Community-managed toilets: Tiruchirappalli sets a good example
Updated - Tuesday 16 December 2008
The city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India, is setting a good example with its community-managed toilets (CMTs). The city authorities, communities and NGOs have joined forces to install nearly 340 CMTs, most of which also have bathing and washing facilities.
In the past six years, the Tiruchirappalli CMT model has shown that it can be taken to scale at city level. All of the city's slum communities, in which 23% of its population of 7,752,000 live, are expected to be equipped with community-managed toilets.
A study [1] by Gramalaya and WaterAid India, with the support of Tiruchirappalli City Corporation (TCC), sought to understand the benefits of CMTs and the challenges facing this model after six years of experimentation. The study revealed that communities can manage their own toilet units, and when they do, the toilets are much cleaner than when managed by TCC. Achieving clean and healthy slums does not require huge financial investment; it requires a city authority sensitive to the problems faced by slum communities and supportive of community action, and the dedication of communities and their support NGOs.
[1] Gramalaya and WaterAid India (2008). Tiruchirappalli shows the way: community-municipal corporation-NGO partnership for city-wide pro-poor slums’ infrastructure improvement: policy recommendations for community-managed toilets, bathing and washing complexes in urban slums. New Delhi, India, WaterAid India. xi, 24 p. Download here
Related publication:
- Colin, J. and Nijssen, S. (2007). Public toilets in urban India: doing business differently. (Field note / WSP). New Delhi, India, Water and Sanitation Program - South Asia. More information - download here.
Contact: WaterAid India, wai@wateraid.org, http://www.wateraid.org/india/
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