| dc.description.abstract | The following research question has been discussed: Which capacities are present in India
and how successfully is ESF in developing these with their training programme to increase the
amount of implemented projects?
In order to answer what is a successful sanitation programme the capability approach has
been central. A capability is defined as the opportunity for a person to fulfil certain functions
he or she highly values. Improved capabilities thereby improve quality of life for people by
increasing the choices they are able to make. In relation to ecological sanitation (ecosan) it
shown how ecological sanitation improves people’s capabilities, moreover improving quality
of life for people. The research of Enssle (2010) supplemented by Messmer (2011) provided
a list of capabilities that are improved by ecological sanitation practices. They show that
projects are only successfully promoted, implemented and maintained if they meet people’s
capabilities. Since a full assessment of the presence of capabilities in the visited projects has
not been possible it is assessed whether the capabilities can be found in the vocabulary and
training of the ESF staff and if this vocabulary was subsequently adopted by the former
course participants. This task is performed as it is believed that good project implementation
can only take place if the ones implementing projects are familiar with most of the relevant
capabilities. Although there was a lot of knowledge present in ESF and the course
participants, some capabilities were not addressed, making the training not fully inclusive
and therefore less successful.
When attempts are made to develop capabilities in relation to ecological sanitation,
capacities are needed. This for the reason that: “capacity development involves long term
and contributes to sustainable, social and economic development and is demand driven”
(Lusthaus et al. 1999: 5). There are many capacity spheres to take into consideration. These
are: cultural and awareness capacity, institutional capacity, organisational capacity, human
capacity, scientific capacity, technical capacity, process capacity and, added at a later time,
financial capacity. All these different components contribute to making ecosan a flourishing
practice. When these capacities are enabling and do not throw up barriers, successful
ecological sanitation implementation will be likely. A capacity gap that is visualised by the
Ecosan Services Foundation is the lack of experts in the field. To solve this issue they provide
a training programme which needs to solve this gap. Taken that they use the training as a
tool, criteria to evaluate the training are used. These are the reactions, learning and
behaviour of the course participants, and moreover the final results of a training
programme.
The outcome of the interviews show that many of the training participants were highly
satisfied with the training course and could recall many aspects of ecosan, implying that
learning has taken place. If the behaviour of the course participants has changed after
following the course could not be directly researched, since the course participants could
not be followed on a daily basis. Although some projects came out of the training, the
success of this is believed to be not very high. Many course participants found several
personal barriers, such as a lack of influence in an organisation or being an individual
without any financial back up, which prevented them from project implementation. 5
Besides the personal barriers, many capacity gaps were discovered. Making it difficult for
individuals to successfully implement projects and form a barrier for a flourishing ecosan
practice in India. A single organisation cannot solve all these issues, but it is suggested that a
programme will be developed that addresses more than merely the development of
knowledge of the course participants, as a way of improving human capacity. ESF should
provide the course participants with a broader programme where they learn how to
implement projects within a broader environment in which many capacity gaps are present.
Another option would at least be to choose the participants by a stakeholder approach,
getting relevant people together who can truly influence project implementation | |
