Behavior Change...

[At 10,000 feet in Guatemalan village without many outhouses. Toilet is land just beyond hut.]



[Deluxe composting toilet in outhouse in Guatemalan village of Casaca at AFOPADI project.]


...is what counts for the long-term, but is not sexy (especially to funders) in the short-term. This morning, I heard a radio report on the BBC about lack of toilets and poor sanitation leading to childhood death in Cambodia. I believe the figure cited was 84% of the population do not have access to toilets. The woman interviewed (Barbara Evans?) said that you can't just drop off toilets; change comes from behavioral change over the long-term....no ribbon cuttings, just slow progress over time.

Of course, this is the same struggle as the Earthways project I work with in Guatemala. All three aspects (Education, Health & Agriculture) of the AFOPADI project are integrated to such a degree that you can't separate them. With toilets, the improved sanitation effects health in a positive way. When people recycle human wastes into organic compost, that improves the crops which leads to better yields. When people use silos to store the harvest, that leads to fewer rat intrusions in the corn and better health (more food, less poop). None of this can happen unless people are available for behavioral change. Think how hard it is for us to change on a daily basis. Then imagine you had recently survived a 30 year long civil war during which the military and government forced you to rape, torture and murder your neighbors. Your entire communal society was violated. Now, would you be very trusting and open to change? I believe we must work with people after establishing relationships and honor their differing capacities for change.