Faecal sludge management in small towns : Planning and management of faecal sludge technologies in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe

Global sanitation interventions have primarily focused on centralised sewer systems and waterborne flush toilets in order to cater for sanitation needs in urban areas. Zimbabwe has followed global supply-driven trends by embedding centralised waterborne sanitation in policy as the minimum household standard in urban areas. Small town local authorities across the country, however, have struggled to extend and maintain expensive centralised systems in light of limited human and financial resources. In response to inadequate sanitation coverage, Zimbabwe’s national government is presently drafting a sanitation policy that will include guidance and provisions for decentralised systems and faecal sludge management (FSM) in urban areas. The policy (which is still in draft form) is a good starting point to enable improved planning and management of faecal sludge technologies that thus far has been ignored in government policy and budgets. Local authorities highlighted that the 13-page draft policy, however, still lacks clear guidance for planning and managing FS technologies across the sanitation chain. This study investigated how implementation of FS technologies can be supported through planning and management. Qualitative methods (including interviews, focus group discussions and observations) were conducted between November 2017 and January 2018. Using the lens of systems approach framework, the research reflected on stakeholders’ (households, NGOs, local authorities and researchers)current sanitation practices and experiences to identify key drivers and barriers that enable and constrain technology planning and management from containment to reuse. The study additionally consulted stakeholder groups (local authority implementers and university sanitation researchers)to examine the feasibility of decentralised sanitation and FSM uptake in small towns. Findings showed that though there is growing acceptance of alternative technologies (amongst local authorities and users) and involvement of private sector in some parts of the value chain, there is little coordination of FSM activities across the whole chain. This has contributed to users’ needs not being fully met. In as much as local authorities accept the need for FSM, they have not included FSM in sanitation planning because with the current policy, FSM does not meet national minimal technical requirements. Apartfrom restrictive policy, local authorities have limited financial capacity, inadequate knowledge of FSM and restricted support from central government for FSM, hence fail to do anything meaningful to assist local communities who remain with the burden. Further, findings indicated that local authorities, NGOs and users view sanitation service delivery as provision of a toilet and those who have implemented FS technologies (onsite toilets) have planned for and managed like they would for centralised sewer sanitation resulting in other aspects across the chain being overlooked. This research argues that planning and management of FS technologies using a demand led approach is the needful component for support of FSM implementation across the whole chain and strategy development for new sanitation policy.Recommendations from this study targeted on policy-makers (local authorities and government ministries) suggest that stakeholders need to be involved to plan for the whole chain, finances need to be accessible for FSM and policies need to account for the local authorities and households’ realities and challenges