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- Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues
Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

Working with people in Sub-Saharan Africa I made the experience that the word "shit" for official use is the most often perceived as offensive. I aim therefore not using it for written information, but may use in for personal exchange. For official use, I prefer the term "Faecal Waste Flows" as used in the new working paper of IRC "Towards systemic change in urban sanitation"( www.ircwash.org/resources/towards-system...nge-urban-sanitation ).
Cheers, Dorothee
Developing methods and tools to support strategic planning for sustainable sanitation. Particular interested in novel technologies contributing to more inclusive and circular sanitation. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

And to be more accurate the flow diagrams are looking at excreta (faeces, urine) and wastewater which in parts of the world also includes significant amounts of toilet paper. So a more accurate title might be "excreta and wastewater flow diagrams". At the end of the day we will need to convince mayors to set levies for improved collection and treatment. That means fees and taxes. Calling this shit doesn't seem like a convincing way to go if people are being asked to pay for these services.
Regards
Stockholm Environment Institute
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- wasifbashir15
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- Muhammad Wasif Bashir Babar
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

The word Shit as using for the Feacal matter is really so condemnatory and not bear up as working in the communities not much aware about the Feacostuff.
I am conducted my Research and work with the community in Pakistan and come to know that the word
"Shit" using for the Feaces is not much welcomed in the rural areas and people assume it as a abusing some on with style of (OH Shit). So i had submitted my paper to present at
3rd International Feacal Sludge management Conference to be held at Vietnam Hanoi in January 2015 with the title of (Socio-Cultural barrier in the way of Sustainable Feacal sludge management in Pakistan).
anyhow dear Arno please i will suggest the term for this matter as (Feacal Resource Flow Diagram) please.
AS We know well that there is not any waste in the world but we can recycle nutirients and other required matters even from Feacal stuff so never try to use word feacal waste please but yes we can use feacal resource management as well.
Thanks and best regards
Wasif Bashir Babar
Skype:wasifbashir
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

I like your suggestion and the idea behind it. However, I asked some colleagues during coffee break and we agreed that the "right" expression" depends very much on what kind of message you try to convey (e.g. are you trying to wake up officials about the waste volumes requiring management in order to protect people's health; or are you trying to inform industries on the the renewable resources right at their door step?).
I am not sure weather we do need a unique name for this sankey diagrams..?
Dorothee
Developing methods and tools to support strategic planning for sustainable sanitation. Particular interested in novel technologies contributing to more inclusive and circular sanitation. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- jonpar
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- As part of the Engineering team, my role at IMC is to lead on the delivery of projects requiring specific expertise on urban sanitation (including excreta/waste/wastewater/stormwater management) focusing on technical, institutional and financial aspects in project design and implementation.
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues
Principal Consultant – Water and Sanitation
IMC Worldwide Ltd, Redhill, United Kingdom
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Skype : jonathanparkinson1
Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

Just for information, the current "UN-Water Analytical Brief on Wastewater Management also uses the term "Faecal waste flow diagram" referring to the article published in
the latest "Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development": Fecal sludge management (FSM): analytical tools for assessing FSM in cities ( www.iwaponline.com/washdev/004/washdev0040371.htm ).
Regards
Dorothee
Developing methods and tools to support strategic planning for sustainable sanitation. Particular interested in novel technologies contributing to more inclusive and circular sanitation. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues
It's interesting the way these fads propagate around the sector - it all started with the CLTS methodology encouraging the use of colloquial terms for excreta as a way of getting people to confront their own patterns of behaviour, and in English this is the word 'shit'. I wonder, however, in how many english speaking countries the CLTS methodology is used? And now it's become de rigueur in the WASH sector to say 'shit' in public forums and gatherings (mainly I suspect as a change from the normal dreary development-speak we all use) - and as Matt Bond said at the Brisbane WASH conference recently, it's now easier to say the word 'shit' than 'subsidy'.
I tend to agree with Jonathan that the context is important: when discussing with community members the places where people defecate and the consequences, the use of the word 'shit' or its local equivalent is appropriate. When discussing faecal sludge management etc in a meeting or conference it's probably less appropriate. However, whilst using confrontational words may be offensive to some and problematic at times, using euphemisms can be equally unhelpful - as has been pointed out with the use of 'wastewater' (the persistent use of the word 'gender' for 'sex' is another example).
Finally I want to react to a comment made a while back in the discussion that sparked this one - in which the poster (I think Arno?) said that half a billion open defecators can't be wrong. Is that not like saying "a billion smokers can't be wrong", or "a million litterers can't be wrong"? Surely the point of large scale campaigns aimed at changing behaviour is that we are clearly stating that the targeted behaviour is wrong, which is why we want to change it. Recognising and understanding the reasons behind the behaviour is another thing - that people defecate in the open because (for example) they don't have a toilet. That, however, doesn't mean that defecating in the open is the right thing to do.
regards Paul Tyndale
Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

