Jul 23 2010 @ 15:20

Igniting improved sanitation practices in rural Malawi

The experiences of EWB’s short-term volunteers, called Junior Fellows, are raw with the realities of life in rural Africa, such as the effects of water-borne diseases caused by poor sanitation practices.

Since early June, Keith Arnstead, a Junior Fellow from EWB’s University of Regina chapter, has been working in rural Malawi to apply a behavior-change approach to improved sanitation practices.

The approach is called Community Led Total Sanitation, and it helps rural communities recognize that they have the knowledge, materials and skills to abstain from open defecation and build safe sanitation facilities and practices.

EWB overseas volunteer Dan Beck speaks with a woman while a community walks as part of a Community-Led Total Sanitation facilitation.

Realizing traditional development failures

Keith has only been on the ground for a few months, but he has already helped trigger sanitation behavior change in five communities with the Community Led Total Sanitation approach. His experiences in the last village, called George Nkosi, were particularly poignant.

“I arrived at George Nkosi village to implement the Community Led Total Sanitation approach, and at first everything seemed to be going just like the others,” says Keith. “But after looking around for a few minutes, I begin to see that this would not be a regular sanitation triggering.”

What Keith saw was the entire community of George Nkosi under a giant tree sitting on unused latrine covers – called sanitary platforms – awaiting the Community Led Sanitation facilitation. These sanitary platforms are often dropped off by large development organisations, in an attempt to change sanitation practices by providing the materials to build new latrines.

Taking a behavior change approach

Soon after, Keith and the facilitation team went around with the villagers to identify where open defecation had occurred. They did so to discuss the link between their food and water supply, and the practice of open defecation.

The idea is to drive a sense of disgust about the outcomes of poor sanitation. At the same time, Keith and the other facilitators helped the community members work out the costs associated with open defecation. Health clinics and medicines are expensive for diseases that often are a result of open defecation, and the Community Led Total Sanitation approach helps the communities see this link more clearly.

“The idea is that we don’t tell the community to build latrines,” says Keith, “It’s the community’s own idea and ownership of the idea, because after the Community Led Total Sanitation facilitation they feel a sense of shame and disgust about practicing open defecation - and that motivates them to take action.”

Igniting the desire to improve sanitation

And this is exactly what happened. Shortly after the training had occurred, the Village Headman George Nkosi announced that the sanitation platforms would be removed by the next day, so the community could begin building effective latrines.

In this moment, Keith recognized that the village was taking control of their future as a result of the knowledge and skills that their work that day had imparted.

“It was exciting to see the community members change – and know that it hadn’t been donor imposed on them without any hope of it changing their behavior. This is why Community led Total Sanitation works, because it ignites sustainable change from within,” notes Keith.

The future

But this is just the beginning for George Nkosi village, as it is for the other four villages where Keith helped to improve sanitation practices since his arrival. He is looking forward to returning to the villages before he leaves Malawi in August, to monitor their progress, provide support and hopefully present them with their open-defecation free certification.

At times, life in rural Africa is ripe with seemingly insurmountable hurdles. But then there are days like the one Keith spent in George Nkosi village, where rural African communities are taking the steps necessary to ensure they live prosperous lives.