Evaluation of community participation in the implementation of community-based sanitation systems: a case study from Indonesia

摘要

Acceptance and adequate use of water and sanitation technologies in least developed countriesnis still a chimera, with one billion people using unimproved water supply sources and 2.5 billionnnot benefitting from adequate sanitation. Public participation in water and sanitation planning andnpre-implementation phases has become increasingly important for technology providers seekingnsolutions to implementation challenges towards the achievement of the Millennium DevelopmentnGoals (MDGs). Based on the principle that successful implementation of WATSAN technologiesnultimately depends on recipients’ ability to absorb a technology and adapt it to their own needs,nthis study analyses the impacts of participatory methods adopted by community-based sanitationn(CBS) providers on communities’ receptivity of the transferred systems. A fieldwork activity wasnundertaken in Indonesia and a multiple case study approach adopted to analyse indicators ofnreceptivity of the transferred technologies. Conclusions show that community involvementnthrough participatory methods in the implementation of CBS systems can enhance the process ofnacceptance and management of the technologies, thereby increasing the progress towards thenachievement of the Millennium Development Goals.