Exploring Imbalances between Technical and Participatory Governance in Alternative Sanitation provision: A Case Study of EThekwini Municipality

Abstract

The increasing realisation that the world will not meet sanitation MDG targets for 2015 has sparked renewed urgency to explore alternative sanitation approaches to meet the backlog in developing countries.  Tremendous technological advancements have been made in an attempt to meet sanitation targets.  While considerable technological progress in the design and implementation of alternative sanitation has been made, beneficiary communities have been left behind in the process because the pace of technological innovation has been much faster than the beneficiary communities could absorb.  The perpetuated prevailing belief that technical efficiency guarantees user acceptability proved unfounded.  This has primarily been due to imbalances between what is regarded as `technical governance` and `participatory governance`.  The paper provides anecdotal evidence of limited acceptability of these alternative sanitation innovations within beneficiary communities.  We explore how prevailing governance` systems impacts of socio-cultural acceptability of alternative sanitation options in peri-urban communities of Ethekwini Municipality.  The paper argues that the lack of balance between technical and social considerations in sanitation decision-making is driven by the nature and structure of governance within local government.  The paper argues that acceptability of alternative sanitation options is therefore determined by the balance or lack therefore.  The paper discusses various examples where alternative sanitation technologies have been rejected by beneficiaries.