The National Sanitation Programme in Mozambique : pioneering peri-urban sanitation

9 Field Note The National Sanitation Water and Sanitation Program Programme in Mozambique: An international Pioneering partnership to help the poor gain sustained access to improved Peri-Urban Sanitation water supply and sanitation services Africa Region Water, sanitation and hygiene are vital components of sustainable development and the alleviation of poverty. Across Africa, political leaders and sector specialists are generating new momentum in these important areas. This Field Note, together with the others in the same series, constitutes a timely contribution to that work. It is intended principally to help politicians, leaders and professionals in their activities. As the Water Ambassador for Africa, invited by the African Development Making latrine slabs out of concrete. Bank and endorsed by the African Water Task Force and the African Ministerial Summary Conference on Water (AMCOW), Between 1985 and 1998 the national sanitation programme in Mozambique produced more I commend it to your attention. than 230,000 latrine slabs, benefiting more than 1.3 million people in a country that was emerging from decades of destructive civil war. This work gained international recognition for two main reasons. First, it was a pioneering programme in peri-urban sanitation at a large scale, and reached a significant proportion of the peri-urban population of the country. Salim Ahmed Salim Secondly, the domed latrine slab and its derivative `sanplat' (sanitary platform) were technically Water Ambassador for Africa innovative and have since been copied widely around the world. However, the long-term sustainability of the approach (especially its high externally funded subsidies) was questioned, and the national sanitation policies were changed completely during the late 1990s. The new policies did not immediately produce workable arrangements, and the national sanitation programme declined rapidly. The factors underlying both the success and decline of the programme provide valuable lessons. The experiences of Mozambique could help other countries to design programmes of a similar scale but with more emphasis on promotion and less dependence on externally funded subsidies.  instituted a research project in 1979 to design a latrine that was technically sound, could be used widely in the country There is always and was affordable to most peri-urban households. The research revealed that most households could dig a pit, something new typically 1.1 metres in diameter, and most were satisfied with an unroofed fence for privacy