A
participatory approach to sanitation: experience of Bangladeshi NGOs.
Hadi A.
Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh. shirsha@bangla.net
This study assesses the role of participatory development programmes in
improving sanitation in rural Bangladesh. Data for this study came from a health
surveillance system of BRAC covering 70 villages in 10 regions of the country.
In-depth interviews were conducted with one adult member of a total of 1556
randomly selected households that provided basic socioeconomic information on
the households and their involvement with NGO-led development programmes in the
community. The findings reveal that households involved with credit programmes
were more likely to use safe latrines than others who were equally poor but not
involved in such programmes. The study indicates that an unmet need to build or
buy safe and hygienic latrines existed among those who did not own one. Such
latent need could be raised further if health education at the grassroots level
along with supervised credit supports were provided to them. Unlike conventional
belief, the concept of community-managed jointly owned latrines did not seem a
very attractive alternative. The study argues that social and behavioural
aspects of the participatory development programmes can significantly improve
environmental sanitation in a traditional community.
PMID: 11012409