Abstract
Between 20-40 million persons in urban areas are without access to a toilet. Of these, two thirds are women and children. High on the list of urgent priorities in urban poor communities are toilets, whose absence is known to exacerbate health and nutritional burden of the poor, and increase susceptibility to abuse. Municipal solutions to toilet needs are invariably big community toilet complexes. This paper discusses problems of big toilets versus smaller alternatives, building a case for household toilets and networking poor households/communities to city systems using examples from some best practices in the country. Sanitation needs require a whole city perspective with the objective of reaching all poor in a city, especially the un-reached. No problem of sanitation can however be resolved without people's involvement. UBSP demonstrated a strategy for community organisation that enabled people to dialogue with city governments. Adopting the strategy under PEEP, women's associations are being armed with information to negotiate for their rights. People's participation ensures sustainable and cost effective alternatives based on their life strategies. Some recommendations at the end of the chapter are aimed at addressing the challenge of urban sanitation in an effort at creating a Sanitation Suraksha Chakra, that envelopes the entire city.
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