posted on 2018-02-12, 15:09authored byFrank Greaves, Sue Yardley, E. van Hoek
The local church is often found at the heart of a community, not only upholding belief, cultural values
and social tradition, but also as a force for positive change and development. This paper illustrates how
the church is well-placed
to fulfil the vital roles necessary to deliver and sustain improved hygiene and
sanitation. It draws on case studies that illustrate church-based
responses to the need for improved
sanitation and hygiene in programmes supported by Tearfund, a Christian relief & development agency.
Five roles, key to the development and change needed to tackle the sanitation crisis, characterise the
church’s involvement: Messenger (Communicating messages about improved sanitation and hygiene);
Demonstrator (Demonstrating an improved facility or practice); Implementer (Helping communities
attain improved sanitation and hygiene through technical and financial support); Advocate (Speaking out
to policymakers with, and on behalf of, communities); Guardian (Maintaining the gains achieved through
improved hygiene and sanitation).
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Research Unit
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Published in
WEDC Conference
Citation
GREAVES, F. ... et al, 2009. The role of the church in improving access to sanitation. IN: Shaw, R.J. (ed). Water, sanitation and hygiene - Sustainable development and multisectoral approaches: Proceedings of the 34th WEDC International Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18-22 May 2009, 5p.p.
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/