The problem & the project

Only about 17% of Cambodian rural poor households have access to latrines which effectively separate human excreta from human contact.  The health, environmental and economic impacts of this are vast:  Cambodia has an under-five mortality rate of 83 per 1000 live births.  In the US, it’s about 7.  Cambodia has a Millenium Development goal of reaching 30% coverage by 2015.  Yet, at current rates of latrine construction and population growth, 30% coverage won’t be reached for more than 100 years. . .  clearly there’s a problem. 

IDE conducted studies around the supply and demand for latrines.  If you want a bigger summary of the work, click here.  Otherwise, here’s my summary:  Cambodians are relatively poor.  A five-person family at the national poverty level earns about 900USD per year, and rural Cambodians cite cost as the number one reason that they don’t invest in effective latrines.  A lot of NGOs are working in Cambodia trying to assist the poor, and a number of these NGOs have historically given away latrines.  They tend to build what is, in fact, quite a nice latrine (including an offset tank, pour-flush pan and solid walls and roof:  I’ll explain latrine options in a later posting. . .) that costs about 150USD to build.  This has caused two problems.  First, this latrine is now seen as the ‘ideal’, and people don’t want to build anything lesser.  Yet they can’t save up enough money to build it.  So, the second problem . . . they wait and see if an NGO will just build them a latrine.  Yet, the NGOs can only reach a very small segment of the population so very few get built (of the latrines existing in Cambodia, only 17% of them are provided by NGOS. . . the rest are purchased by the users).  As I understand it, other cheaper options exist, but they’re not ‘desirable’.  Cambodians are also prioritizing other investments—63% of households own a TV, 10% own a DVD player. . . Note that this is not because of ignorance of sanitation—IDE found a high level of awareness around hygiene issues even if good sanitation practices and investment prioritization do not necessarily follow.

IDE’s hypothesis is that if we can build a desireable, upgradeable latrine system that has an initial investment of 10-20USD (perhaps for the below-ground infrastructure) and that can be upgraded over the years in subsequent, similar-sized investments, a far greater percentage of the population can be reached.  It’s expected that a 20USD price point will be immediately accessible to 50% of the population.  Note that in keeping with IDE’s market-based philosophy, these latrines will not be give-aways.  The distribution, sale, construction, use and maintenance of the latrines must be a self-sustaining enterprise.  IDE will only contribute to the initial design, to training and awareness and to marketing. 

So that’s the design project as I understand it.  A low-cost, upgradeable, desirable latrine.  Purchased by the end-consumer.  Installed by the end-consumer, perhaps with help from a mason or other skilled tradesman.  Probably using locally-available materials, though if there’s huge benefit in getting parts made in high volume outside of Cambodia (plastics, metal, etc.) that’s a potential option. The project starts on January 26^th. . .

Sounds like a good design problem. . .