“Although the provision of latrines is relatively high, the conditions are very poor and the amount of usage is low, “ said the engineer. Ugyen Rinzin said that, although rural people had adequate knowledge on water and sanitation-related diseases, there was little change in their behaviour. “This is because of a lack of appropriate communication approach with rural communities and the absence of choice of latrine technologies.”

This week, the public health engineer division organised a workshop involving local leaders, dzongkhag education officers, and engineers to look into new approaches to tackling rural sanitation problems.

The participants discussed a new strategy called the community led total sanitation (CLTS) to upgrade sanitation in rural areas.

“We want the community to take the lead role in planning and identifying their own priorities to improve sanitation in the new strategy,” said the engineer. The CLTS approach is a method to mobilize the community to be a prime mover for behavioural change and safe sanitation practices. It also focuses on stopping open defecation, harnessing traditional collective community action to stimulate hygiene attitudinal change and promote low cost homemade toilets, among others.

The division plans to start implementing this strategy by going to identified gewogs and talking to the villagers to seek suggestions.

The workshop will also aim at reviewing proposals for a rural sanitation and hygiene programme in the country and get the support of relevant stakeholders.

A scoping study conducted by SNV in 2007 found that the sanitation situation in community schools and religious institutions (temples and monastic schools) in Bhutan was poor.