For many people on this planet, the idea of pooping outside in the open is disgusting and embarrassing.
For many more people, it is the only option.
In a recent article posted in The Guardian, they feature comments from Dr. Robert Chambers, a world renowned expert on CLTS (community led total sanitation), on the impact that WASH programming can have on a community when it is trying to become open defecation free (ODF).
His answers are eye-opening in that while he acknowledges the obviously positive implications of a community becoming completely ODF, he also stresses that the introduction, verification, and corresponding reward of CLTS is equally, if not more, important.
“A danger with counting ODF communities is generating misleading data. Whenever there are awards for ODF, there are dangers of distortion. In India, there was extreme exaggeration in the Nirmal Gram Puraskar. Many communities were declared ODF and it wasn’t true. A study showed that hardly any of the communities were actually ODF
There were rewards, huge competition, and lax verification. The numbers generated were nonsense. This led Indian authorities to crack down. One of the problems is the inflation of figures that later have to be scaled down, which can be embarrassing.”
Indeed, for something so life-changing and noble as CLTS, it is apparent that a delicate balance needs to be struck. A balance that is solely centered not on reward or competition, but one that is based on learning the benefits of what CLTS can bring to your community and, in turn, wanting the same for your surrounding communities.
It’s also good to see the article touch on verification. False or lax verification of a community becoming ODF, will only pull existing efforts in the wrong direction, derailing or clouding hopes, and leading communities to wonder what the point of the CLTS is in the first place.
It’s a great piece filled with real complications that are involved in current CLTS efforts, as well as the clear benefits of accurate CLTS and what it can do for a community if it is handled correctly.