In Ethiopia, the pastoralists cover 61% of the land areaandconstitute 12-15% of the total population. Regardless of this fact, studies confirmed that pastoralists were away from the central government for a long, and have been among the most marginalized group in terms of availability and access to public services including sanitation services.
Thus, the objective of the study was to study the status, challenges and prospects of Sanitation in Borena Pastoral Community of Ethiopia. Descriptive survey research design with mixed methods of data collection and analysis, were utilized based on primarily evidences collected from local communities, government sectoral offices, and non-government organizations in the sector.
Accordingly, the access to all types of latrine in the zone was estimated to be close 68%, however significant proportion of the latrines were unimproved and traditional pits. Moreover, poor water supply, mobile life style of the community, soil property, lack of qualified man power and habit of open defecation were found to be the major impediments. Regarding the prospect, the health extension program, the availability of multiple actors and the One WaSH program are the prominent ones.
In order to improve the sanitation coverage by tackling the aforementioned challenges, inter alia, scaling up the best practices of relatively good performing Woredas and enhancing the engagement of the community are recommended.