A strategic intervention designed and implemented by the Sierra Leone Urban Research Center (SLURC), the Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA), and the Federation for the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP), members of the OVERDUE team in Freetown
Context
Over the past 20 years dozens of public and community toilets have been built in Freetown by a constellation of NGOs, development projects, and city led initiatives. However, most of these facilities are in a serious state of disrepair, creating significant health burdens for users and forcing some to open defecation or to use bucket toilets.
Women, children and persons with disabilities suffer the most from the limited access to safe toilets, especially from shame, lack of privacy, lack of protective guard rails and fittings, and lack of separate squatting area for children.
Gender norms in Freetown, limiting the role of women in decision making and in paid positions in the sanitation sector means that they are both highly affected by improper facilities and less represented.
The limited sustainability of public and community toilets in Freetown is partly caused by the implementation process and design:
- Toilets are handed over to communities once the construction is completed. Communities have a limited understanding of the construction and operation costs and practices and responsibilities.
- The needs and preferences of communities in the location, design and maintenance of toilets are overlooked.
- Projects assume that handing over the toilets to leaders or councillors will ensure ownership. Similarly, leaders and councillors select persons that they think will be on their side and will uptake the maintenance and repair of toilets. This is rarely the case: toilets end up being unmaintained and degraded or privatized by the families who bear the maintenance costs.
- Lack of sustainable governance: economic and technical aspects of maintenance and desludging are rarely considered, making it extremely hard for communities to respond to these challenges.
The strategic intervention
The lack of access to proper sanitation facilities is a significant issue in many of Freetown’s informal settlements. Women and girls are particularly affected by this issue, as they face additional challenges due to gender-related norms and practices. In many cases, women and girls are forced to use unsafe and unhygienic facilities, which can lead to serious health risks. The lack of access to proper sanitation also affects the overall health and well-being of the community, as it can lead to the spread of diseases.
To address this issue, SLURC, CODOHSAPA, and FEDURP, with support from FCC, are implementing a strategic small-scale intervention that promotes gender responsive and community-owned communal toilet facilities in Dworzack, Colbot and Abacha street market. The intervention aims to provide safe and hygienic sanitation facilities that are accessible to all members of the community, particularly women and girls and persons with disabilities. The intervention also aims to promote community ownership of the facilities, which can lead to better maintenance and sustainability of the facilities.
The objectives are:
- To provide improved and dignified sanitation facilities that are accessed by all categories of the population through the rehabilitation/construction and maintenance of public toilet facilities.
- To improve the governance, operational and management systems (introducing gender-responsive systems that include both male and female) for the use of sanitation facilities.
- To ensure equitable access and sustainability of the rehabilitated public toilet facilities in the selected communities
- To build and strengthen the capacity of sanitation workers as they play a critical role in all aspects of operational management.
- To build advocacy an awareness-raising platform for just sanitation
3 sites, 3 scenarios: Abacha, Colbot, Dworzack
The intervention is grounded in three areas of Freetown with specific constraints to equitable toilet access:
Abacha street
Abacha Street is a business location that attracts a huge population during the day but lacks space for the construction of toilet facilities while the existing ones are in a dilapidated state and need repair. Most women doing business in this location are forced to attend to nature’s call in public, which completely conflicts with our value systems of dignity and privacy. As such, the intervention focuses on rehabilitating a pre-existing community toilet facility and designing cubicles for the special needs of pregnant women, persons with disability and menstrual hygiene management.
Colbot community
Colbot relies on a lot of “hanging” or “flying toilets”, contaminating the water sources and fish. Many NGOs such as Caritas, GOAL, and the Red Cross, have built community toilets in Colbot, but their lifespans have been very reduced due to improper maintenance models. The intervention will thus focus on rehabilitating an existing latrine facility to serve the Colbot community and overcome the constraints of poor maintenance.
Dworzack community
A hilly informal settlement in Freetown, Dworzack lacks space for the construction of communal toilets and is partly unmotorable. This is a constraint to safely dispose of fecal sludge and leads to open defecation, both contaminating spring boxes used for domestic water supply and polluting run-off water. As a response, the team will construct a communal toilet in one of the most frequented social place, responding to the previously mentioned challenges, and embark on advocacy for improved sanitation.
The process
Our strategic intervention roots in over 2 years of research-action as part of the OVERDUE project:
June 2020-September 2022: SLURC documented in collaboration with FEDURP and CODOHSAPA the sanitation arrangements in Freetown. Interviews with sanitation workers and users enabled our team to understand what unjust and just sanitation means in Freetown.
October 2022: Formalizing the partnership with FEDURP and CODOHSAPA and elaborating the strategic intervention proposal.
November 2022: Celebrating World Toilet Day 2022 in Freetown to raise awareness about the importance of public toilets and women’s leading role in sanitation
November/December 2022: Meeting with community stakeholders to introduce the project, ensure buy in and include preferences. FEDURP/CODOHSAPA members played a crucial role to coordinate these meetings and ensure community engagement.
