Africa: Tapping into the Sanitation Challenge

In my previous blog post , CTLS and PGISM were highlighted as being fascinating and growing solutions to ‘The Unmentionable’, through which communal knowledge and voices could be both seen and heard. Having spent time reflecting on the post's ending, however, the question that still remained unclear and unanswered, is whose voice is really being heard in the implementation of change? Even more importantly, whose voices need to be heard and are not? The crucial nature of these questions has led me to consider the gendered nature of water and sanitation in Africa. Specifically, it’s led me to the shocking exploration of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in slum geographies, where GBV is defined as “violence that occurs as a result of the normative role expectations associated with each gender, along with the unequal power relationships… within the context of a specific society” ( Bloom, 2008 :14 ). How might we imagine this type of violence emerging in sanitary practices? Perhaps the

Having discussed WTD in my previous upload , I want to return to the final thought I made within it. Specifically, is it enough to celebrate sanitation only once a year, or do we need an approach that redirects our attention, and therefore our solutions, to the everyday? To answer this, I want to draw upon the questions I identified through the Akan case study  and explore the areas of Community Total led Sanitation (CTLS) and Participatory GIS Mapping (PGISM) that have captured my interest. Everyday Sanitation and CLTS Synthesising the lessons that emerged from Akan , I think it seems obvious that to make sanitary progress we must first accept that sanitation is socially awkward and marginalising. Only then can we actively dismantle these culturally conditioned perspectives, and purposefully act in ways that brings sanitation into the everyday. In other words, acknowledge local taboos exist and then respectfully flush them away. This sounds straightforward, but how might we go about

In my last blog post , I concluded by recognising the need to bring attention and solutions to 'The Unmentionable', which is severely hindering sanitary improvement. Undoubtedly, there is no better day to fulfill that attention component than today, which is, of course, World Toilet Day (WTD) !!!!  Recognising the importance of this, I have utilised information found across the UN’s WTD website  to create 2 key resources that I hope will be of use, including: A QUIZ - which I’ve created from the website’s fact page. It’s quick, thought provoking and challenging, testing your knowledge and showcasing why the WTD campaign is so crucial!! An EDUCATIONAL TEMPLATE that I’ve developed to be used by teachers and professors in their classrooms and seminars. It aims to prompt students into learning more about the WTD’s themes and objectives, giving them impetus to explore the stories that underpin the campaign. There are 4 sections and model answers at the end. I hope you enjoy!! Wit

In the second post of my blog, I considered the broad theme of sanitation hardware. Specifically I focused on how Ecosan's holistic framework of functionality could serve to evolve African sanitation practices. By the end of the post, I undoubtedly felt optimistic about how transformative Ecosan could be in Africa. However, a key question concerning the openness of community needs remained unanswered. This led me to consider 'The Unmentionable' theme identified in my introductory post , and forced me to ask - "why was sanitation implementation failing with such flexible sanitary frameworks?". The subsequent intrigue led me to write this post concerning sanitation ‘software’. Here, I contextualise how socio-cultural factors have contributed to sanitary resistance, and how such ‘glitches’ are seen through the Akan people of Ghana. By doing so, I introduce two important questions that I hope will fuel subsequent posts! What’s contributing to sanitation failures in

In my first post , I really tried to contextualise the ‘Why’ and the ‘Where’ of this blog’s grounding. My hope was to demonstrate how pervasive inadequate sanitation is throughout the world and why a focus on Africa is paramount in addressing the issue. In revisiting it, however, I realised that the paraphernalia of sanitation practices had only briefly been mentioned. This felt problematic, as to really do a blog on sanitation surely I would need to establish all the sanitation practices that might be relevant for an enriching discussion? Quickly it became apparent, however, just how expansive the literature on sanitation technology already is, with Mara (2012) showcasing the work already undertaken for urban and rural settings alike.  So where could my own voice be found? Unsurprisingly, as a geographer fascinated by the spatial interconnectedness of communities, my answer came through Langergrabera and Muelleggera's (2004) explanation of Ecological Sanitation (Ecosan), which

What does it mean to you when I say “Water, Sanitation and Africa”? Indeed, if I were to ask you to do a word association, what would your next 3 words reveal about your lens of perspective?  Would they inspire hope and optimism toward solutions, or reflect sympathy and frustration toward problems? Would they suggest a keen reliance on building sanitation hardware, or initiate a thoughtful questioning of the cultural softwares in need of updating? Would they make you read on, or decide to stop here? Whatever your three words of association might be, it was my own answer – ‘opportunities being missed’ – that has prompted me to write the following blog exploring Water and Sanitation in the context of Africa. Of course, I think it is understandable that my own response revealed a sentiment of 'missingness'. It only takes one quick google search of the statistics, using keywords such as UNICEF and UN, to fully appreciate the seriousness of the sanitation deficits still being wi