Dear Hassan,

I am just wondering whether you have considered using CLTS (community-led total sanitation) in your work in rural Somalia yet?
The same question was also asked here on the forum, whether CLTS has been applied in Somalia or not:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/5-clts...nted-clts-in-somalia

I checked the website of the CLTS Knowledge Hub. They have a nifty interactive map which I hadn't seen before. Somalia has a dot on the map for a project but the page says "coming soon":
www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/country/somalia

Here is the page with the map:
www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/where

Regards,
Elisabeth

Just a word of caution: these kind of well ment interventions are often dangerously close to forced settlement programmes that usually also argue with reasons like better sanitation or access to schools.
Pastoral communities are often (rightfully) very sensitive to such issues, and I think that in dry and sparsely populated areas the public health benefits of toilet use are also probably not very high anyways.

Dear Bones

Thanks for your response about psychological perceptions of the user. Actually we need to mobilize the rural pastorals on telling them the importance of using latrines. Thus these requires the following points.

1 training them on how to use latrines removing them from psychological perceptions or bad behavioral change from their minds in order to make them focus group discussions about the affect of excreta scattered in the bushes. During the rainy season these scattered excreta may cause Acute Watery Diarrhea and more WASH related diseases.
2 there is alternative methods or innovative solution of assisting them like since the pastorals are moving from place to place in search of pasture to dig two to three meters pit latrine then placing them on the top wooden trees which can help them to sit on the squatting position on top while they are relieving themselves, before they fill the latrine pit they normally shift to different areas then the pit latrine is then filled with sand so that no body can fall into the latrine pit because they are moving the nomads day and night.
Recommendations this exercise requires to provide them only sanitation tools. such as shovels, iron bars, sacks, gloves e.t.c. finally thus these are our observations and recommendations to the forum
By Hassan WDC Somalia

I'm familiar with a similar proverb 'old habits die hard'. Getting people to change their behavior is usually a very difficult thing. Understanding why they do what they do can be an important first step. It could be as simple as convenience - it's easier to relieve myself here, than walk hundreds of meters to the nearest latrine.

Dear Folks

We would like to share some of our observations most of the time the rural pastorals of Somalia don't use latrines to relief themselves. It has become a common habit to defecate them along the bushes, roadside dikes and so on. Thus health issues arises as their way of habit leads to occurrence of AWD Acute Watery Diarrhea outbreak. How can we address such issues in order for us to mobilize and help them. NB there is a proverb says all habit die hard.

By WDC Somalia
Hassan