The Stool - Three Legged Stool of Excreta Management

The Stool is a conceptual model that helps programme designers to understand excreta management.

Only when all three legs of the excreta management stool are in position and balanced, will toilet acquisition and use be maintained. The programme designer should identify the nature of, and constraints in, each element. Decisions can then be made on where and how to make changes or enhancements to excreta management, thereby making the process more effective. It is a process of building on existing infrastructure rather than developing new and competing systems.

Before a management system is changed, the programme designer must first obtain a good understanding of the existing situation. For large programmes, this knowledge may be gained by using specialists i.e. market researchers, organisational developers, policy analysts, etc. For small projects the minimum that’s required would be a series of in-depth discussions with a range of community members, sanitation product and service providers, and policy makers. The whole process is iterative, as the designer’s knowledge and methodologies gradually improve, and inputs over time become a case of on-going fine tuning as opposed to re-invention.
Working on just one of the Stool’s legs and ignoring the others increases the risk of the project failing. For example, creating demand is futile if the supply chains are incapable of delivering affordable, well designed latrines that meet the needs of potential new customers.

In most cases the policy and regulatory environment will need to change to enhance the supply and demand creation processes, and not obstruct them. This may involve the reorientation of attitudes necessary for successfully moving people out of their traditionally accepted roles.