  • regular follow-up.

Cite as: Huda, E. (2008). Community Led Total Sanitation approach : some personal field experiences from Bangladesh. In: Beyond construction : use by all : a collection of case studies from sanitation and hygiene promotion practitioners in South Asia. London, UK, WaterAid and Delft, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Available at: http://www.irc.nl/page/40450

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