In December, with the support of SNV, the NTP II in Lao Cai started a process to pilot Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).

 CLTS, which is new to , is a rather confrontational methodology that aims to kickstart people’s awareness about the need for increased environmental and household sanitation, particularly through the construction and proper use of hygienic latrines.   

 Whereas CLTS as a methodology has been used very successfully in a number of countries e.g. , and , the objective of this first intervention was to test whether the overall approach and confrontational methods were suitable to the Vietnamese context, specifically with ethnic minority people in mountainous areas.

 During this first trial session in Lao Cao, initial observations about the feasibility of the overall approach are encouraging. However, it is also clear that, considering the many ethnic communities and languages used in the North, effective communication will be a critical factor for success.

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