Open defecation and sanitation marketing (Niger)

Open defecation practice concerns 6 out of 10 households, or more than 80% of the rural population in Niger. This practice is undesireable because it exposes people to personal insecurity, sexual abuse and constitutes a risk to public health. It is to help remedy this situation that the Charity-Water project intervenes in the Maradi region and particularly in the rural commune of Chadakori department of Guidan Roumdji with sanitation projects. Through this intervention, this project aims to reduce the rate of open defecation in the municipality by 50%. This study is part of the overall objective of contributing to the improvement of sanitation in the commune of Chadakori through the implementation of sanitation marketing. To do this, an inventory of sanitation was carried out through documentary research, surveys and field observations. A process for implementing sanitation marketing was proposed based on a market study to better support the community-led total sanitation (CLTS) approach. The results of the study showed that a large portion (73%) of households had latrines compared to 27% who no longer have one either due to lack of means to build it or to rehabilitate it after it collapsed. The large percentage of households that do not have latrines constitutes a good opportunity to implement sanitation marketing in complementarity with the CLTS approach. In this sense, the study aims to better guide actions within the framework of this coupling of the CLTS approach and sanitation marketing in order to push ODF villages to maintain their status and help those who do not have it. reached. Efforts still need to be made to improve sanitation, especially in terms of raising awareness, changing behavior and training stakeholders.