Memoire Online - Sanitation in urban and peri-urban areas of Cap-Haitien: the promotion of different latrine options through a social marketing approach

1. Designing and developing low cost, low space latrines which are affordable to the poor

2. Developing reliable affordable, safe pit emptying services to take excreta from the pit to a transfer tank.

3. Providing bulk transport services from the transfer tank to the final disposal site

This approach is based on the need to remove the two main constraints facing the res- idents; lack of space and money. The way to make a latrine smaller and cheaper is to reduce the size and cost of all the components, including the pit, so as to make the cap- ital cost low enough to be affordable (and desirable) for the majority of the households. This process of reducing the pit size automatically decreases the time it takes for the pit

to fill and the need is introduced for more frequent emptying. This emptying service has

to be provided by small scale private sector operators whose development, capacity and commercial viability is one of the keys to making this approach sustainable. The small scale emptiers dump the waste into a transfer tank, which when full, is taken for final disposal.

The price of current latrine design built by the local masons is around HT$ 2,500 (US$

310) and unaffordable to the urban poor. International Development Enterprises (IDE)

Miniaturisation: This asks the questions are large 3m deep pits necessary? Will a 1m

Affordability to the poor is always important. Are expensive concrete slabs absolutely necessary? Are there cheaper alternatives?

Expandable: This enables households to build latrines in small affordable sections.

House building processes in developing countries are incremental i.e. the owner first saves to buy the land, then saves to pay for the cement for the foundations, then for the bricks, etc. It is not all done at once as in Northern countries, and house building is matched with the family income flows, avoiding the need for banking services.

Component

Standard design

Low-cost option

Ultra-low-cost

option

Pit

2 m deep, 1 m

square, block lined

1 m deep, 60 cm

diameter, plastic drum lining

1 m deep, 60 cm

diameter, plastic drum lining

Slab

Rough cast, 8cm

thick, iron bar reinforced, fitted with concrete pedestal.

80 cm diameter x

5cm thick concrete dome slab with pedestal

80 cm diameter

wooden platform with squat hole

Ventilation pipe

100 mm diameter

plastic pipe

100 mm diameter

plastic pipe

None

Superstructure

Cement block with

galvanised tin door

Wooded frame

covered with sacking

Provided by owner

to a minimal level

Roof

Galvanised tin

Provided by owner

to a minimal level

Price

HT $2,500

(US$ 312)

HT$ 800 - 1,000

(U$ 100 - 125)

HT$ 200 - 300

(US$ 25 - 37.5)

The price of different items can be detailed below. Original figures come from local

masons or are rough estimates; prices were refined during the workshop and by working with a local GTIH engineer:

The process is made expandable by having the components inter-changeable. A household may be able to afford only a wooden slab in the beginning, but over time could afford to upgrade to a concrete slab and vent pipe.

Assessing the willingness to pay for an unseen product and service is a difficult pro- cess and at best only gives a feeling of demand. When costs were discussed in a Focus

Element \ Source	First estimates		Workshop		GTIH Engineer
Element \ Source	HT$	US$	HT$	US$	HT$	US$
Essential items
1m pit digging	120	15	30	3.75	50	6.25
200 l plastic drum	100	12.5	100	12.5	50	6.25
4 blocks (bottom)	12	1.5	12	1.5	12	1.5
Concrete domed slab	200	25	120	15	150	18.75
Sub-total	432	40.5	262	32.75	262	32.75
Superstructure
Wood					35	4.37
Cloth					20	2.5
Tin roof					40	5
Sub-total	300	37.5	200	25	95	11.87
Extra
Ventilation pipe	50	6.25	40	5	45	5.65
Seat	100	12.5	60	7.5	100	12.5
Sub-total	150	18.75	100	12.5	145	18.15
Total	882	96.75	562	70.25	502	62.77

would be given consideration and HT$200 was defiantly affordable and they «would hit

[their] heads on the ground to raise the money». Another interesting aspect to the capi-

tal cost discussion was that the women did not know the cost of the existing traditional latrine design, they just knew it was unaffordable. The problem they say with a small

The issue of space was discussed by laying planks of wood on the ground and asking

«If the latrine design was this big, would you have room for one in your house?» Al- though space was often given as a constraint in the survey, it would appear that a 1m

x 1m latrine design could be accommodated by the majority of the group. The main issues were whether it could be placed inside the house and the relationship with the landlord.

The effectiveness of this process is dependent on whether the customers pay sufficient funds to sustain the commercial viability of a pit emptying service: Revenue from cus- tomers > emptying costs + profit. The commercial viability of the emptying service is dependent upon Productivity rate and dumping charges.

This is a long list of variables and our knowledge of how they apply to a place like Shada

is limited. It is possible to assume that if an emptying service was established for the current latrine coverage it would not be viable as there are simply not enough latrine pits

to empty. The development of the emptying service must therefore go hand in hand with

the development and promotion of lower cost, smaller, latrines. Any subsidy should be not given for the building of latrines, but instead used as a buffer to cover the initial start

up losses and there after gradually reduced as the demand for the emptying services increases and commercial viability is established.

