Community-Led Sanitation in Simoonga, Zambia

This paper describes a sustainable sanitation project conducted by students from the University of Virginia and the University of Georgia. The team partnered with village council members and local experts in the village of Simoonga, Zambia, to design and build communal latrines using appropriate technologies and to create a village sanitation committee. The authors present the process of project development, including project topic, team dynamics, evaluation of alternatives, and the decision to build a Ventilated Improved Pit latrine. In preparation for arrival in Zambia, the team designed, developed and implemented a prototype in Charlottesville. The authors then describe community engagement in Simoonga and the iterative construction process of two Ventilated Improved Pit latrines over six weeks. The paper concludes with a discussion of project challenges, resolutions, results and lessons learned.