Toward the end of open defecation
in peri-urban areas of Mongolia
Case study on a new social norm
By Gilles Fagninou – University of Pennsylvania & UNICEF summer programme 2012
Some Basic statistics …
Total population:
2.7 million
Under 18:
33.6%
Under age of 5:
9.7%
Peri-urban population:
26%
Land mass:
1.56 million sq km
Pop density:
1.6 per sq km
Source: as of Dec 2011 - NSO annual report on Population
Background
•
Mongolia is populated by nomads;
•
One characteristic is that they don’t care about latrines
•
At national level, latrine is used by 54% and in peri-urban areas
by less than one out of three
•
Progressively, the proportion of nomadic or semi-nomadic people
in Mongolia is decreasing : 60% in 1985 and 30% in 2010
•
With a growing migration, more than 25% of the population is
leaving in peri-urban area
•
Migrants in peri-urban area are coming from all over the
country with different background and culture with one thing in
common : the nomadic culture and customs
Background
Custom
• In peri-urban area, the majority of people
doesn’t have/use latrine and practice open
defecation
• This is a practice in rural areas without a
visible impact on child mortality, but with a
growing migration in overcrowded peri urban
area the situation is becoming a social issue.
• The child mortality in peri-urban areas is more
than four times the national average (IMR 36
and U5MR 45 per 1000 live births – MICS
2010)
Belief and expectations
Normative belief & expectations :
• Even when they move to city centers, in peri
urban area, people still believes that they don’t
need latrine
• People think that no one expects them to use a
latrine
Attitudes / personal normative beliefs :
• People believes that household shouldn’t have
latrines
Past and current interventions
• Supply driven interventions
• Public / private partnership on eco-latrine
• Community/family empowerment strategy
• Latrine in schools
Create a social norm
• A good household should have a latrine (honor
code)
• A household in the community should expect
other households to have and use latrines (social
expectation matter)
• Household will build and use latrine because
they are convinced that other will do the same
(auto-regulate collective behaviour).
This will create a kind of interdependence in the
community
Target Population
- Household living in peri-urban areas – a
discussion with the community should lead to the
identification of a core group with the 1st level of
change agents and a monitoring mechanism;
- New migrants will find a strong social norm in
place and progressively conform to it
- Public declaration: after a consultative process
takes place, the community will define when a
public declaration will be made to reinforce the
norm
Creation of network and incentive
- Create a network of communities to share
experiences and lessons learnt
- Create an incentive to reward the community
that has the highest latrine rate per household or
using any other performance criteria that the
community may find appropriate.
- The reward should target the community to
strengthen the interdependence and coresponsibility among members of community