Western sanitation facilities, for example, are expected to be white, clean, and indoors. In the United States, for example, we expect every home to have its own faucet and running water. In Sudan, however, the expectations for design and infrastructure are different. By working directly in local communities and employing residents to help with every phase of planning and construction, the NWP is able to capture local design features. Many water projects in the Sudan are outdoors, since many residents are transient or housed in temporary homes. Water taps are more likely to be centrally located so that surrounding homes can share access. Women, notorious for being the primary water-gatherers in Africa, may in fact benefit from the social nature of shared access to water; gathering with ones neighbors in the daily ritual of fetching water may provide critical community cohesion. Thus, while design is not an explicit piece of...
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