PhATS Transcent the Humanitarian - Development Divide: Philippines Approach to Total Sanitation, Haiyan Response, Philippines, 2013-2015

United Nations Childrens Fund
UNICEF

PhATS: Nationally agreed upon recovery and development strategy/project for promoting universal access to improved sanitation and hygiene behaviour with the entry point of ending the practice of open defecation by facilitating changes in social norms and building resilience.

PhATS provides a holistic framework not only focusing on basic sanitation with an incremental Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) component. Prioritizing sanitation demand creation is anchored in the promotion of supply-side interventions and multiple enabling environment conditions that fit within and support the socio-cultural, political and investment climate of the Philippines.

Mission

The Yolanda WASH Cluster partners have worked with the Department of Health and Department of Education, Philippines to develop a Sanitation Strategy for Early Recovery in Yolanda (Haiyan) affected areas based on the national Sanitation Policy. The Philippine Approach to Total Sanitation (PhATS) was designed to help the national government achieve the goals set forth in the Philippine Sustainable Sanitation Roadmap and the National Sustainable Sanitation Plan. It builds on these national instruments envisioning the creation of an open defecation free environment with safe disposal of liquid and solid wastes; the promotion of health and hygiene practices; and the strengthening of the enabling environment for sanitation and hygiene, through a phased and holistic approach to sanitation development. PhATS aimed to provide a common framework for the achievement of zero open defecation (ZOD) status at sub - national level while providing implementation details to reach out to a large number of Yolanda affected Barangays and achieve the WASH Cluster Strategic Response Plan target to provide access to basic sanitation to about 1.2 Million people by end of 2015. The rationale to have a specific Philippines specific sanitation approach is linked to the sector context prioritizing sanitation referring to the socio-economic, political and cultural context, including its development trajectory with slow progress on rural sanitation and regional and income group based inequities, the occurrence of frequent natural disasters and the current development aid architecture. PhATS also took note of the institutional set up of the sector, the potential links to national, regional, provincial and local institutions and recent patterns of public and private sector investment.

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Video(s)

PhATS Promotion

UNICEF's PhATS in the Philippines is a campaign to stop open defecation in rural communities. Created in partnership with Samaritan's Purse International Relief and other iNGOs.

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Answer questions about the project

Simone Klawitter
mail@klawitter-berlin.com

Filter / Tags

Capacity developmentMarket developmentRural areasCommunity sanitationEmergency and reconstructionOperation, maintenance and sustainable servicesBehaviour changeHealth and hygieneProduct design and engineeringPolitical processes and institutional aspectsSpecific to one or several countriesToilets or urinals (user interface)Treatment of wastewater or greywaterEnabling environment and institutional strengtheningConstructed wetlandsDecentralised wastewater treatment (e.g. DEWATS)Australian governmentCanadian governmentGerman governmentUK governmentUnited States governmentOther philantropist foundationGreywater or wastewaterCamps (emergency or longer term)Peri-urbanRuralSchoolsUrban informal settlements (slums)EducatorsPoliticians and local decision makersPractitionersMultilateral organisation

Related Countries

Philippines

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