Rural women in sanitation programmes

As a part of an integrated water-sanitation study 754 twin-pit latrines were provided to about 4500 people of two villages in Mirzapur subdistrict, Bangladesh. Women were motivated to contribute in the owner­ship of individual family-based latrines. They were encouraged to participate in site-selection, construction of latrine superstructures, and maintenance of the latrines. More than 91% of the latrines were in use. Local women participated in the construction of more than 60% of the Project-community built 280 latrine superstructures. When pits of 276 latrines needed desludging, local women with some training from the project desludged 65% of the pits at a cost of about one-fourth of the price demanded by professional scavengers. These participations by the women was accepted by the society and since the area is representative of the country, this finding has implication for sustainable and effective use of two-pit latrines.