Due to the lack of investment in a proper sanitation system in the Philippines - including sewage collection and treatment - close to 20% of the population (approx. 20 million) suffer from inadequate access to sanitation and 9 million rely on unsafe water sources. Additionally, a significant portion of the population is resorting to open defecation (6 million) as a negative coping mechanism, further contributing to the spread of diseases and environmental pollution. Those challenges are affecting the population unevenly with high disparities between regions and provinces.

As a response, UNICEF and the Department of Health developed a strategy to attend to the needs of the most affected and implement a recovery programme: the “Phased Approach to Total Sanitation” (PhATS), in 2015 with the support of ACTED and 11 other NGOs. The Eastern Samar province benefitted from 20,000 re-built latrines as well as a sanitation marketing approach set up in several municipalities.

In order to evaluate the efficiency of the PhATS and identify remaining needs and gaps, ACTED conducted in December 2016 a post-monitoring evaluation in the four municipalities of Guiuan, Mercedes, Salcedo and Quinapondan in Eastern Samar. The evaluation focused on assessing the status and management of the latrines, the septic tank designs, sanitary behaviors at the household level as well as to evaluate the demand for a fecal sludge treatment system and its economic benefits (e.g organic fertilizer).

Following the results of this evaluation, ACTED developed its Fecal Sludge Management project articulated in three phases. This portrays the management process and is therefore documented it into a manual.

Bibliographic information

Al Saleh, T. (2019). Faecal Sludge Management Operational Manual ACTED

Filter / Tags

Faecal sludge treatment processesRuralGuidelines and manualsEnglish

Related Countries

Philippines

Downloads