@Alexander, I have also ...

@Alexander, I have also witnessed some of these changes too happening in Nigeria but not everywhere as various communities have received it according to their perceptions. For example, Adeel Malik writing from Pakistan said this under the Community of Practice on Hygiene and Sanitation on Linkedin "I think it really depends on the context, sure we may have some success stories from some parts of the world yet on the other hand I have heard and experienced some horrible ones. I can speak only in the case of Pakistan for now, where according to my opinion, it was a great failure. Just quoting one example from one of the so called 'success stories" a.k.a ODF villages, a physically challenged man (suffering from Polio) preferred to defecate in the open, even in the rain, despite the fact that he could not walk without crutches. I think we need to look deeper into the socio-cultural norms and values and then think of the suitability of the approach. I do believe the approach itself may be promising, but it can not be treated as an "one size fits all" approach. I also believe that defecating is not just a necessity or a way of doing something, it has deep rooted philosophical and cultural annotations that are fundamental to the problems of defecating in the open, if this were not true, how else could we explain observations of people doing so despite having a toilet/ latrine within the household?" That is why I am beginning to think that this strategy leaves much to be desired. What's your take?