Lack of sanitation affects the lives of billions of people worldwide. It is now
generally agreed that sustainable solutions to this complex problem require
social and cultural factors to be addressed in addition to the habitual economic
and technical aspects. Increasingly, sector professionals view the fragmented
approaches to sanitation as a limiting factor. This refers to the fragmentation
of the knowledge on the subject among often hermetic disciplines and to the
distribution of political mandates on sanitation across many institutions, which
independently tackle specific aspects of the issue. Holistic approaches have
often been suggested as a solution. This paper presents the development of such
a holistic approach, designed to assess sanitation development in rural and pen-
urban settings. Tested in three Mexican communities, it relies on qualitative
research tools to identify critical influences to sanitation development. This
article presents generic results about micro and macro-factors affecting
sanitation development in Mexican villages, and reflexively examines the
research process as well as the strengths and limitations of the approach. The
conceptual map developed for each case study successfully highlights the
interconnectedness of all factors affecting sanitation development. Despite some
weaknesses, these maps constitute a practical assessment tool for
interdisciplinary teams deployed in integrated water and sanitation development
programs and a valuable didactic tool for training activities. (C) 2010 Elsevier
Ltd. All rights reserved
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