Household-Centred Environmental Sanitation (HCES)

The Household-Centred Environmental Sanitation (HCES) is an integrated multi-sector and multi-actor approach that uses environmental sanitation as an entry point for the planning and provision of key environmental services such as water supply, drainage, sewage systems, on-plot sanitation, solid waste collection, composting and landfill. The HCES represents a new approach for planning environmental sanitation services, with the promise of correcting current unsustainable practices in planning and resource management based on conventional approaches (WERNER et al. 2005). The two main components of HCES are (adapted from SCHERTENLEIB and MOREL 2003):

A radical departure from past central planning approaches, HCES places the stakeholder at the core of the planning process. Therefore, the approach responds directly to the needs and demands of the users, rather than central planner’s often ill-informed opinions about them. It is based on the following principles (see also stakeholder analysis starting by stakeholder identification factsheet):

• Stakeholders are members of a “zone”, and act as members of that zone (“zones” range from households to the nation). Participation is in accordance with the manner in which those zones are organised (for example, communities and neighbourhoods are made up of households; towns are made up of communities, etc.).
• Zones may be defined by political boundaries (i.e. city wards and towns) or reflect common interests (i.e. watersheds or river basins). See also definition of boundaries.
• Decisions are reached through consultation with all stakeholders affected by the decision, in accordance with the methods selected by the zone in question (such as votes at national level in a democratic system or town hall meetings at local level). See also decision making.
• Problems should be solved as close to their source as possible. Only if the affected zone is unable to solve the problem should the problem be “exported”, that is, referred to the zone at the next level.
• Decisions, and the responsibility for implementing them, flow from the household to the community to the city and finally to the central government. See also decision making.

An important principle of the HCES approach is to minimise waste transfer across circle boundaries by minimising waste-generating inputs and maximum recycling/reuse activities in each circle. In contrast to the current linear system, the Circular System of Resource Management (CSRM) emphasises conservation (reducing imports) of resources, and the recycling and reuse (see the various factsheets on this category) of resources used (minimising exports). Resources in the case of environmental sanitation are water, goods used by households, commerce and industry, and rainwater. The circular system practises what economists preach: waste is a misplaced resource. By applying this concept, the circular system reduces “downstream” pollution.

The HCES basically uses a 10-step approach for the development and implementation of an HCES programme. Although the steps are presented in sequence, in practice, they might overlap or might be repeated in order to find acceptable solutions. The 10 steps of the HCES are (NETSSAF 2008):

1. Request for assistance: Households themselves or through representatives, request a municipality to assist in improving their environmental sanitation situation. They agree on the scope of work and identify a pilot area. There is a clear picture of who to involve in this (NGO, civil society, CBO or other social intermediary).
2. Launch of the planning and consultative process: All stakeholders (see also stakeholder identification factsheet), or their representatives, participate in a meeting or workshops. Together they develop a Memorandum of Understanding and decide which 'local champion' will organise and coordinate activities.
3. Assessment of current status: An interdisciplinary team involving the residents of the project area assesses the current status of environmental sanitation. See also: baseline data collection.
4. Assessment of user priorities: The outcome of the assessment is discussed and validated with households (men and women), community and other stakeholders.
5. Identification of options: Together the groups identify different activities and solutions and explore the implications and requirements. See also the various factsheets on: Planning with the Community (category of the Decision Making section)
6. Evaluation of feasible service combinations: A sequence of environmental sanitation service combinations is identified and evaluated on their feasibility. See also decision making.
7. Consolidated Urban Environmental Sanitation Services (UESS) plans for study area: An agreed HCES plan for the entire study area is developed.
8. Finalising of consolidated UESS plans: The relationship to other environmental sanitation activities within the municipalities is gone into, including their nature and areas of conflict.
9. Monitoring, (internal) evaluation and feedback: A strategy for monitoring, internal evaluation and feedback is developed. It includes a plan for collecting data, their critical analysis and use of the conclusions of the evaluation to improve the process. See also participatory monitoring and evaluation.
10. Implementation: The plans are carried out, monitored and evaluated. See also project implementation.

An “enabling environment” is important for the success of any investment program, but it is especially vital when applying an innovative approach such as HCES. Most of the critical elements (government support, legal framework, financial arrangements, institutional arrangements and required skills) should be identified or become evident during the program development process (MOREL et al. 2003).

Note that in 2010/2011, a new, more user-friendly version of the HCES-approach is being developed. Check www.eawag.ch for updates on this.