Community approaches to total sanitation – triggering and sustaining sanitation behaviour change in West Africa : paper prepared for the West Africa Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Symposium, 3-5 Nov 2009, Accra, Ghana

Community based sanitation approaches that focus on behaviour change and total sanitation have had a huge impact on sanitation coverage in parts of Africa and Asia, including greater access to sanitation, and many other benefits associated with social change. Based on experiences to date with community sanitation, UNICEF’s programming is guided by principles collectively called Community Approaches to Total Sanitation or ‘CATS’. These principles provide a common platform among regional approaches while allowing for context specific adaptations in methodology. In West Africa, a region where no country is currently on track to reach the sanitation MDG, and where over 350,000 children die every year from diarrhoeal diseases, total sanitation approaches have the promise to improve safe excreta disposal, and, as a result, to reduce the related disease burden. This paper details the background to the CATS principles, the current state of progress of CLTS (considered a CATS approach) – which is strongly promoted in the region, and some of the specific challenges faced by West African countries in implementing the approach. It will discuss capacity created for the spread of CLTS, modifications made to the approach, and plans for the addition of sanitation marketing in the drive to improve sanitation coverage throughout the West African region. (authors abstract)