This report documents the results of studies on open defecation in rural communities and the cultural values that reinforce its practices carried out by WaterAid in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria. In these countries, the practice of open defecation is surrounded by cultural taboos and beliefs. Because some communities where Water Aid works are particularly resistant to abandoning open defecation, a series of in-country studies have been carried out to identify the socio-cultural barriers specific to communities in the region.
WATERAID (2009): Towards Total Sanitation. Socio-cultural barriers and triggers tot total sanitation in West Africa.