Accessibility and safety audits are participatory and practical tools that can be used to rapidly assess a facility’s usability from the perspective of users whose requirements are often ignored in standard design.
Focusing on latrines and water points, the audits:
- Identify barriers that make it difficult for some people to use the facility independently.
- Identify which features make the facility easy to use and which make it difficult to use for people with disabilities.
- Identify any safety concerns around using the facility, especially for adolescent girls, women, and children of different ages.
- Identify any changes needed to the facility and/or the surrounding area.
- Make practical suggestions for changes/improvements.
WaterAid and WEDC designed these audits to involve women and people with disabilities in the assessment process – as well as planners, engineers, builders or masons – so that all stakeholders understand, from the perspective of users, how to make facilities safer and more accessible. Ideally, regular users of the latrine or water point should be involved in discussing the results of the audits.
