Across West and Central Africa, where fragile systems and rapid demographic growth intersect with poverty, climate risks, and conflict, the story of sanitation is both one of progress and unfinished business. Earlier this year, during gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2025, the UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) Evaluation and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Teams presented a synthesis of evaluation findings on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS/ATPC). Drawing on evaluations conducted between 2020 and 2024, this synthesis highlighted both achievements and persistent challenges, offering valuable lessons for the global WASH community.
Sanitation is inseparable from water. Poor sanitation contaminates water sources, undermines public health, and perpetuates water insecurity. CLTS was designed to break this cycle by mobilizing communities to end open defecation through collective action. In West and Central Africa, it has sparked significant progress: many communities achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) certification, and households adopted improved hygiene practices such as handwashing with soap and regular latrine use. Yet the evaluations confirm that lasting change requires more than mobilization. It demands sustained investment, inclusive systems, and stronger links between sanitation and water supply.
The synthesis found that countries like Togo, Senegal, and Burkina Faso made notable progress in reducing open defecation. Communities embraced new hygiene behaviours, but many latrines remained rudimentary or temporary, making gains fragile. Innovative financing models such as credit-latrines in Togo and Senegal, or village savings and credit groups, proved effective in overcoming economic barriers. Inclusion mattered too: where latrines were adapted for persons with disabilities, or schools provided separate toilets for girls and boys, usage and sustainability improved. These lessons show that CLTS can trigger change, but sustaining it requires structural support and investment in systems.
Political leadership, community ownership, decentralization, and the active participation of women emerged as decisive factors for success. At the same time, weak integration with water supply, chronic underfunding, fragile markets, climate shocks, conflict, and gaps in data continue to undermine progress. These challenges illustrate a persistent problem: sanitation is still too often treated as an afterthought rather than as a central pillar of development and water security.
The ultimate goal must go beyond ending open defecation. Achieving safely managed sanitation means ensuring toilets are durable, inclusive, climate-resilient, and connected to safe water and waste management systems. This requires investment in local capacity, stronger integration with health and education, support for community financing mechanisms, and attention to climate resilience. Clean water cannot be secured without safe sanitation. By listening to communities, strengthening local systems, and adopting integrated approaches, short-term gains can be transformed into lasting impact. Ending open defecation is only the beginning; true success lies in sanitation that is safe, inclusive, and resilient for all, while protecting water as the lifeblood of our shared future. Sanitation and water are two sides of the same coin — to safeguard one, we must invest in both.
Click to access the presentation: l'Assainissement Total Piloté par la Communauté (ATPC)