Meeting with high profile stakeholders (FCC, FOAL, Ward Councillors, sanitation workers) to ensure formal consent, the overseeing of the facilities by the public authorities, and ensure that all had a shared understanding of constraints and needs along the sanitation chain.
Community tours to identify all the existing facilities and select the toilets for renovation (Abacha, Colbot) and the site for construction (Dworzack).
Discussions with landowners on their willingness to give land for/host community toilets. Memorandum of understanding were signed between landowners, the FCC and the core project organisation.
Meeting with an FCC engineer to develop the design for the construction of the toilet facility in the Dworzack community. Discussions with the ARISE Light progreamme to ensure that a public light is installed next to the public facility in Dworzack
Further round of engagement with community members and signing of a memorandum of understanding between community people and the Freetown city council on their involvement and management of the facilities after construction in the three communities
February 2023: Visit in Tamil Nadu India with the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Program. The team met women leaders in sanitation and observed optimized toilet models to minimize desludging, which were inspirations for the interventions in Freetown.
March/April 2023: Meetings and discussions in the 3 sites to identify women interested to take the lead in controlling and maintaining the facilities. 15 women, 5 from each area were identified.
April/May 2023: SLURC/FEDURP/CODOHSAPA launched an open call for sanitation innovators to propose ideas for toilet construction/rehabilitation with a focus on inclusion and sludge containment/processing (responding to the emptying constraints in all sites). 8 companies responded, 4 were invited to do a public presentation to the communities.
June 2023: Selection of 2 companies, a Sierra Leonean and a Ghanaian to develop 2 full proposals in interactions with theam and communities
Next steps
After 6 months of activity, the project is just firming up the design with all stakeholders on board and about to start the rehabilitation/construction steps. The following steps are expected:
(Re)construction: 2-4 weeks of work with professional companies, local workers and oversight to ensure that the expectations are met
Establishment of a seed fund for each facility to buy the material and meet the maintenance costs and capacity building of the women caretakers to ensure ownership
General sensitization within the communities to ensure that best practices are adopted and that the responsibilities are well understood
Highlights from Toilet Design Workshops in Freetown
The Toilet design workshop organised by SLURC, CODOHSAPA and FEDURP on the 1st of June 2023 was a significant step towards achieving gender-responsive and community-owned sanitation facilities in Freetown.
The workshop brought together various stakeholders including community members, government agencies, private sector service providers, and NGOs to discuss and select appropriate toilet designs and models for each community. The workshop featured presentations and discussions on various toilet designs and models, including biodigesters, compositing toilets, and elevated VIP latrines.
The presentations and discussions focused on cost-effectiveness, ease of maintenance, cultural acceptability, accessibility, and sustainability. The benefits and challenges of each design were highlighted, and examples of successful implementation in other parts of the city were provided. Community members were given the opportunity to select the most appropriate toilet designs and models that they would like to see implemented in their community. The selection process took into account the gender-specific needs, topography, space, cultural adaptability and flood vulnerability of each community, ensuring that the selected designs and models are appropriate for each community’s unique needs.
After the discussions, a consensus was reached on the most appropriate designs and models for each community. The involvement of various stakeholders ensured that all perspectives were taken into account, and the selected designs and models were culturally acceptable and sustainable. The workshop was a success in achieving community ownership of sanitation facilities and promoting sustainable and accessible sanitation in Freetown.
The success of the workshop was attributed to the collaboration of various stakeholders, including community members, government agencies, private sector service providers and NGOs, highlighting the importance of collaboration in promoting sustainable sanitation practices. Community ownership of sanitation facilities promote a sense of responsibility and accountability among community members, leading to better maintenance of the facilities and promoting good hygiene practices within the community. The involvement of community members in decision-making processes related to their well-being also promotes a sense of empowerment and ownership in driving change, which can lead to better health outcomes.
The impact of the workshop is expected to extend beyond Freetown community, as the selected designs and models can serve as a blueprint for other communities facing similar sanitation challenges. The success of the workshop serves as an example of how collaboration among stakeholders can lead to sustainable solutions to complex problems and is an important step towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals related to sanitation. The workshop’s impact is expected to be far-reaching, as it promotes sustainable and accessible sanitation on Freetown, particularly in areas that lack access to a sewerage system.
Contacts
This strategic interventions is implemented by SLURC, FEDURP and CODOHSAPA in partnership with the Freetown City Council (FCC). To know more about the project and recent updates, please contact;
- SLURC: Braima Koroma (koromabm1@yahoo.com) and Ibrahim Bakarr Bangura (ibangura@slurc.org )
- FEDURP/CODOHSAAPA: Francis Reffell (francisreffell@codohsapa.org ) and Yirah Conteh (yirahoconteh@codohsapa.org)
- FCC: Environmental Officer and FSM Manager (info@fcc.gov.sl )