Beyond construction: sanitation and hygiene

A group of 53 sanitation and hygiene promotion practitioners, including WaterAid and partner staff, met in Bangladesh in early 2008 to mark the start of the International Year of Sanitation (IYS) by sharing and learning from their peers.

Each attending organisation wrote up a case study on their work and formed a Community of Practice for sharing these experiences, reflecting on the challenges in the region and identifying ways to work together. 

All the case studies, along with an overview of the workshop and a summary paper on progress to date, are compiled in a booklet called Beyond Construction. The case studies are also published individually and are organised into country and theme below.

In addition, we are working with WaterLines to prepare a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal on sanitation in South Asia based on the workshop content.

Download the full Beyond construction: Use by all - An overview of a South Asian sanitation and hygiene practitioners' workshop ( PDF 5Mb) booklet.

WaterAid Bangladesh is exploring new methods to install toilets in urban areas, of which the main innovation has been community latrines.
To find out more, download Functionality and sustainability of community latrines ( PDF 65Kb)

Practical Action Bangladesh helped communities to gain skills and employment through their projects and negotiate better deals with their local authority on the use of land. Find out more, download Sanitation, water and hygiene programme in Faridpur ( PDF 102Kb)

Community Led Total Sanitation is a participatory approach to hygiene that has inspired different community groups to carry out their own appraisals ensuring total sanitation through collective effort. Find out more, download Community Led Total Sanitation Approach : some personal field experiences from Bangladesh ( PDF 87Kb)

The BRAC WASH initiative, supported by the Netherlands government, aims to bring sustainable water and sanitation to over 37 million Bangladeshis using intensive hygiene education to encourage lasting behaviour change. Find out more, download BRAC WASH programme ( PDF 98Kb)

Sustainable Community Owned Total Sanitation, focuses on generating sustainability through community ownership and open defecation free areas while attempting to address the complex issue of subsidy to the poor. Find out more, download Sustainable Community Owned Total Sanitation ( PDF 201Kb)

This study was conducted in Bangladesh in order to better understand the reuse of human excreta, mainly as fertiliser and alternative energy using bio-gas plants. Find out more, download The reuse of human excreta in Bangladesh ( PDF 155Kb)

This participatory study collected and disseminated data on why people were or weren't moving up the sanitation ladder to generate ideas on how to make this movement more effective. Find out more, download Moving up the sanitation ladder: a participatory study of the drivers of sustainability and progress in Community Led Total Sanitation ( PDF 287Kb)

WaterAid Bangladesh has helped put menstruation on the development agenda through an awareness-building programme as many women and girls suffer and die because of widespread ignorance and shame towards the issue. Find out more, download Menstrual hygiene: Breaking the silence ( PDF 194Kb)

Early attempts to promote hygiene in Bangladesh largely failed so hygiene education was changed to participatory hygiene promotion to encourage sustainable change by the community. Find out more, download Journey towards changing hygiene education behaviour in Bangladesh
( PDF 169Kb)

The national rural sanitation programme of the Indian government has evolved into the Total Sanitation Campaign which successfully encourages households to finance their own toilets while giving financial incentives to poorer people. Find out more, download India's national sanitation and hygiene programme: from experience to policy West Bengal and Maharashtra models provide keys to success ( PDF 425Kb)

This paper explores the use of school-based hygiene education techniques to deliver improvements into households and wider communities. Find out more, download School led sanitation promotion: helping achieve total sanitation outcomes in Azad Jammu and Kashmir
( PDF 165Kb)

Centrally driven demand means communities may often be left out; this paper focuses on community driven efforts to improve sanitation. Find out more, download Promoting sanitation through decentralised governance: a case study of Rajukhedi Panchayat in India ( PDF 97Kb)

In Kerala, India, efforts to increase accountability and transparency in water and sanitation projects helped eradicate corruption with the direct involvement of community members. Find out more, download Preventing corruption, encouraging transparency and accountability in the water and sanitation sector: a case study from Kerala, India ( PDF 158Kb)

This paper explores the development of community-accepted, sustainable ecological sanitation in Nepal by looking at the country's historical acceptance of such sanitation along with recent experience of its practice.
Find out more, download Ecological sanitation latrines: the experience of Nepal ( PDF 217Kb)

The Environmental Public Health Organisation introduced a successful wastewater treatment system in Nepal, which will be expanded to serve a whole Nepalese municipality with help from the community. Find out more, download Decentralised wastewater management using constructed wetlands ( PDF 139Kb)

UNICEF Nepal's School Led Total Sanitation allows children to act as key agents of change to create open defecation free areas, which has sped up the process of intensive latrine coverage in school catchment areas. Find out more, download School Led Total Sanitation: a successful model to promote school and community sanitation and hygiene in Nepal ( PDF 403Kb)

This paper reviews the various financing models used by sanitation programmes in Nepal and their impact on sector efficiency. Find out more, download Money down the pan? Community level models ( PDF 298Kb)

This paper reviews the social, technical, financial and policy barriers of disability as well as consequences on health, dignity, economic and social exclusion and especially the impact on women by looking at WaterAid Nepal's experiences in supporting differently-abled people to access to water and sanitation. Find out more, download Creating user-friendly water and sanitation services for the disabled: the experience of WaterAid Nepal and its partners ( PDF 109Kb)

A community-based sanitation development project has been improving infrastructures in impoverished communities, under a joint community / local authority funded scheme in Hasanpura, Pakistan. Find out more, download Development of community based sanitation infrastructure in Hasanpura, Faisalabad ( PDF 77Kb)

An environmental management programme, funded by the Netherlands government and working in informal settlements of Quetta in Pakistan, has forged partnerships between city governments, community and non-governmental organisations. To find out more, download Subsidy and sustainability in urban sanitation: the case of Quetta Katchi Abadis Environment Management Programme 1997 - 2003 ( PDF 69Kb)

The Orangi Pilot Project has since 1981 mapped predominantly informal urban settlements to help design local sewerage systems and now the entire sewerage system of Karachi, employing youths from informal settlements, helping one million people and has influenced sanitation policy in Pakistan. Find out more, download Mapping as a basis for sanitation implementation in Pakistan: the case of the Orangi Pilot Project ( PDF 273Kb)

A new partnership between WaterAid and Integrated Regional Support Programme has paved the way for the introduction of behaviour change focused Community Led Total Sanitation in northwest Pakistan. Find out more, download Community Led Total Sanitation in Pakistan
( PDF 95Kb)

UNICEF, playing a major role in the response to the devastating earthquake on 8 October 2005, created a comprehensive communication plan to create awareness and motivation on water and sanitation related diseases and their prevention learning valuable lessons for future emergencies. Find out more, download Assessment of hygiene communication plan in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan ( PDF 723Kb)

Also, check out the general case study on Sanitation and hygiene in South Asia Progress and challenges ( PDF 919Kb) which discusses progress in improving household sanitation and hygiene giving an overview of what has been achieved in South Asia.