Sub step 4: Identification of user priorities

Sanitation systems introduced to the community must have the acceptance of the users and be in line with the users’ priorities. Users’ priorities may depend on a number of factors such as:

• Existing sanitation practices and traditions
• Cultural and religious beliefs
• Household income  vs. cost of system
• Farming practices

Based on a community participatory approach, a set of techniques which could focus on group discussions, neighbourhood social mapping, transect walks and household/school hygiene self surveys, could be applied to collect information such as:

• User priorities for sanitation systems, which include convenience (comfort, location, maintenance needs), cleanliness (lack of odour, easiness to clean, attractiveness), affordability (construction and maintenance) and generation of income (fertiliser production), adaptation to local customs (e.g. anal cleasening practices) and appropriateness for men and women.
• The desired functions of the sanitation system as identified with the users, the authorities and the service providers.
• The community potential and capacity to participate and implement  actions, as well as the local government and representatives of the private sector.
• Also, based on user priorities and socio-economic situation a preliminary list of requirements for a sanitation system will be compiled. This will be used in Step 4 in identifying feasible sanitation solutions.

It is important to keep in mind that users may have other priorities on how they spend their time and money, such as: farming (time and resources for crop production), income generation, water and health care.