The gendered nature of sanitation described in my last post can not be fully addressed without recognising the power of taboos. In general sanitation issues are not simply infrastructural but relate to the universe of social norms and customs that govern people's behaviour(Akpabio, 2014). This blogs sees how cultural norms and taboos influence sanitation practice rendering behaviours as moral or immoral and why this should be acknowledged when pursuing successful/sustainable sanitation projects In many communities the taboo surrounding menstruation means it is rarely discussed or publicly acknowledged(Aidara and Mbaye, 2020), resulting in a lack of awareness/understanding of the challenges faced by women and girls and leading to negative sanitation outcomes(Sommer, 2013). For example, a study of rural schools in Ghana found a culture “of secrecy driven by fears and avoidance of social ridicule and shaming”(Rheinlander et al., 2017) meaning girls couldn't talk about menstruation related problems. All waste bins were in public spaces with no place for girls to privately dispose of used pads(no bins in the school toilet) this means open garbage piles were used and bushy outdoor areas aggravating sanitation problems and the potential spread of diseases. Given the shame associated with menstruation, those that used reusable pads/cloths often hide them in unhygienic areas, which further exposes girls to infection(Anaba, 2022).
In Tamatave, Eastern Madagascar, there is a taboo against toilets. Taboos in Madagascar are called “fady” and are more than just cultural norms but the symbolic materialisation of deep seated beliefs. Communities there view digging toilets and depositing faeces underground as a grave insult to ancestors (Albuquerque, 2019), so when a swath of toilets were built by NGOs in 1999 after a cholera epidemic, they were left unused as people continued to practise open defecation. Clearly, not recognizing the cultural context around WASH seriously undermines the success of any initiatives(Rijke-Epstein, 2019).
The Community Led Total Sanitation approach (CLTS)has proved a successful way of dealing with this kind of problem(Metha and Movik, 2011, p.271). With participatory techniques, it aims to force communities to see the linkages between open defecation and disease, and "trigger" them to change their behaviour. Frère St Gabriel, a NGO went to Tamtave, they went to the villagers “and offered them water with excrement in it to drink. When they refuse, they take them to the river and show them that this is what they drink every day.” Soon after the community started using toilets.
Sometimes, local sanitation practices and taboos held by certain communities can actually aid the success of CLTS projects (Zakiya, 2014). In Kilifi,Kenya it is a profound taboo for a father in law's faeces to mix with those of his daughter-in-law, with strictly enforced gender segregation at open sanitation sites(Bwire, 2011). The Plan Kenya NGO took community leaders on walks in the village showing how not only was their food being contaminated by their faeces but that the nature of open defecation meant that the faeces of fathers-in-law were freely mixing with those of daughters in law. This triggered the community to construct toilets of its own accord and now Kilifi has got one of the lowest open defecation rates in Kenya.
Very interesting blog post with a broad use of examples! I wonder if in places such as the capital, where urbanisation and education rate is higher, could help inspire places such as Tamatave change their approaches to sanitation practices.
ReplyDeleteI think if people from the same country are the ones teaching and inspiring more traditional communities like the ones in Tamatave to change their sanitation practices that would probably more effective than a western intervention that might be more likely to appear patronizing and culturally ignorant
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete