Yemen

In Yemen, around 56% of families don’t have access to any sanitation facilities. Out of the rest of the population, only a small percentage has access to safe sanitation, with many using latrines that do not safely contain faeces but discharge excreta into the open. UNICEF and WHO ‘s mid-term assessment of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals estimated that 30% of the Yemeni population were without improved* sanitation in 2002, with figures as low as 14% in rural areas.

While most of the country is made up of dry desert regions with little rainfall (300 to 400 mm), at least three governorates located on the mountainous terrains in the south, especially the Ibb governorate, receive comparatively more rain (800-1000 mm average). Because fecal material is carried down the slope of mountains by rain water, sources of drinking water are often severely contaminated and the incidences of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases are quite high in these areas.

The Social Fund for Development (SFD) first came to know about CLTS from Andy Robinson, a consultant for the World Bank, who during an evaluation of SFD’s work in December 2006, suggested SFD try out the CLTS approach in their rural sanitation programme. After reading several publications on CLTS and gathering information about the spread and scaling up of CLTS in other countries in Asia, Mr. Abdul Wahab, the Head of the Water and Environment Unit, contacted Dr Kamal Kar and invited him to facilitate a hands-on training workshop on CLTS in Yemen.

*(Improved sanitation refers to one of the following: connection to a public sewer or a septic system, pour-flush, simple pit or ventilated improved pit latrine; whereas use of a public or shared latrine, open pit latrine or bucket latrine counts as unimproved sanitation)