“Now we are becoming partners” Implementing Ecological Sanitation in rural Tanzania- With an action research approach

Poor sanitation is a huge problem in third world countries today; every year 1,5 million children die due to diarrheal diseases caused by poor sanitation. International policies such as The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, have been set by the international community as tools to decrease the poverty in the world today, and problems that emerged from it such as poor sanitation. Participatory methods are emphasise to receive the goals as well as new working methods to shift the development paradigm from marked oriented towards sustainable development, which means that also the Earth’s well-being must be included in the SDGs. Ecological sanitation (Eco-san) is a system that reuses the human waste back to grooving activities, and can improve the situation in all three areas of sustainable development, i.e. economical, environmental and social development with it’s reusing approach. Participation in implementation of Eco-san system is important for enabling sustainable projects as well as receive better acceptance for the reuse approach. The research presented in this thesis had the aim to improve the sanitation situation by introducing and implementing Eco-san in a rural area in the Northern part of Tanzania by using an action oriented research approach. The participants together with the researcher developed the project to further see the interpretations of Eco-san and possibilities to implement Eco-san in the area as well as if the action research was a convenient way to introduce such a project. The study was conducted in two cycles were critical theory and diffusion of innovation were used as analysis tools for the introduction and implementation of the toilets. The findings from the first cycle showed that the participants were willing to learn about Eco-san by observing the idea through a demonstration toilet. Therefore the second cycle lead to implementation of Eco-san in a school of the area. These toilets are today in use and managed by the students at the school. Participating approach has therefore been a successful working method were the participants gained the knowledge they needed to develop and improve their situation. This can further be argued as a valuable approach for other development projects and to meet the upcoming SDGs. However, further action and education to other village members outside the school and up scaling possibilities in the community are needed.