Shada has the following disadvantages in the development of an emptying service,

· Low percentage coverage and usage of latrines with no pits currently in need of

· None of the current emptying equipment, (the Vacutug or MAPET) will fit through

· All the houses are relatively close to a main road and therefore average distance from households to transfer points will be low

F.1.3 Providing bulk transport services from the transfer tank to the final disposal site

Jedco is the only company in Cap Haitien with the equipment or capacity to suck waste out of a transfer tank and transport it to a final disposal site. Their main customer is the UN who have a strong presence in the city and require their septic tanks to be regularly emptied. There is no competition and this allows Jedco to charge around US$250 per trip. Jedco are interested in expanding their business, but whether they would be willing

The Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) were once donated a small vacuum tanker under a German funded project, but this fell into disrepair when a vital spare part could not be obtained. They are now rotting in the MSPP yard and could be relatively inexpensively adapted to provide a towable transfer station.

There is no sewage treatment works in Cap Haitien and dumping waste in a mangrove swamp at the cities boundary seems to be an accepted practice. This is far from satisfac- tory, but probably the least worse alternative and certainly preferable to dumping waste

in the river next to the housing settlements. It is difficult to predict at this stage, but the project could have problems gaining permission to adopt a similar practice. Officials tend to feel more comfortable denying permission for any changes which they feel may leave them open to criticism in the future. Granting permission to dump what could be large quantities of raw faecal waste in a ecologically sensitive wetland may just regarded

The initial calculations for the commercial viability of the emptying operation were based on fees a family of 3 adults would pay per month for using the public latrine. This amounted to approximately 90 Gdes (US$ 2.25) per month. During the FGD it became apparent that this was considered too much and the women said they had to compare

Income per trip
Willingness to pay	120 Gdes
Expenses per trip
Bayakou pay	25 Gdes
Barrow boy pay	12,5 Gdes
Equipment	2,5 Gdes
Dumping fee	?
Moving transfer station	15 Gdes
Total	55 Gdes
Balance per trip	65 Gdes
Expenses per day	530 Gdes
Minimum to break even
Trips	8.15
Bayakous	1.02
Latrines needed	367

the price with open defecation, not the public latrine fees, as this is what they currently practised. It was difficult to assess the willingness to pay for an emptying service as by this stage the group was beginning to realise that we were discussing an NGO project who are known to give everything for free. However, as a best guess, the following calculations are based on a willingness to pay 120 Gdes (US$ 3.15) for emptying 100 l

Capacities
Emptying every	1.5 months
Quantity to empty	100 litres
1 bayakou serves daily	8 latrines
Transfer station capacity	2,000 litres
Emptied every	2.5 days
Daily wages
Bayakou	200 Gdes
Barrow boy	100 Gdes
Staff	400 Gdes
Nightwatch	100 Gdes
Costs and maintenance
Moving transfer station	300 Gdes
Equipment maintenance	320 Gdes
Station maintenance	30 Gdes

If each latrine fills in 1.5 months, one Bayakou could serve 367 latrines with a profit

Shada has a population of around 20,000 comprising of 2,400 families. In theory this could be served by 10 Bayakou providing a profit for the managing organisation of HT$33,000 per month. From this the organisation would have to provide some form

of management and office space, but it is these types of calculations that indicates the potential of «the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid».

This calculation is based on an ideal situation and too many assumptions are used which need to be further research and tested. Economies of scale could bring down some costs just as easily as a willingness to only pay 150 Gdes for emptying 200l could

make the entire process unprofitable. It does however give an indication of the potential

of a sustainable form of excreta management in what would be usually considered to be

Government has a role in protecting the public health of its citizens. When visiting all of

the areas in Cap Haitien, particularly the high density areas, it is clear that public health

is being compromised and raises the question what could and should the government be doing for the residents of areas like Shada?

Mrs Guettie Noel, a Public Health Technician from the Ministry of Public Health and Population stated that it was their job to empty the latrine pits, but they found this impossible because they did not have the equipment of the resources. The MSPP could present an argument that they do not need a PPP if Oxfam simply donated a new vacuum tanker to their ministry. An MSPP operated emptying service is likely to be unsustainable and only partially benefit the poor, but refusal could result in the MSPP proving difficult over refusing final disposal sites and possibly applying over-zealous building regulations latrine design. The project needs to develop good relationships with

the MSPP and continually point out that removing the excreta from areas like Shada has

a significant impact on public health and the productivity of the residents, and that it is

If the MSPP could be persuaded to cover the cost of taking the waste from the transfer station and for final disposal, the commercial viability of the emptying service will be significantly easier to achieve.

There are a variety of organisational arrangements possible for private sector latrine building, emptying and transfer services. Which is most suitable would need further discussion, but an initial suggestion would be to have one organisation overseeing the whole process and to manage the Bayakou in providing the building and emptying ser- vices. The organisation would need to be experienced in programme management, have

the capacity to keep accurate accounts and be able to monitor the various processes. Oxfam's project partner, GTIH, could be ideal in this role.

Sanitation in urban and peri-urban areas of Cap-Haitien: the promotion of different latrine options through a social marketing approach

Appendix F

Product-service package