Reaching the hard to reach

Savitr Jatav, pictured here with her disabled son, was able to gain access to an appropriately-designed latrine close to her home.

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

For many of us it is hard to imagine life without safe water flowing from a tap and a toilet nearby at all times. But imagine not only living without these conveniences, but having also to live with a physical disability like Savitr Jatav who is blind.

"I used to fall very often trying to find somewhere to go; you can see the injury on my legs and on my son's hands. My son is also handicapped and he has to walk on his hands, which was hard when he had to go to the toilet in the scrubland," says Savitr.

Very often, people with disabilities like Savitr and her son are marginalised and overlooked in public life. WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. In order to reach people on the edges of society we ensure that equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work.

Savitr was invited by WaterAid's partner, Sambhav, to join the local self-help group in the slum where she and her son live, near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh state, India. With help from local engineers, she was then able to build a suitable latrine close to her home.

This new well in Mali is designed to reduced the risk of falling for blind users, helping them to draw their own safe water.

Credit: WaterAid / Thomas Russell

Considering the needs of marginalised people in the planning, building and management of water and sanitation projects is vital for ensuring new facilities are accessible to everybody in a community. Often the solutions are very simple. In Mali, our work in the rural village of Kolokani has helped make latrines accessible to residents with physical disabilities. Previously, sanitation facilities had not been designed with disabled people in mind.

Users had to use their hands to support themselves in the latrine and they found it difficult to stay clean once they had washed - exacerbating the social stigma of having a physical disability. By making simple adjustments such as adding raised seats and support bars to existing latrines, disabled users were able to use facilities with dignity, and without putting their health at risk.

These are the principles of equity and inclusion in action. The success of projects like the ones in India and Mali, and countless more besides, emphasise the need to involve whole communities in the implementation of water and sanitation services so that everyone's needs are considered from the outset and the benefits are felt by all.