Earthea Nance

Community Participation in Urban Sanitation Experiences in Northeastern Brazil

This article explores how well community participation explains variations in the performance of sanitation projects in Brazilian cities. Case studies of condominial sewers in Recife and Natal, Brazil, reveal a variety of activities that we categorize into four forms of participation: mobilizing, decision making, construction, and maintenance. Mobilizing and decision making were associated with performance in the cases we examined. Our results suggest that participation form as well as community influence are important. The hypothesis that increased participation enhances performance is an oversimplification for condominial sewers.

Multistakeholder Evaluation of Condominial Sewer Services

A multistakeholder evaluation procedure is presented to address the many challenges in evaluating the performance of condominial sewer projects in Brazil. Condominial sewerage is a promising appropriate technology that is coproduced by users and public agencies, but little is known about project performance. This article shows that multistakeholder evaluation is more appropriate to the research setting than evaluations based on a single stakeholder’s perspective, is more reliable than the use of expert judgments alone, and provides more information than recommended sewer performance indicators. The author argues that the perspectives of multiple stake-holders should be included in project evaluations. The multistakeholder approach presented is a workable solution to the condominial sewer evaluation problem.