Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) was introduced in Choma district in Zambia in late 2007. Intwelve months sanitation coverage has increased from 38% to 93% across 517 villages, 402 of which areopen defecation free. Over 14,500 toilets have been constructed by households with zero hardwaresubsidy and approximately 90,000 people have gained access to sanitation in less than a year. It isestimated that 88% of toilets met the Government’s definition of ‘adequate’ sanitation and 76% hadhand-washing facilities. If the approach is expanded to the remaining 300 villages in the district it isalmost certain that the MDG sanitation target will be surpassed at district level more than five yearsahead of time. The approach has accelerated access to sanitation far faster than subsidized sanitationapproaches of the past and has enabled communities to recognize that they can develop without‘handouts’; this has led to community-led initiatives in other areas of development.
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