Hi Josef,
I agree this is a tricky issue in practice. I find the defintion relatively clear, but the monitoring difficult.

For the definition, there are two parts:
1) Improved sanitation facility: "Improved sanitation facilities are those designed to hygienically separate excreta from
human contact, and include: flush/pour flush to piped sewer system, septic tanks or pit latrines; ventilated improved pit latrines, composting toilets or pit latrines with slabs"
2) Safely managed: "Use of improved facilities which are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed in situ or transported and treated off-site"

So a safely managed pit latrine is a toilet that is not shared, has a slab, and where the extreta either is never emptied (a new latrine is built when the pit is full) or the content emptied is transported to a treatment facility.

On the JMP Website ( washdata.org/monitoring/methods/core-questions) you find a link to recent MICS questionnaire, which in principle should be the answer: mics.unicef.org/files?job=W1siZiIsIjIwMT...sha=fce95f666dcb67c0

There are three questions:
- WS11. What kind of toilet facility do members of your household usually use?
- WS12. Has your (answer from WS11) ever been emptied?
- WS13. The last time it was emptied, where were the contents emptied to?

The first question is supposed to allow to understand if the toilet is "improved" or "unimproved". For pit toilets, the options given are:
- PIT LATRINE WITH SLAB
- PIT LATRINE WITHOUT SLAB / OPEN PIT

I found this one difficult in practice. What can we count as slab? Does it need to be cement or do wooden planks or adobe also count as slab? What if there is a slab but the toilet is very dirty? etc.

The second and third part should allow to understand if it's safely managed (either pit is never emptied, or empied and content safely treated). I have no experience how that works in practice.

I think the JMP is still working on revising the recommended core questions for monitoring, but I'm not sure if they will come up with anything more precice than the MICS questions.

Best, Florian

Hello,
I am looking for a specific definition of safely managed pit latrine according to JMP sanitation ladder and practically useful instructions how to assess/determine safely managed pit latrine. Materials which I found through the JMP website are too general.
I am looking for this for our survey in rural Ethiopia where we exepect that (almost) all latrines will be simple pit latrines (dry) with on-site management of fecal waste. Often, they are located in the middle of agri fields.
Thanks,
Josef Novotny