Exploring funding for sustainable sanitation in Mongolia: perceptions from stakeholders and communities

One of the major challenges for scaling up sustainable sanitation (SuSan) technologies and services is the sources of finances. Perceptions of stakeholders and communities may trigger them to overcome this challenge by exploring viable financing mechanisms and sources for widespread replication of SuSan technologies and services from the local to the global scale. This approach was studied through household surveys combined with semi-structured key informant interviews among various SuSan users and institutional stakeholders in the peri-urban Ger areas of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The results showed that the existing technologies and services are highly subsidized and still partly shared by the households. Micro-finance organizations (including banks), government subsidies, private companies and community fundraising through building social capital may be considered as potential sources of finance for SuSan projects in Mongolia. A re-invented idea of ‘Corporate Responsibility’ is an interesting direction in which to explore possible financial sources and an effective mechanism for sustainability in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector

Ecological sanitation in low income countries: assessment of social acceptance and scope of scaling up

Ecological sanitation (EcoSan) is one of the effective concepts of sustainable sanitation for both water-rich and water-poor areas. Urine diversion dehydration toilet (UDDT) is a toilet system under this concept which can be used to recover resources such as nutrients and can also be an alternative to improve the sanitary situation in low income countries. A reconnaissance survey, structured questionnaire survey, key informant interviews, participatory approaches such as focus group discussion (FGD) and mass gathering were carried out in Kenya to assess social acceptance and scope of scaling up of UDDTs. The results showed that almost all respondents among UDDT users and non-users have overcome social and cultural barriers to accept UDDTs. Users were spontaneously applying EcoSan products as fertilizers to their agricultural lands. It is recommended to develop a strong interlinked and a coordinated system with market creation among the stakeholders to replicate UDDTs

Traditional closed-loop sanitation systems in peri-urban and rural Afghanistan: a SWOT analysis

The closed-loop-sanitation-system (CLSS), or sustainable sanitation system, has accelerated in recent years and been successfully implemented in many parts of the world. This study explored the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the traditional CLSS (T-CLSS) in both peri-urban and rural contexts within three different provinces in Afghanistan, the first study of its kind in this country. Participatory research tools such as transect walks, focus group discussions, and interactive workshops have been applied to assess the SWOT components of T- CLSS. The results show that T-CLSS is practiced historically in both peri-urban and rural areas by different generations using local and traditional knowledge, skills and technologies. Socio-cultural acceptance of the system is considered as one of the strengths in both rural and peri-urban areas. It is highly recommended that the feasibility of improved CLSS be assessed and implemented in the light of the T-CLSS system