Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in the red cross / red crescent movement

In the recent years, CLTS (Community lad total sanitation) has become widely promoted and implemented by several NGOs (Plan International) and sponsored by relevant donors (UNICEF) in
Asia, Africa and Latin America. IFRC WatSan delegates have been increasingly questioned by many RC/RC partners about the significance and efficacy of the CLTS methodology and requested advice from the IFRC WatSan Unit in Geneva on the adaptation / utilization of this new methodology in RC/RC WatSan programmes.

An initial discussion on CLTS was held in the IFRC WatSan global meeting in Dakar (June 09). At that stage, key WatSan stakeholders within the red cross / red crescent showed initial concerns and resistance to a methodology that may be perceived as extremely radical in its format and/or not technically sound. However, the WatSan group agreed to conduct a further investigation on this new approach and its principles, and assess its potential relevance for RC/RC WatSan programmes. The main output of this research would be at evaluating whether CLTS should be integrated into existing PHAST activities, seeking opportunities for CLTS to complement the RC/RC standard PHAST approach.