Cultural Contexts
Unique location characteristics, social mannerisms and norms that influence the appropriate WASH solution for individual schools
Cultural Setting
My Location, My Choice
The choice of appropriate sanitation systems for any given context requires a system-based approach to ensure long-term sustainability of the systems. This approach begins from the appreciation of the different key contextual factors which characterize a given setting. There are four main typical school contexts which affect the choice of sanitation systems in schools. These are:
Strong/unique cultural norms
This context describes schools located within communities with distinct and unique social-cultural norms that influence their sanitation practices.
As is common in most contexts, these practices are often about the critical need for water in managing sanitation needs such as anal cleansing. Muslim societies dominant in parts of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, for instance, are culturally washers and therefore prefer water-based sanitation facilities that allow for water input.
For schools in similar settings, this preference highlights two critical aspects;
- the intense need for water not only for flushing but also for anal cleansing, and;
- the fact that dry sanitation systems would be inappropriate for such contexts.
In contrast, wipers have far less intense water use as they use various dry anal-cleansing materials and are thus flexible in their water requirements and preference for sanitation facilities.
Water availability is a key factor in influencing the selection of sanitation technology in any given context. It therefore anchors, in this case, the blueprint’s assessment and recommendation of water based sanitation solutions suitable for schools whose learners are predominantly washers.