Subsidy or self-respect? Participatory total community sanitation in Bangladesh

This working paper details a new community-led approach to sanitation in Bangladesh. Access to latrines in rural areas is less than 15 per cent. Despite many agencies having been involved in the provision of subsidised latrines and toilets over the last three decades very few villages are totally sanitised. This new approach concentrates on empowering local people to analyse the extent and risk of environmental pollution caused by open defecation, and to construct toilets without any external subsidies. The Paper details the background to the work, the process of participatory total community sanitation, the impact of the project, it's national and international spread, how it differs from other sanitation programmes and limits to the approach. Finally it provides a list of recommendations, which have implications for policy makers and require institutional change. This project has had a huge impact: open defecation had been stopped in over 400 villages in Bangladesh and the methodology is being adopted in parts of India and elsewhere in Asia and Africa.