Keeping Track: CLTS Monitoring, Certification and Verification

Keeping Track: CLTS Monitoring, Certification and Verification: CLTS Knowledge Hub Learning Paper, January 2017. 

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Author: Katherine Pasteur

Monitoring, verification and certification are critical elements of the CLTS process and contribute to ensuring sustainability of ODF as well as learning about changes that are needed to improve implementation. Monitoring includes both process and progress monitoring.

Verification tends to be led by NGOs or government with clear criteria and methodologies being developed, often incorporating multiple assessment visits over an extended period of time. Certification and celebration of ODF communities acknowledge their achievement and helps to raise awareness in the surrounding areas.

The adoption of CLTS as a national approach in many countries has resulted in national protocols and guidance documents as well as various methodologies for community engagement and data collection to aid the processes of monitoring, verification and certification. Increasingly, the importance of post ODF monitoring is being recognised. We need to know more about how to incorporate this into implementation to ensure longer term sustainability of behaviour change and of toilets.

Similarly, effective collection, management and utilisation of data are a challenge. Other emerging issues relate to reliability and accuracy of monitoring and verification; encouraging appropriate attitudes to encourage learning rather than fault finding; and how to incentivise staff involved in monitoring and verification. We also need to know more about monitoring for long term sustainability of behaviour change and inclusion. Many of these issues are being investigated through local, national and international learning processes.

This Learning Paper summarises challenges, innovations and gaps in knowledge in the area of monitoring, verification and certification.

Progress on CLTSH – Findings from a national review of rural sanitation in Ethiopia – UNICEF

Progress on CLTSH – Findings from a national review of rural sanitation in Ethiopia: WASH Learning Note. December 2016.

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KEY POINTS

• Rural sanitation coverage in Ethiopia continues to improve. The survey found on average 68% latrine usage, similar to the 2015 JMP estimate
• The majority (89%) of household toilets are unimproved
• There are strong regional disparities in coverage. 5 regions have over 50%, whilst in 3 regions open defecation is still dominant
• CLTSH is not always implemented as intended. There are regional variations and some aspects of the triggering and follow-up are omitted
• The Post-ODF follow-up of the CLTSH approach is limited. Very few communites are recorded as having reached ’level 2’ of ODF
• Handwashing Rates are low. Only 19% of respondents were found to wash hands at all critical times, and only 45% after using the toilet

 

Challenges and opportunities for inclusive and sustainable WASH

Challenges and opportunities for inclusive and sustainable WASH. Institute of Development Studies, November 30, 2016. 

Great strides have been made in improving sanitation in many developing countries, not least through Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), an innovative method developed to address the behaviours behind ongoing open defecation.

CLTS has spread rapidly over the last 16 years and is now present in over 60 different countries. However recent research shows that more thinking and action is needed to ensure that sanitation efforts are sustainable and inclusive.

A new book, entitled Sustainable Sanitation for All, examines how CLTS and the WASH sector more generally  has and needs to continue to evolve to meet these challenges.

Read the complete article.

 

Science, Silver Bullets, and Sanitation: How Operational Research Improved Plan’s Global Programming

Science, Silver Bullets, and Sanitation: How Operational Research Improved Plan’s Global Programming. 

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Plan International is a pioneer of the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach — a method that triggers community-wide behavior change on sanitation practices, ending open defecation, and stimulating household investment in toilets.

We tested, implemented, and evaluated the relative effect of different CLTS facilitation methods to examine how scalability and sustainability improved under alternate models. This comparison was coupled with “deep dive” evaluations in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Kenya, complemented by seven rapid evaluations worldwide to compare and contrast the findings.

Using a CLTS approach in peri-urban and urban areas

Published on Oct 6, 2016

Although Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) was designed for and is predominantly being used in rural settings, there are a growing number of cases that have adopted a CLTS approach in peri-urban and urban areas.

This webinar looked at its use in urban areas. Jamie Myers, research officer at the CLTS Knowledge Hub, presented the urban work the Hub have been engaging in. Drawing on global experience he proposed that urban CLTS does not mean strictly following processes and tools that have been used in rural areas but adhering to similar principles and designing an intervention based on the context of a specific town or city.

USAID APHIAplus -Community-led sanitation in Nakuru County, Kenya

Published on Aug 3, 2016

APHIAplus Nuru ya Bonde project works with technical teams in five Kenyan counties to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Over the past five years, the project has helped to significantly increase access to functional latrines in the five counties it covers.

In Nakuru County, Efforts are focused on working with public health officials and communities to stamp out open defecation, practiced by only 3% of the community. This video presents some of the project’s work in the county.

 

CLTS in Post Emergency and Fragile States Settings

CLTS Knowledge Hub at IDS  – Recording of a webinar on CLTS in Post Emergency and Fragile States Settings held on the 21st July 2016.

Speaker: Frank Greaves, Tearfund