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Toilet Decision Narratives: Understanding what residents of urban informal settlements want from sanitation
SARITA PANCHANG | UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
UNC WATER & HEALTH CONFERENCE | 29 OCT 2018
BackgroundSustainable Development Goals building from MDG’s, where progress fell short on goal of reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe sanitation. (WHO & UNICEF 2015)
South Asia constitutes large area of need. In this context, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBM) -> Indian national framework to improve sanitation & eliminate OD. More ambitious than past initiatives. (GOI 2016)
BackgroundEffects of SBM have been mixed so far, and not extensively studied in urban areas. Features of ‘demand’ side approaches as opposed to ‘supply’ side are also understudied in urban areas. (Okurut et al. 2015)
◦ Unlike global trends, Indian rate of rural sanitation coverage has surpassed urban coverage in past decade (ICF 2015)
◦ Proportion of Indian urban population residing in slums has been one of the highest in the world (UN HABITAT 2016)
◦ Methods for counting & formally recognizing slums – ‘slum notification’ – impacts access to infrastructure
QuestionWhat do women householders in urban informal slums/settlements weigh when considering building a household toilet?
◦ Whether to do it at all
◦ When is the right time
◦ What available programs/forms of assistance are
valued and why
Data45 semi-structured interviews, 5 focus groups with (mostly) women in 2 urban informal settlements in Pimpri-Chinchwad City (near Pune), Maharashtra
Qualitative section of larger mixed-methods study, 2016-2018
Research partnership with Shelter Associates (SA): working in Maharashtra sanitation & housing since 1993, facilitating household toilet construction since 2014 using
◦ data collection,
◦ community mobilization,
◦ partnering with municipality
SA Features SBM Features
Materials for 3x4 ft squat toilet delivered to doorstep. Household pays building charge to mason of their choice.
1. 2 installments of Rs. 8000 before and after building toilet, OR
2. Contractor builds entire toilet for free
Spatial & household level data collection Little to no data collection
Evaluation of existing sewerage. Existing sewer lines or construction of new ones is a condition for enrollment of the household.
Little to no evaluation of sewerage. Households with no sewerage nearby can still be enrolled in the program
Extensive community mobilization Some community mobilization
Findings: Perspectives on Models Preferences toward SA:
◦ Building according to household needs (having mori or washing area)
◦ Speed of materials delivery
◦ Not having to wait for cash subsidy
◦ “We applied [for SBM], but our subsidy didn’t come very quickly. By the time the money was ready, they had changed. Many people were just keeping the money, so then they began to build the toilet for free. But we didn’t like the way they were doing it. So we didn’t get it from them… they would just give us a 3 ft. tiling for the sundaas. Where are you supposed to take a bath, then?”
Findings: Perspectives on Models Preference toward SBM:
◦ Having to pay out of pocket for mason with SA and take time off to oversee construction
◦ From a widow who was the sole supporter of her family who had signed up with SA, cancelled it, and re-enrolled after taking out a loan: “Those who have money, they’ll build [through SA.] When I get paid, that’s when I feed my kids, because there is no one properly earning here…our situation is like that… but others said, everyone has got a toilet now and they may close the community toilet block. Then what? I have young children here, then that will be a problem too. That’s how it is.”
Influence of financial precarity ◦ Both models entail some household input, but with SBM the prospect of cash or something being ‘free’
made it more appealing in some cases
◦ Indecision is as powerful as decision-making
Findings: living in informal housing Fear of eviction
◦ Many prefer to install bathroom along with other home modifications
◦ Renters are especially less likely to invest in a bathroom
Housing informality -> shapes local life -> shapes baseline sanitation issues
◦ Issues with community toilet blocks: maintenance, sexual harassment, alcoholism
◦ No single authority to intervene in the community: “Who should we tell about all this? There is no real caretaker [waalijdaar] is there? If there was someone like that then we could tell them that we need such-and-such, but there isn’t such a person.”
◦ Building a bathroom can thus be a way of exerting control over one’s own domain
Conclusions Some features of sanitation demand in urban informal settlements :
◦ Sanitation decisions are verbs, not nouns
◦ Multilayered issues that stem from living in informal, semi-recognized housing
◦ Variation in economic stability, gender, and other issues create power dynamics, i.e. all members may not always act alike or with common interests
References GOI Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. 2016. Annual Report 2015–2016. Retrieved from http://mdws.gov.in/sites/default/files/AnnualReport2015-16.pdf.
ICF. 2015. The DHS program STATcompiler. Funded by USAID. [accessed 2018 May 28]. Retrieved from http://www.statcompiler.com.
Nair, Padmaja. Policy Brief: One Home, One Toilet. Accessed 30 Oct 2018. Retrieved from http://shelter-associates.org/index.php#sanitation.
Okurut K, Kulabako RN, Chenoweth J, Charles K. 2015. Assessing demand for improved sustainable sanitation in low-income informal settlements of urban areas: a critical review. Int J Environ Health Res. 25(1):81–95.
UN-HABITAT. 2016. Slum almanac 2015–2016. [accessed 2018 May 01]. Retrieved from https://unhabitat.org/urbanknowledge/publications/.
WHO, UNICEF. 2015. Progress on sanitation and drinking water: 2015 update and MDG assessment. [accessed 2017 Jan 10]. Retrieved from https://washdata.org/reports.
Thank you! Contact: [email protected]
“Where there is a bathroom that is used, that is where health lives. “
