Consultation on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in Nepal
Organised by Plan InternationalNepal, and Water Aid and NEWAH Nepal,
(7th –14th July 2004)
Dr. Kamal Kar
Social and Participatory Development Consultant
GC 157, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700091
India
E-mail: and
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Consultation on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in Nepal 07-14, July 2004 – Dr. Kamal Kar
Consultation on Community Led Total Sanitation
Organised by Plan InternationalNepal and, Water Aid and NEWAH, Nepal
(7th –14th July 2004)
1.1 I was invited by Plan, Nepal to assess the rural sanitation situation, and help in introducing the concept of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in Nepal and train a few front line staff on the process of triggering CLTS. This weeklong consultancy work included theoretical orientation of Plan country office staff, Water Aid and partner NGO NEWAH staff in Kathmandu and hands on training of front line staff of a number of key agencies working in WATSAN sector in Nepal. The consultancy began on 7th July and ended on 14th July with a presentation at Hotel Himalaya in Kathmandu that was attended by at least 40 participants from 10 different agencies of Nepal. (Please see list of participants of Kathmandu workshop- Nabinjee/Amarjee, please attach list of participants of 14th July workshop – (Please Rrefer to the last page for the List of Participants during interaction programme at Hotel Himalaya)
1.2 As a whole the initiative of introducing CLTS in Nepal by Plan jointly with Water Aid and NEWA and NEWAH was remarkable and timely. The activities carried out during this consultancy included three major presentations to Plan country office staff, Water Aid and NEWAH head office staff and about forty senior staff from different international development agencies like GTZ, UNICEF, Nepal Red Cross, Helvetas, CARE Nepal, WHO, Water Aid Nepal, Plan Nepal, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (RWSSFDB), Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS), Government of Nepal, NAVIN, Apex body of the VDCs and a number of national and local NGOs. (Please see the list of participants of 14th July presentation). Additionally a two days interactive workshop with fieldwork was also organized for the front line staff of many agencies in the Terai region ofin western Nepal.
1.3 Although there is no agency in Nepal promoting sanitation without subsidy at present, the enthusiasm shown towards CLTS by most of the WATSAN actors of Nepal was remarkable. All seemed to have liked the idea of Community Led Total Sanitation very much and were enthused by the “community led” process. Apparently all the participants who attended the field training and triggering exercises in four villages in Plan Nepal program area in Makwanpur Bara district seemed to have enjoyed the process and have learnt the facilitation skills. (Please see the evaluation of the two days workshop).
1.4 Plan Nepal and Water Aid Nepal have been trying to really trigger CLTS in a few villages in Nepal for quite some time after its development in Bangladesh. A group of field staff and professionals visited Bangladesh to see and learn the process of CLTS in villages’ where Plan Bangladesh and VERC have been working. A good number of people from WAN, Plan Nepal, NEWAH and other agencies also attended the SACOSAN workshop held early last year in Dhaka. Based on their exposure visit to Bangladesh, NEWAH had initiated work of CLTS in 3-4 villages in Nepal six months ago. The experience of that work seems not very encouraging. After six months, not a single village is free from open defecation totally so far. A few a few NEWAH staff members who attended my presentation in Kathmandu raised serious doubts on the applicability of CLTS in Nepal condition. A couple of experienced and committed front line staff who were involved in the process of piloting/implementing CLTS in Nepal were also very critical about its efficacy in Nepal. They in fact didn’t want to believe that total sanitation without subsidy was possible in Nepal. This argument of the frontline staff was very useful which raised good debate in the first day of the CLTS workshop in Hetauda. Some of their experience showed that less than 50% of the households had built and used toilets in some villages where they triggered CLTS six months earlier. Open defecation was still continuing. However this experience of NEWAH raised good discussion in the workshop contributing to conceptual clarity of CLTS approach.
1.5 However after the two days workshop and the fieldwork all the participants from NEWAH seemed to have been convinced about its potentiality in Nepal. All the four village communities where CLTS were triggered by the four groups of workshop participants declared that they would stop open defecation in 2-3 months time with their own initiatives. No community said that they would continue open defecation until external subsidy was given to them. A proper follow up support will be essential. Time will prove if this approach works out in Nepal as it has been working well in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia and in a few other countries in Asia and in Africa.
1.6 Many participants informed that in spite of repeated requests over last one and half years from Water Aid Nepal, NEWAH and Plan Nepal, the Water Aid Bangladesh couldn’t send any team to Nepal to arrange any “hands-on” training on CLTS for the front line field staff of these agencies. Water Aid Bangladesh seemed to remain too busy to respond to this request from NepalNepal urgently. It seems WAB informed about their availability for help and support after about six months. VERC is the partner NGO of WAB who could have done the initial work of introducing CLTS. This has surprised me very much. What is more worrying is the very slow pace of intra agency spread and scaling up of CLTS. I failed to understand as to why WAB didn’t respond urgently to such request from their counterpart organization in Nepal I am not sure in how many countries Water Aid has introduced CLTS or made systematic efforts in introducing the approach without subsidy after this was innovated in Bangladesh in early 2000.
Great deal of interest has been shown by Water Aid Mozambique for introduction of CLTS there. A group of staff from WA Mozambique visited Bangladesh recently. But I am not sure if they will have the same experience as NEWAH had in trying to implement CLTS on the ground based on Bangladesh visit and reading publications. “Visiting CLTS villages and reading printed materials alone is not enough to learn the skills of triggering CLTS in villages. “Hands on training in the field and learning facilitation skills to trigger CLTS is the key to start” This was a major observations of many Hetawuda workshop participants who acquired skills to facilitate CLTS in villages for the first time.
