Shit Matters

Sanitation remains one of the biggest development challenges of our time, and a long neglected issue associated with taboos and stigma. Despite growing attention and efforts, many top-down approaches to sanitation have failed, reflecting that simply providing people with a toilet does not necessarily guarantee its use. The Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach offers a more promising alternative, focusing on facilitating a profound change in people’s behaviour through participatory techniques. By raising local people’s awareness of the linkages between open defecation and disease through the release of powerful emotions such as disgust and shame, they are encouraged to analyse their own sanitation situation and take action themselves. The approach has proved immensely successful, however, like any development success story challenges still remain regarding scaling up with quality, inclusion of the poorest and sustainability.This book addresses both the potential and challenges of CLTS by drawing on research in Asia as well as experiences from Africa.

Lyla Mehta is a sociologist working on water and sanitation. She is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and a Professor II at the Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Synne Movik is a post-doctoral fellow in Global Environmental Governance at the Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She was previously an independent consultant in the field of water resources, working on water and sanitation issues with the Institute of Development Studies and the STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex, UK.