Experiences with Ecosan Systems to provide Sustainable Sanitation for Schools in Kenya and India

Content - Summary

Achieving universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals, but to fully benefit from their schooling, the pupils need to be free from disease and hunger. Sustainable sanitation at schools can contribute to improving the health status of pupils (reduced diarrheal disease and intestinal worms). Ecosan-type sanitation systems (here: urinediversion dehydration toilets i.e. UDDTs and pour-flush toilets connected to biogas plants etc) are particularly suitable for school sanitation in the global South, as the students can easily grasp their concepts and they can appreciate their secondary benefits of fertiliser (to grow crops in school gardens) and biogas (for cooking). This can provide additional motivation and sense of ownership amongst the pupils and staff.
Several ecosan school projects from Kenya and India are described in this paper namely two school pilot projects within the EU-Sida-GTZ Ecosan Promotion Project in Kenya and several projects in India implemented by the Ecosan Services Foundation and various other actors. In all these projects, a sense of ownership and constant capacity development exercises are crucial factors in their success. Students can also be “change-agents” in their communities when they take their experiences back home and teach their family members about sanitation and hygiene.

Bibliographic information

Ingle, R., Rieck, C., von Münch, E. (2009). Experiences with Ecosan Systems to provide Sustainable Sanitation for Schools in Kenya and India. Paper presented at the 3rd International Dry Toilet Conference 2009, Tampere, Finland

Filter tags

Biogas systems East Asia & Pacific English Schools Sub-Saharan Africa Urine Urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs)

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