Plan Uganda commissioned a study on the impact of gender on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to ‘Investigate gender relations, how they influence the Open Defecation Free (ODF) attainment processes and its
sustainability as well as other socio-cultural factors that impact on ODF attainment and their implications to ODF sustainability.’

Specifically, the study aimed to establish how CLTS processes have facilitated the participation and inclusion of men, women, boys and girls and disadvantaged groups in decision-making processes; look at existing power relations within the communities and how they affect responses to CLTS facilitation; and assess potential for collective action towards ODF. The study also explored the extent to which CLTS processes have improved opportunities for men, women, boys and girls and other disadvantaged groups to access sanitation and own and control other resources. The study further identified gender concerns and cultural factors inhibiting the CLTS processes. Recommendations and strategies for improving gender mainstreaming within CLTS processes were made.

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(Plan Uganda April 2012)