13.4.2 Sanitation ‘place’
In this context, place means the site where sanitation facilities are produced and also where they are sold. They may be the same place or in different locations, but the important point is that must be easily accessible to customers (especially for heavy items such as a concrete slab). A major problem in peri-urban areas is that the place of production and sale of the slabs can be a long way from people’s homes.
If the place where slabs or other products are sold is a long way from people’s homes, how could this affect motivation to improve sanitation at the household level?
People are less likely to be motivated to buy the products if they have to travel long distances to view them.
This question illustrates how ‘place’can affect demand and so reduce the sale of ‘products’. If you were faced with this problem, you should work in coordination with the Woreda WASH Team and private sector organisations to try to offer production and sales in more accessible places, ideally in the kebele rather than only at woreda level. The outlets that are most convenient for sales include:
- local selling centres established by MSEs
- personal selling by local artisans (e.g. masons, carpenters, plumbers)
- kebele administrators’ offices
- health centres.
Other possible outlets are:
- Farmers Training Centres in peri-urban areas
- local retailing shops or sanitation sales centres
- cooperatives (e.g. women’s associations, farmers’ associations in peri-urban areas).
13.4.1 Sanitation products