The course took place on 23rd January 2010 at Cambridge University Engineering Department.
Reviews by Jonathan Garelick (Carla International), Alex Birch-Hawkins (Birmingham) & Leonard Chan (Cambridge).
Jonathan writes:
Having roused myself in the early hours of Saturday morning I was hoping that the EWB Total Sanitation course would be worth the trip and I was not disappointed. On the day there were six speakers with each covering different aspects of the subject. The course was well structured and a covered large amount of material in the time available.The first talk given was an introduction to some of the public health issue faced in the developing world, some fundamental sanitation concepts such a “F diagram of disease and control” and how sanitation has a very favourable cost vs benefit when compared with other public health interventions.
The rest of the day contained a good mix of case studies. Claire Grisaffi her experiences building pit latrines in Chad and the issues she encountered while there. This was well complemented by Andre Steele’s teaching of the Community Led Total Sanitation Methodology which got everyone involved and gave a clear indication of how the method works in practice.
The case study on Kamapala by James Newton showed the larger scale sanitation issues faced in the developing world especially it fast growing cities how systematic changes could be used to make positive changes. Solutions to some of the problems in Kampala such as how to remove compacted waste from pit latrines discussed in the next lecture by Manus Coffey along with a range of different pit latrine designs and their pros and cons.
The day was well rounded off by group discussions led by Sean Tyrrell on the Sanitation problems faced in Kabul.
Alex writes:
The "Total Sanitation" workshop by EWB-Cambridge took place on January 23rd 2010. It began with a very well received icebreaker that proved effective later on in the day for the more practical tasks. The first half of the day consisted of informal lectures that all seemed to provide excellent amounts of detail without becoming bogged down in technicalities. This was impressive considering the diverse range of backgrounds of the speakers.
Anna Lea provided a great opening talk consisting of background knowledge on diseases, which proved necessary for the later talks. Claire Grisaffi gave an excellent lecture consisting not only of the detail of her project in Chad but history of the area, and involved the group in the formulating of ideas for the issues involved with latrine programmes in developing countries. James Newton gave a great lecture on urban sanitation planning focussing on a latrine project in Kampala. Manus Coffey’s experience showed through as he detailed latrine principles both old and new. This talk flowed particularly well with limited PowerPoint usage! He silenced the entire room with a particular comment regarding objects found in pit latrines used for dumping. Andre Steele perhaps provided the most enjoyable talk, confidently and cleverly involving the entire group in an example CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation) meeting. This talk/activity seemed to teach even the most experienced of participants! The final talk by Sean Tyrrell provided a very informative discussion about the current problems with sanitation in Kabul, Afghanistan. The groups all worked well and came up with some interesting alternatives to the current sanitation situation.
All in all, the workshop was a brilliant event, and everyone who attended seemingly enjoyed it. It was certainly educational from all aspects, but managed to create a great balance between theoretical and pragmatic learning. Thank you to all who gave talks and helped organise the day.
Leonard writes:
On Saturday the 23rd of January 2010, CUED's LR6 became a venue for candid discussions of a usually rather private affair: dealing with excreta. After an enjoyable icebreaker event for the participants, Anna Lea opened with a presentation on the ways in which excreta (in particular as a result of open defecation) leads to the spread of disease in rural communities, and the measures that can be taken to minimise this spread. In particular, statistics showed that a higher proportion of deaths of children under 5 could be prevented by introducing handwashing with soap alone than by the provision of clean water, and that a reduction in diarrhoeal disease can reduce the prevalence and degree of malnutrition globally by a significant proportion.
Claire Grisaffi recounted her work as an engineer with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Chad, where they helped the local communities create pit latrines with concrete slab covers, as well as the numerous challenges they faced. Participants were invited to brainstorm in groups then contribute ideas as to possible alternative sanitation solutions, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the concrete slab pit latrine solution.
James Newton from Mott MacDonald then spoke about his time in Kampala, Uganda working with the local council to propose a long-term sanitation scheme for the area, including the town and its surrounding unplanned housing areas. There were different housing densities, income levels and infrastructures to consider, different water sources used by the residents and different water table levels due to the geography of the region. Seeing the big picture was essential in devising a suitable solution.
Manus Coffey from Manus Coffey Consultants shared his experiences from over more than thirty years of implementing sanitation solutions, and how those solutions have developed over that time. Especially memorable were his descriptions of how he discovered a new way of loosening thick sludge at the bottom of pit latrines, as well as why 'flying toilets' thrown onto the scorching tin roofs of an African slum were at least more sanitary than those thrown on the paths.
After lunch, Andre Steele conducted an involved session that described the features and benefits of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and gave us a glimpse of how it would be conducted in a community where open defecation was still practiced. He also drew from his stint with CLTS in Myanmar to address some practical aspects of applying CLTS. Participants learned how breaking the taboo of talking about excretion and facilitating the community's move to take action themselves would be vital in the establishment of a sustainable sanitation solution.
The last activity of the day was led by Cranfield University's Dr Sean Tyrrel, who introduced a case study of sanitation in Kabul, Afghanistan, where the fighting in the last 30 years has caused a breakdown of the previously serviceable donkey-cart based sanitation system. The extant sanitation infrastructure provides an opportunity for an interim solution to be put in place before a more comprehensive revamp. Participants considered, in small groups, the features of the old donkey-cart system, and the benefits and drawbacks of trying to revive it, before reconvening to discuss their points.
Finally we watched a video of how CLTS facilitators conducted CLTS in a rural African community, and improved the lives of the people in the community.
Seeing the impact of sanitation on the quality of life that people enjoy really brought home how fortunate we are to possess modern sanitation, and hopefully we will be able to play a part in future in helping more people have sustainable sanitation.
