Shared Sanitation Management and the Role of Social Capital: Findings from an Urban Sanitation Intervention in Maputo, Mozambique

Tess Shiras, Oliver Cumming, Joe Brown, Becelar Muneme, Rassul Nala and Robert Dreibelbis
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Tess Shiras: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Oliver Cumming: Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Joe Brown: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
Becelar Muneme: WeConsult, R. Fernando Ganhão, Maputo 1103, Mozambique
Rassul Nala: Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Av. Eduardo Mondlane 1008, Maputo 1101, Mozambique
Robert Dreibelbis: Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Shared sanitation—sanitation facilities shared by multiple households—is increasingly common in rapidly growing urban areas in low-income countries. However, shared sanitation facilities are often poorly maintained, dissuading regular use and potentially increasing disease risk. In a series of focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, we explored the determinants of shared sanitation management within the context of a larger-scale health impact evaluation of an improved, shared sanitation facility in Maputo, Mozambique. We identified a range of formal management practices users developed to maintain shared sanitation facilities, and found that management strategies were associated with perceived latrine quality. However—even within an intervention context—many users reported that there was no formal system for management of sanitation facilities at the compound level. Social capital played a critical role in the success of both formal and informal management strategies, and low social capital was associated with collective action failure. Shared sanitation facilities should consider ways to support social capital within target communities and identify simple, replicable behavior change models that are not dependent on complex social processes.

Keywords: sanitation; shared sanitation; collective action; social capital; urban (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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