The CLTS Knowledge Hub hosted a webinar on Participatory Design Development for Sanitation on Thursday 26th March 2015. Ben Cole, the author of Frontiers issue 1 discussed his experiences in applying participatory design to accompany and extend Malawi’s national CLTS programme.

Participatory design is a natural extension to the processes applied in CLTS programs. Indeed, participatory design is identified in the original CLTS handbook (Kar and Chambers, 2008) but few practitioners or researchers have explored or applied the approach.

Ben’s work in three rural districts in Malawi demonstrated the immense potential that participatory design can offer to CLTS programming. It offers a low-cost, engagement tool that can support traditional follow-up approaches to CLTS programming.

During the webinar, Ben presented the three-day design workshops he facilitated in Malawi, explaining the process, outcomes and follow-up. In addition, Ben also discussed the refinement and testing of the locally inspired designs and how the designs were used as the focal point for a social marketing approach to sanitation supported by UNICEF Malawi.

You can access a recording (audio and video or audio only) as well as download Ben's presentation here: www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/reso...recording-and-follow

And we (at the Hub) and Ben would love for the discussion to continue, so if you have relevant experiences, have tried participatory design development in your project or have questions, please do comment and post here!

The CLTS Knowledge Hub is hosting another free webinar , this time on Participatory Design Development for Sanitation. Following on from Frontiers issue 1 on this topic, Ben Cole will be discussing his experiences in applying participatory design to accompany and extend Malawi’s national CLTS program since 2012.

Participatory design is a natural extension to the processes applied in CLTS programs. Indeed, participatory design is identified in the original CLTS handbook (Kar and Chambers, 2008) but few practitioners or researchers have explored or applied the approach.

Ben’s work in three rural districts in Malawi demonstrated the immense potential that participatory design can offer to CLTS programming. It offers a low-cost, engagement tool that can support traditional follow-up approaches to CLTS programming. Ben will present the three-day design workshops he applied in Malawi and explain the process, outcomes and follow-up.

Ben will also discuss the refinement and testing of the locally inspired designs and present how the designs were used as the focal point for a social marketing approach to sanitation supported by UNICEF Malawi.

Most importantly, participatory design is in its infancy in sanitation programming. Ben is keen to meet and learn from other practitioners that have, or are interested in applying, participatory design across the globe.

Find out more and sign up for this free webinar hosted by the CLTS Knowledge Hub.