Comparison and adaption of social change dynamics for the collective abandonment of open defecation : report

Sanitation is a basic condition for development. Improved sanitation is important because it makes human health better, promotes economic and social development and also helps the environment. The identification of waste management as integral to sustainable urban development is increasingly recognized by the international aid and development community. This is because total sanitation in Africa faces lots of challenges which are related to the behaviour of the populations both in rural environments as well as deprived urban settings (peri-urban areas). Examples of the challenges are lack of infrastructure, indiscriminate disposal of waste water in public places, lack of control for the collection and treatment of waste and more importantly open defecation. The effects of open defecation are many. It does not only affect the ground water but remains one of the essential causes of diseases like bilharzias, tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. The experience of poor nations such as Ghana shows that the physical provision of services (toilets, KVIPs, refuse disposal containers, etc) alone is not a sufficient precondition for sustainability or improvement of health and well being of people. Greater attention needs to be focused on elements of behavioral change and sustainability through user participation in planning, implementation, management and cost sharing. [authors abstract]