GTZ Ecosan Approach

A number of good participatory approaches have been developed to be used for the implementation of conventional sanitation projects, which could be adapted to some extend for ecosan projects. However, ecosan, as a holistic approach goes far beyond the scope of these conventional projects, as it recognises human excreta and water not as a waste but as a resource to be exploited. Issues such as the agricultural reuse of recyclates, the social and logistic aspects, the role of public service providers and the adapting of sanitation facilities to the needs of the user must all be included in the considerations of an ecosan project.

The GTZ ecosan source book (WERNER et al. 2003) presents an approach for planning, preparing and implementing ecosan projects. It is based on current knowledge and thinking in the sanitation sector regarding requirements for sustainable solutions. These ten implementation steps are presented together with a description of ecosan projects, stakeholders involved and a number of tools that can be used by practitioners.

The GTZ approach is based on the  household centred environmental sanitation approach (HCES), developed by the Environmental Sanitation Working Group of WSSCC (EAWAG 2005). This adaptation of the HCES approach for ecosan projects is described as follows:

Step 0 – Raising Awareness

• Activities: advocacy; lobbying; information provision; demand creation.
• Output: increased awareness of the ecosan philosophy and systems, demand for ecosan.
• See also awareness raising.

Step 1 – Request for Assistance

• Activities: formulation of request.
• Output: request formulated and submitted to relevant party.

Step 2 – Launch of Planning and Consultative Process

• Activities: facilitation including identification of all relevant stakeholders; information on planning process and ecosan; active participation in workshop.
• Output: start-up workshop report; agreement among stakeholders on the working procedure, their tasks, roles and means, and the project boundaries.
• See also stakeholder analysis starting by the stakeholder identification factsheet. 

Step 3 – Assessment of Current Status

• Activities: participatory development of terms of reference; investigation of status quo; elaboration of reports; present findings of investigation; correct possible factual errors.
• Output: report on status quo.

Step 4 – Assessment of (User) Priorities

• Activities: establish ground rules for step 5 (priorities, levels of service, institutional arrangements, cultural acceptability etc.).
• Output: ground rules for the identification of options.
• See also baseline data collection.

Step 5 – Identification of Options

• Activities: elaboration of adequate ecosan solutions; elaboration of reports
• Output: report on suitable ecosan options.
• See the implementation tools section or the whole section on decision making.

Step 6 – Evaluation of Feasible Service and Reuse Options

• Activities: participatory determination of feasible service and reuse combinations; decision making workshop.
• Output: decision on continuation or termination and on service/reuse combinations.
• See also decision making.

Step 7 – Consolidated Ecosan Plans for Project Area

• Activities: assembling and integrating service & reuse combinations into a broader water supply, sanitation and reuse framework.
• Output: Consolidated ecosan plan for entire project area.

Step 8 – Finalising Consolidated Ecosan Plans for the Study Area

• Activities: presentation and approval of assembled plans.
• Output: approved ecosan plans.
• See - e.g. - stakeholder strategy plan.

Step 9 – Implementation

• Activities: elaboration of technical and implementation plans; decision on infrastructure; tendering; financial support; hardware investment; provision of equipment; construction; training & advice to users and service providers; use of sanitary system; maintenance; collection, treatment; storage, transport; reuse of recyclates; marketing of recyclates.
• Output: sustainable, user oriented closed-loop sanitary system.
• See also project implementation.

Ongoing monitoring, evaluation and feedback (MEF) activities are extremely important in an ecosan programme. These should be performed throughout the entire process, beginning in the awareness raising phase, with the activities and results being monitored and evaluated.