Sanitation and hygiene interventions in rural communities usually have a strong focus on human excreta, promoting the construction and use of toilets as well as handwashing at critical times. However, a growing body of research shows that a more comprehensive approach is needed to target the multiple pathogen pathways in the local environment. Beyond human excreta, this includes for example reducing exposure to animal excreta and strengthening food and water hygiene practices. In the same vein, all major household and community waste flows containing nutrients, organic matter and water need to be safely and efficiently reused to enhance agricultural production and environmental sustainability. In many rural settings this implies the safe reuse of animal and human urine and faeces, ash, greywater and organic waste. 

However, there is a lack of sanitation implementation frameworks supporting such integrated risk and resource management, leading to un-coordinated and partial interventions. ‘Clean and Green’ aims to fill this gap by combining the advantages of the community engagement of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach with the system view of ecological sanitation.

About

Since 2020, ‘Clean and Green’ is developed and piloted in collaboration with WaterAid as an action-research component of a larger Sida financed rural sanitation program in Burkina Faso. WaterAid supports 700 villages to become open defecation free (ODF) while ‘Clean and Green’ has been introduced in three ODF-declared villages in early 2022 as a second step to increase sanitation ambitions and stimulate reuse. 

The project objectives are: to develop and operationalize the intervention framework, evaluate the impact in pilot villages and produce a ‘Clean and Green’ guide to enable further uptake in Burkina Faso and beyond. Implementation is ongoing, and an impact evaluation is planned for 2023.