Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a transformative approach to sanitation that places the power of change directly in the hands of communities. Unlike top-down models that rely on external infrastructure and incentives, CLTS promotes sustainable, behavior-driven solutions by fostering awareness, ownership, and collective action. At its heart, CLTS is not just about building toilets—it’s about changing mindsets, encouraging dignity, and improving health outcomes by eliminating open defecations.
Below, we explore the fundamentals of CLTS and its role in empowering villages to achieve lasting improvements in sanitation and hygiene.
Understanding the CLTS Approach
CLTS was pioneered in Bangladesh in the early 2000s by Dr. Kamal Kar. The model quickly gained international recognition for its effectiveness in rural sanitation. At its core, CLTS avoids subsidies or hardware handouts. Instead, it focuses on mobilizing communities to analyze their own sanitation situation and take collective action.
The process begins with “triggering,” a facilitated session that helps community members confront the consequences of open defecation. Facilitators use participatory tools to highlight contamination pathways, often leading to a collective realization that “we are eating our own feces.” This emotional impact sparks a desire for change, motivating villagers to construct and use latrines without waiting for government or NGO assistance.
By empowering people to take the lead, CLTS taps into social norms, peer pressure, and local leadership to drive behavior change. The approach has been adopted in over 60 countries, with millions of people in rural areas becoming open defecation free (ODF) as a result.
The Impact on Public Health and the Environment
The primary goal of CLTS is to eliminate open defecation, a practice that contributes to water contamination, disease transmission, and environmental degradation. When villagers stop defecating in the open and start using latrines, the entire community benefits.
Health outcomes often improve dramatically. Communities report fewer cases of diarrhea, especially among children, and a reduction in diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and intestinal worms. Improved sanitation also enhances school attendance, particularly for girls who may have previously stayed home during menstruation due to a lack of private toilets.
Environmentally, CLTS reduces human waste in rivers, fields, and forests. It also often leads to better waste management practices and the use of ecological latrines, which turn waste into compost for agriculture. The environmental ripple effects can be significant in regions where water sources are already scarce or polluted.
Empowering Local Leadership and Community Ownership
One of the strongest features of CLTS is its emphasis on local leadership. Villagers are not passive recipients of aid—they become the architects of their own progress. Local champions often emerge: individuals or groups who take the lead in promoting sanitation, organizing labor, and monitoring compliance. These leaders might be teachers, religious figures, health workers, or even children.
CLTS also fosters social cohesion. When the entire community works toward a shared goal, mutual accountability grows. In many villages, peer pressure and pride encourage even the reluctant to build and use latrines. In some cases, community-led fines or informal sanctions are introduced to ensure compliance.
Importantly, the approach enhances women’s voices in decision-making. In many regions, women have been at the forefront of sanitation efforts—organizing meetings, leading health clubs, and educating others about hygiene. Empowering women in this way also leads to broader gains in gender equality.
Challenges and the Way Forward
While CLTS has shown remarkable success, it is not without challenges. In some cases, the push for rapid ODF status can lead to superficial compliance, where latrines are built but not used or maintained. Sustainability is another concern. Without ongoing support, some communities may revert to old habits over time.
To address these issues, CLTS must be integrated with follow-up programs, hygiene education, and support for improved latrine designs. Governments and NGOs are increasingly adopting hybrid models that combine community mobilization with strategic subsidies for the poorest households.
Monitoring and evaluation are also crucial. Reliable data collection helps identify gaps and ensure that progress is not just temporary. Engaging youth, using mobile technology, and linking sanitation to broader development goals—such as education and economic empowerment—can help keep the momentum going.