Thanks for the comments. When I wrote one billion open defecators can't be wrong, I meant that their conscious choice to defecate in the open may the best option and the most logical one that provides health safety at least for the moment. On the contrary to lighting up a cigarette, open defecation is a safe bet compared to entering a dark, filthy pit latrine full of pathogens. In particular public toilets that are not maintained become open defecation zones - with a 10-20 m perimeter depending on the size of the community. The ones I have seen in the colder climates of northern China in small towns served by public toilets do present challenges. How about this scenario- minus 15 to 20 degrees centigrade, no lighting or heating, open pits, ice covered surfaces (since people dispose their greywater in these pits. No maintenance is possible until it warms up.
Regards
Stockholm Environment Institute
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues
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- shobana
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- WASH professional currently focussed on sanitation operator partnerships and CWIS
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

I wanted to share my recent experience with using the word 'shit' while explaining 'Shit flow Diagrams' to officials working in the ministry/ govt. sector.
As many of you have agreed 'whom we talk to' matters, i am not quite sure if this divide is based on where we are or the designation/ background of the person.
The main aim of SFDs, as i understand, is to promote easy understanding of faecal and waste water flow and has a great potential to be used as an advocacy tool to all the key stakeholders. So, usage of word 'shit' to explain a 'shit flow diagram' that has been developed recently seemed more appropriate.
The outcome was a negative reaction from the participants. It seemed very clear that nobody wanted the word 'Shit'. Later, it was advised that the word 'Shit', unless otherwise supported by the literature, should be changed to 'sludge' or'excreta'.
Unfortunately, i could neither find any literature using the term 'Shit Flow Diagram' nor replace shit with 'excreta' or 'sludge' (as they do not have the same meaning).
Has anybody had a similar experience with govt. officials?
Would it be necessary to scrap the usage of this term unless and until there is an official literature published when communicating with local government?
Regards,
Shobana
Programme Management Officer
UN Habitat
Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

Thanks for hearing about your hands-on experience. The term "shit" doesn't lend any form of credibility to the task to be carried out by government officials using taxpayers money. This should be obvious to all concerned one would think. As a tool in social marketing I would say the swear word trivializes the discussion, thus creating superficiality and little or no understanding. Just think if doctors went around using swear words for various parts of the human body that have become diseased. Would this be taken seriously by society?
Why then do people within the WaSH sector persist in using swear words to describe their work when at the same time they claim full credit for their clinically described PhDs and professor titles? Seems like a dichotomy. Are WaSH professionals just like the general public, incapacitated by the taboo? And do they resort to swear words to make themselves more acceptable to society? A complicated behaviour to say the least.
Best wishes..
Stockholm Environment Institute
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Re: Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues

Personally, I am also not a big fan of using the term shit in the so-called "shit flow diagrams", because in my mind it only relates to feces - not to urine, let alone any flushwater. So if a shit flow diagram is meant to describe flows of fecal sludge, then it's also misleading from that point of view.
For what it's worth this is how editors on Wikipedia have described the word shit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit
Copy of the lead paragraph:
Shit is an English word that is usually considered vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun it refers to fecal matter (excrement) and as a verb it means to defecate or defecate in; in the plural ("the shits") it means diarrhea. Shite is also a common variant in British English and Irish English.[1] As a slang term, it has many meanings, including: nonsense, foolishness, something of little value or quality, trivial and usually boastful or inaccurate talk, or a contemptible person. It may also be used as an expression of annoyance, surprise, or anger.
The article then goes on to describe various uses of the word, some of them quite interesting.
I had added this part towards the end of the article:
Sanitation campaigns
Using the term "shit" (or other locally used crude words) - rather than feces or excreta - during campaigns and triggering events is a deliberate aspect of the community-led total sanitation approach which aims to stop open defecation, a massive public health problem in developing countries.[10][11]
Independent consultant located in Ulm, Germany
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My Wikipedia user profile: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EMsmile
- Markets, finance and governance
- Cities (planning, implementation, and management processes)
- Shit flow diagrams (SFDs) / Excreta flow diagrams
- Shit flow diagrams - does it need to be called "shit"? The use of the term shit (a swear word or not?) in sanitation dialogues