COMMON MISCONCEPTION SURROUNDING HOUSEHOLD SANITATION PROGRAMS

COMMON MISCONCEPTION SURROUNDING HOUSEHOLD SANITATION PROGRAMS:

MISCONCEPTION 1: Better Health (Reduced Illness) Will Motivate Households to Want and Pay for Latrines

REALITY: Research from a range of countries increasingly suggests that health is not a key motivational driver for installing a household latrine. Households view latrine installation as a housing improvement, and key drivers for household latrines include factors such as increased convenience and cleanliness, status and pride, comfort, and safety (avoiding dangers such as snakes and the risk of sexual attack associated with open defecation and public latrines).

MISCONCEPTION 2: Without Subsidies Most People Will Not Adopt Improved Sanitation

REALITY: People are buying latrines and in fact most latrines in the developing world have been installed by homeowners with no subsidy. An extremely poor minority may lack the ability to buy a latrine by themselves, but most, with the right choices, knowledge, and perhaps community support mechanisms, will pay for their own latrine.

MISCONCEPTION 3: Low Cost of Latrines Is the Most Important Latrine Attribute

REALITY: There are always trade-offs in decision making, and it is increasingly clear that a cheap latrine that offers poor quality and none of the features the consumer wants will not sell. While favored features will vary across cultures, several attributes appear to be particularly important and, to many, worth paying more for—minimal sight and smell of feces, durability, ease of cleaning, operating performance, and safety for children.

MISCONCEPTION 4: High Cost Is Not the Only Barrier to Adoption of Improved Sanitation

REALITY: The high cost of many existing latrine technologies is a barrier to installation, but it is not the only one. Others, such as lack of information on available latrine technologies and lack of alternative financing options, also act as a barrier to latrine adoption. In fact, more expensive latrines are bought by households when they provide an adequate level of satisfaction and when there are alternatives to paying a lump sum for the capital cost of the latrine. These alternatives involve mechanisms that allow homeowners to pay for their latrines over time (e.g., credit and savings mechanisms; installing the hardware in stages) or to reduce capital outlay (contributing do-it-yourself labor or materials, organizing bulk purchases of goods and services, accessing government support, modifying latrine designs).

MISCONCEPTION 5: Provision of Sanitation Hardware is Enough for Health Results

REALITY: To have the desired health impacts latrine coverage must be high in a community and latrines must be maintained and used consistently. Using a marketing approach, people choose the type of sanitation they want and are more likely to value it, and thus more likely to use and maintain it.

MISCONCEPTION 6: Capacity for the Provision of Affordable Sanitation Options Exists

REALITY: Supply-side service providers, such as masons and finance organizations, may exist in a given region, but they may not have the required skills to support appropriate sanitation solutions. Masons may be familiar with housing construction and drainage based on piped solutions, but not with improved latrine technologies. Similarly, finance organizations may provide loans for home improvements but may not allow for latrine construction. This capacity needs to be developed.

(Source: http://www.hip.watsan.net/page/5007)