Sanitation in Pastoral Community:

Pinpointing the Status and Challenges (The Case of Borena Zone)

Abstract

In Ethiopia the pastoralists cover 61% of the land area, constitute 12-15% of the total population. Regardless of this fact, studies confirmed that pastoralists were away from the central government for a long, and have been among the most marginalized group in terms of availability and access to public services including sanitation services. Thus, the objective of the study was to study the status, challenges and prospects of Sanitation in Borena Pastoral Community of Ethiopia. To this end both qualitative and quantitative approaches, and explanatory and descriptive research types were utilized based on primarily evidences collected from local communities, government sectoral offices, and non-government organizations in the sector. Accordingly, the access to all types of latrine in the zone is estimated to be close 68%, however significant proportion of the latrines are unimproved and traditional pits. Moreover, poor water supply, mobile life style of the community, soil property, lack of qualified man power and habit of open defecation are the major impediments. Regarding the prospect, the health extension program, the availability of multiple actors and the One WaSH program are the prominent ones. In order to improve the sanitation coverage and to tackle the aforementioned challenges, inter alia, scaling up the best practices of relatively good performing Woredas and enhancing the engagement of the community are recommended.