Socio-cultural and Institutional Challenges in Sanitation Bahadar Nawab, PhD Head Development Studies/Sustainable Sanitation COMSATS University, Abbottabad, Pakistan

Conventional water and sanitation Sustainable Sanitation Paradigm Shifts in Sanitation Sustainable Sanitation Time line Since human life until till to date New baby

Sustainable Sanitation Society Must not be imposed on

Sustainable Sanitation Society Development of Technical solutions together with community

Different problem definitions Different solutions Technical problem? Better designs… Ecological problem? Improved toilets, treatment or re-use of waste… Poor hygiene practices? Health and hygiene training. Economic constraints? Subsidies or loans. Not only who should define the solutions, but who should define the problem????

Water and Sanitation in Pakistan Acute crisis, fear of health problems from poor sanitary conditions Problem: lack of sanitation and water facilities Solution: Provision of water, toilets and/or latrines

Importance of understanding socio- cultural aspects of sanitation Current policy and technologies are based on very simple, universal, western-based ideas of problems and solutions within sanitation: –What is the problem? How is it identified? –What is the solution? How is impact measured?

The Challenge Little attention is paid to understanding how people view sanitation or think about potential links between hygiene, poor health and sanitation. Many countries blindly followed the conventional and the western excreta handling approaches

Today the focus of intervention is to eliminate open defecation by constructing latrines, toilets and drains But does it help? People who are excreting and government departments who are dealing with excreta tend to have different understanding and know-how, malignancy, disposal techniques and re-use options The Challenge

How to enter the community People’s perceptions about sanitation How they make choices and decisions about sanitation How they get support for their desired project and implement it

The Challenge Who sets sanitation policies? Who defines their goals and objectives? Who is implementing the policies  how and for whom? Are the existing and proposed sanitation institutions in compliance with local actors’ perceptions, values, local institutions and practices? How do the different actors perceive and communicate with each other? Do they have common ground for understanding and overcoming sanitation issues?

How can we understand local people practices, priorities, preferences and perceptions about sanitation and development technical solutions together with them The Challenge

Institutional aspects Socio- cultural aspects Ecological aspects

We need to better understand how individual residents, local communities and government staff reason and view their sanitation conditions in order to improve the success rate of interventions We need to know the historical and prevailing norms, attitudes and perceptions about sanitation arrangements How we overcome those Challenges?

How we overcome those Challenges? (Three Stories from Pakistan)

Case-1 (Wet Ecological Sanitation) 49 household 673 individual One tube well 53 underground water tank 12 households have pit latrine Greywater in the streets

Methodology Individual meetings with key persons Community meetings with the men Open-ended interview with: –Household heads/ members –Religious scholars/Imam –Head of local government Group meetings with women

Community Initiative Made village committee with a name of ”Help Yourself” Negotiate with local government Implement ecological sanitation project

Greywater

Sanitation Solution Constraint and opportunities Option 1 Street pavements Option 2 Flush toilet + sewer system Options 3 Urine- diverting toilet + treatment system for greywater Options 4 Pit latrine Commnity Choice Households toilet connected to sewer system +treatment through wetland (ecological sanitation)

Constructed wetlands in Faizabad Machaki

Constructed wetlands (cont)

Water-based Ecological Sanitation

Constructed wetland: 6900 m 2 11 ponds 455 m 3 /day 7.8 days retention time Case-2 Natural Treatment of Wastewater

Processes for retention of pollutants

Aerial Photograph of Gadoon CW

Results

Wetland performance Pollution retention % solids 74% anions 25% BOD pH to % heavy metals 88% anions 70% solids 53% COD and increase pH

Case- 3 Dry Ecological Sanitation in Northern Pakistan

Case-3 from Northern Pakistan (cont.) superstructure Pit Excreta Pit holes

Case-3 from Northern Pakistan (cont.) Photo: Ghulam Mohammad Pit emptying door Raw pit manure Human manure in the field

How can we understand socio-cultural values and engage people to improve their lives?

Action Research?

Diagnosis -Documenting the change process -Data gathering -Identifying present state and barrier to change -Building trust and relationship with people Evaluation -Formulating strategy and policy for action -Developing leadership for change Specifying learning -Monitoring the change -Ongoing review of method and outcomes -Evaluating the effectiveness of the change programe Action taking -Feeding back data analysis -Gaining ownership and commitment to action -Identify change -Fine-tuning change Learning process Action planning -Issue and problem identification -Data interpretation Action Research Model (Susman & Evered, 1978)

Dual Aim of Action Research (McNiff & Whitehead, 2006) First you can improve learning to improve practices. Second you can advance knowledge and theory, i.e., new ideas about how things can be done and why; facilitate communication. Action Knowledge

Conclusions Local people have the potential and capability to solve their sanitation problem if they are given the opportunity to be involved from inception to completion of the sanitation projects Ecological sanitation needs to be diversified and adapted to people’s culture, values and demands rather than generalize solutions developed under completely different conditions.

Conclusion The worldwide hue and cry on sanitation is encouraging sign but the efforts of decades seems less productive. New sanitation approaches and slogans are discovered and implemented which often drains the donors and public money but contribute little to the environmental and health benefits associated with the improved sanitation.

Conclusion The whole reform of sanitation institutions is restricted to experts and bureaucrats who decide the technical, administrative, legal and policy solutions for the rest of the actors. The experts’ solutions therefore, usually fall short of community expectations

If research is to improve practice, then action research has much to offer research as well sanitation solutions, and it may assist bridging the gap between research and practice. We need to understand sanitation problem in a holistic way and then build on local men and women’s practices, norms, values, and institutions and try to make their existing practices safer rather than imposing on them new regulations and foreign solutions. Conclusion (Cont.)

New Paradigm of Sustainable Sanitation Socio- Cultural aspects Ecological aspects Economic and Institutional aspects Technical aspects Sustainable sanitation Health Development

Thank You