De-womanising Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) education as an inclusive ontology has been unprecedently given little attention despite its role in spurring a conducive environment for females during their “bloody days of the month” and general Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) improvements. Access to menstrual materials, clean water, washrooms, and disposal of menstrual waste requires an inclusive gender approach, especially in societies where access to resources and services is still male-dominated. This article seeks to pinpoint the exclusion of males from MHM-related issues. The work not only analysed the accepted males’ perception of menstruation as associated with dirtiness, impurity, and disgust but also the female’s perceptions of males as sexual predators presented as risk factors for a girl-child’s well-being and progression. The study established that the understanding of the gender space constructed by cultural norms, practices, and social dynamics helps in the educational policy considerations of sexuality and MHM complexities in a changing society. Interest in educational reforms to adopt new sources of knowledge on menstrual hygiene and pedagogical realignment were core observations of the research process. The article helps WASH practitioners to rethink the gender and cultural entanglements in MHM education and practices to unlock potentials for addressing menstrual poverty, stigma and cultural barriers, sustainable disposal of menstrual materials, and other WASH mechanisms at home, at school and in the communities. Interview surveys were conducted in low-income urban societies and primary school environment on the one hand; and low-income rural communities, primary and secondary school environments. One-on-one interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted. Observation as a key ethnographic methodological tool was employed.

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Independent small-scale providers play a significant role in enabling faecal sludge emptying and transportation (E&T) services worldwide. The study presented in this paper is a case study from Mzuzu, Malawi, to assess the challenges related to the sustainability of faecal sludge E&T entrepreneurship in the city. A series of interviews were conducted with different stakeholders during data collection, including 10 faecal sludge E&T entrepreneurs, and four existing organisations in the sanitation sector. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered to 20 low-income households from informal settlements. The study revealed that the entrepreneurs faced financial constraints as they lacked access to loans/ aid, delayed payments from customers, and low service demand. Technical challenges were evident due to poor design of households’ onsite sanitation systems (OSS), and desludging through digging secondary pits. The lack of defined responsibilities among the existing organisations involved in faecal sludge management (FSM) in Mzuzu was linked to incoordination of service delivery across the FSM chain, and lack of professionalization and support for the entrepreneurs. Households’ low willingness to pay (WTP), reliance on undesludgeable pit latrines, and low awareness of the available desludging services, contributed to the limited success of the E&T service entrepreneurship. The study has suggested introducing a household sanitation tax (2.7 USD monthly) as a strategy for improving faecal sludge E&T service delivery, and viable E&T entrepreneurship.

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We investigated motivating factors for use of urine diversion and dry toilets (UDDT) at the household level in two communities in Tamilnadu, India. From 2011 onwards, over 60 UDDTs were built in Bootheri and Kalvarayan Hills, Tamilnadu to provide families with sanitation facilities where there is no infrastructure for sewage transport and treatment. A UDDT is a stand-alone model of a toilet which requires very little water and enables the user to reuse human excreta – urine and dried human feces – as manure in gardening and farming. We interviewed eleven UDDT users to understand their motivation for shifting from open defecation to using a UDDT. The information gathered through the interviews provided insight into the individuals’ values and reasons for behavior change, contrasting with the organization’s rationale for promoting UDDT use, which centered around factors such as lack of water availability for flush sanitation, eliminating the spread of disease from human waste, and the potential for reuse of human excreta as fertilizer. Privacy and convenience emerged as the primary reasons quoted by the interviewees for the continued use of the UDDTs. Other factors included the fertilizer benefit of the reused excreta, improved time management, avoidance of ridicule and embarrassment, and their financial contribution towards the construction of the UDDT. While the organization offered a context-adequate sanitation solution, our investigation shows that the behavior change of the toilet users was driven by different motivations. This case study investigates the motivation that drives UDDT users to use the toilet in the long run. The study is addressed to project implementers who wish to provide sanitation solutions in different parts of the world.

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