Andy Robinson

Reflections on the West and Central Africa Regional Rural Sanitation Workshop

Flying into Dakar, Senegal, for the start of the four day West and Central Africa Regional Rural Sanitation Workshop, hosted by the CLTS Knowledge Hub, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), I was struck by the arid landscape that we flew over. The vast vista was dominated by dry red soils and parched vegetation; a timely reminder of the water scarcity and food security problems faced by many countries in West and Central Africa (despite an abundance of human and natural resources).

Reduction of stunting by CLTS in Mali: a case study to learn from

Mali is renowned as the location of the one of the few Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) programmes that has managed to demonstrate a reduction in stunting from increased community-level sanitation coverage. There is much to learn and share from this programme, especially across the West and Central Africa region where similar sanitation challenges are faced and open defecation rates generally remain high.

(Photo: Children outside school in Koulikoro, Mali)

Affordability blocking the sanitation ladder in East and Southern Africa?

It is always good to spend a week with like-minded sanitation practitioners, sharing experiences and innovations, and learning from each other.

Supporting the least able in sanitation improvement (part 2)

2. Workshop: 24-28 May 2017
Tagaytay, near Manila

Supporting the least able in sanitation improvement (part 1)

1. Field visits: 22-23 May 2017
Typhoon-affected areas of Tacloban City and Leyte Province

SACOSAN returns to its home!: Reflections on the 6th SACOSAN Conference

The first SACOSAN was held in Dhaka in 2003, so the return of SACOSAN VI in 2016 was like a homecoming – at least, that was the opinion of Junaid Ahmed, the World Bank representative (and former regional team leader of WSP South Asia) who chaired the initial session.

Innovative Bangladesh: CLTS Sharing and Learning at the 6th SACOSAN Conference in Dhaka

Regional CLTS sharing and learning workshop, Sunday 10 January 2016: Innovative Bangladesh!
The traditional pre-SAN gathering of CLTS practitioners and enthusiasts brought together an interesting and eclectic group in Dhaka, with a notably large and welcome presence by the Afghanistan delegation. The focus of the first session was on innovation and new learning. While always difficult to focus the group’s attention tightly on new learning, several interesting new developments were highlighted.

IDS in action: sharing and learning on CLTS and sustainability

Life on the beach – the stunning location of the AfricaSan 4 Dakar conference, in a grand hotel perched on the Senegalese coast, was not enough to distract the participants of the IDS CLTS sharing and learning workshop from their task. As usual, the workshop was held the day before the main AfricaSan conference to profit from the gathering together of so many experienced WASH professionals. The event proved almost too popular – something like 90 participants turned up – making it quite challenging and time-consuming to capture and discuss the diverse views of the large group.

AfricaSan 4: scattered highlights, and one lowlight!

A huge conference like AfricaSan provides a wealth of information and learning for the enthusiastic sanitation groupie. But so much is packed into the three-day duration that it is impossible to take in everything – schedules are tight, and often overlap, which means that nobody manages to see all of their top picks, despite efforts to have thematic discussions running in parallel throughout the conference.

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Community-Led Total Sanitation