Towards improved sanitation: Constraints and opportunities in accessing waterborne sewerage in major villages of Botswana B. Bolaane * , H. Ikgopoleng Department of Architecture and Planning, University of Botswana, P/Bag 0022, Gaborone, Botswana Keywords: Sanitation Access Sewerage Tlokweng Ramotswa Botswana abstract Improved sanitation has become a primary component of the global developmental agenda, primarily because of its established linkages with environmental quality and public health. In pursuance of this developmental agenda, the Government of Botswana initiated an infrastructure scheme in major villages that is aimed at improving sanitation through providing access to waterborne sewerage. However, the majority of the households have not yet utilized the scheme despite its 7 years of existence. This study explored possible constraints and opportunities for households to access the waterborne sewerage scheme. The study used secondary information sources and a semi-structured questionnaire administered to sampled households in the villages of Ramotswa and Tlokweng. It was found that some of the constraints of accessing the scheme are household income, satisfaction with the existing sanitation options and household perceptions. On the other hand, the emphasis of the scheme on recovering only operation and maintenance costs from the beneficiaries substantially reduced the associated costs of access thereby providing them with an opportunity for utilization. The study recommends that in order to avoid the pitfalls of limited access to future sanitation improvement initiatives carried out at enormous expenditure to the government, there should be a multiple stakeholder consultation from conceptualization through planning to imple- mentation. Among the key variables to be established during consultation are the demand for the service, ability and willingness of the target beneficiaries to pay. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction The link between improvement in improved environmental quality and public health through provision of improved sanitation has long been established (Cotton & Franceys, 1991; Mara, 1996). It is often the main driver of the global agenda on sanitation improve- ment efforts. For example, The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) have set a target of reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 (United Nations, 2000). Even though improved sanitation is topical on the global stage, there are continuing disparities with regard to the level and quality of access between countries and communities. On a global scale, at the beginning of the year 2000, two-fifths of the world’s population lacked access to improved sanitation and the majority of these people lived in Africa and Asia (WHO/UNICEF, 2000). Moreover, services in rural areas still lag far behind those in urban areas. Following the declaration of the period from 1981 to 1990 as the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade, Botswana embarked on a process of realignment of her sanitation programmes to be in tune with the new global thinking of increasing access to improved sanitation for all. This realignment shifted sanitation provision emphasis from extending coverage to major villages through a pit latrine programme to providing waterborne sewerage systems through the Major Village Infrastructure Programme (GoB, 1985). Among the villages that benefited from the programme are Ramotswa and Tlokweng. The key attribute of Major Village Infrastructure Programme was to enhance sustainability of water- borne sewerage systems through cost recovery. While cost recovery is a major component of the sustainability principle, mainly motivated by the infrastructure renewal possibility, its key influencing parame- ters of willingness and ability to pay have often been identified as barriers towards access to improved sanitation (Foster, Gomez-Lobo, & Halpern, 2000; Titumir & Hossain, 2004; Wright, 1997). Apart from willingness and ability to pay, Titumir and Hossain (2004) found that the conceptual framework of universal access to services as the inherent principle within the Major Village Infrastructure Programme has some shortcomings. The framework assumes that if basic infra- structure is provided, then everyone has been given an equal chance to utilize it. However, this may not necessarily be the case because for access to be possible, some cost has to be borne by the beneficiaries. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ267 355 5082; fax: þ267 355 2347. E-mail address: bolaaneb@moipi.ub.bw (B. Bolaane). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Habitat International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint 0197-3975/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2011.01.001 Habitat International 35 (2011) 486e493