1.7 After innovation of community led total sanitation approach from within the then VERC and Water Aid’s subsidized sanitation programme, I had introduced it in Plan and CARE Bangladesh where CLTS has spread well within their programmes. I had also introduced the same in Concern, Cambodia’s programme. However, three years after its successful implementation in Bangladesh by Plan, CARE, NGOs supported by Water Aid, Concern in Cambodia, and a few other agencies, CLTS approach is still not practiced largely by the same agencies implementing subsidized sanitation programmes in the neighbouring countries. While there is a great potentiality of spreading CLTS within the same organizations in the region, I am not sure if the institutional attitude and desire to empower community and start community led approach is adequate amongst them all. May be I should ask this question to friends in Water Aid HQ in London who would be in a better position to clear my doubts.
I remember after introducing CLTS approach in Bangladesh, Plan International’s head quarter in UK initiated a workshop in Sri Lanka to introduce CLTS in all Plan countries in Asia, Africa and in Latin America and had arranged visits of Plan staff from different Plan countries to their working areas (CLTS villages) in Bangladesh. I am not sure if this is introduced in Plan, India and other countries in Asia, Africa and in Latin America.
Similarly, the work of CLTS in Integrated Food Security Programme (IFSP) of CARE Bangladesh is not only known within Bangladesh, but also in their international HQ in Atlanta. Senior advisors of CARE visited the programme in environmentally vulnerable areas of Bangladesh and saw how community empowerment process initiated by CLTS was taken to other areas of livelihood improvement activities.
However CARE Nepal, CARE Cambodia, and many other countries in the region implement rural sanitation programme with subsidy with limited success.
1.8 The initiative of Plan, NEWAH and Water Aid in Nepal in developing a network of WATSAN agencies is very encouraging and exemplary. Large attendance of representatives from at least 10 different agencies working on sanitation in Nepal in the final presentation of this consultation was really impressive and great. Please see the list of participants and agencies on 14th July workshop. Although most agencies present in the final presentation implement sanitation activities with subsidy, they all appreciated the dire need for community empowerment leading towards total sanitation. It is now extremely important to develop a few showcases of CLTS where community led initiatives of total sanitation is displayed so that anyone interested in the approach could learn about the process from the successful communities. Therefore it is essential to extend all efforts and follow up support to the communities in the four villages where CLTS has been triggered. NEWAH, Water Aid and Plan Nepal have agreed to trigger CLTS in their working areas soon on a pilot basis.
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Consultation on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in Nepal 07-14, July 2004 – Dr. Kamal Kar
Recommendations
Based on the two days training workshop on CLTS and the triggering exercises carried out by the participants with the communities in four hamlets of three villages in Bara district of Rautahat/ Bara Programme Unit of Plan Nepal, the following suggestions are given hereunder:
2.1 Very serious follow up support should be ensured to all the villages where CLTS has been triggered by four groups of workshop participants with a lot of enthusiasm. It is expected that all the four communities who are convinced on the urgent need of local action to stop open defecation are going to start collective community action soon. A number of communities have said that they would clean up their villages within next 1-2 months and would stop open defecation totally. Great deal of responsibility rests on Plan staff of Rautahat/ Bara PU to keep up this enthusiasm until open defecation is totally stopped by the community themselves. We have to remember that these are going to be the first CLTS villages in Nepal. If they could accomplish CLTS, it is likely that many communities from different parts of the country would visit them in course of time as it happened in Bangladesh and in India. Names of villages like Moshmoil in Rajshahi district in Bangladesh, Borban in Ahmednagar district, Pimpal Gaon in Nanded district in Maharashtra state in India, Chobana in Monze district in Zambia are already famous names in the respective countries as far as total sanitation is concerned.
2.2 Follow up plans as developed by the workshop participants to ensure support to CLTS in the four villages of Plan Nepal’s programme area in Bara district, Nepal are as follows:
1. Name of village: Gamar Gama
VDC: Chhata Pipra, Ward no.-9
Responsible person; Shiva Kumar Thapa
Group triggered CLTS: Gautam Buddha
Tentative target date for
Completion: Two months from now
2. Name of village: Nitan Pur
VDC: Chhata Pipra, Ward no.-1
Responsible person; Rajan Mainali, Bimaya Gurung
Group triggered CLTS: Sagarmatha
Tentative target date
For completion: 15-30 days
3. Name of village: Nitan Pur
VDC: Chhata Pipra, Ward no.- 1
Responsible person; Bharat Thulung
Group triggered CLTS: Sita Ram
Tentative target date
For completion: 12th August 04
4. Name of village: Naya Behara
VDC: Chhata Pipra, Ward no.- 6
Responsible person: Babu Ram Devkota, Haridev Saha, Bhola Shivakoti.
Group triggered CLTS: Ra Ra
Tentative target date
For completion: End August.
2.2 Sagar Basnet, Programme Manager, Rautahat/ Bara Programme Unit and L.N. Saha, Livelihood Coordinator, Rautahat/ Bara Programme Unit are the two important persons who may be given autonomy to extend all necessary support to keep up the community spirit on CLTS in the three villages with the other members of the team. It has been suggested to document the day-to-day changes and process of local action initiated by the respective communities in these villages. Short description of the process of change may be circulated amongst the major actors/institutions. I have also requested to send me information from time to time if possible.
2.3 As decided the field staff should ensure that the social maps with the defecation areas indicated on maps are handed over to the communities so that the could use them as monitoring tool from the day-I. Some families are expected to start digging pit latrines right from next day of triggering CLTS and some would go for costlier options. Plan Nepal field staff must extend support and help in making relevant information available. Some simple suggestions regarding digging pits (depth, slant, distance from the water point etc.) use of locally available materials, providing information related to sanitary hardware to those interested, demonstrating simple pit latrines etc. may be provided if demanded by the community.