An end to open defecation: process, cost, motivation and sustainability

Since 2000, Village Education Resource Centre (VERC) and WaterAid Bangladesh (WAB) have in partnership been pioneering a Community Led Total Sanitation Approach (CLTS), leading to an end to open defecation in over 100 villages in Bangladesh and not exclusively reliant on addressing traditional indicators such as latrine coverage and hygiene behaviour change. To explore the process, cost, motivational and sustainability factors which could support a wider application of this approach, a study was initiated through collaboration between Sophie Allan, a Master’s student at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Tawheed Reza Noor of WAB. WAB and VERC then undertook additional research activities including investigation of local government perceptions. Findings highlighted the extremely low cost of the latrines built, the importance placed upon prestige and practical need over health, the self-determined progression of households up the sanitation ladder and the enthusiastic support of local government officials.