Welcome!

Thank you for reviewing and providing feedback on our Community Choices Tool demo - a prototype of a decision-making support tool for the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector.

This limited prototype demonstrates just some of the things the Community Choices Tool can do, and also serves as a platform to get feedback that will aid in development of the first regional tool we are currently developing in West Africa.

What is the Community Choices Tool and this website?

A WASH decision-making support tool. The Community Choices Tool will be both a WASH decision-making support tool and a database of technologies, approaches, financing options, and WASH contacts such as local water practitioners, NGOs, CBOs, and government agencies. The goal of the Community Choices Project is to give communities, local and country governments, NGOs, and WASH practitioners access to the wealth of information on water, sanitation, and hygiene technologies and financing approaches in a single-source tool.

Instead of having to read through numerous books, technical support documents, and web pages, the Community Choices Tool will offer the opportunity for a non-expert user to:

  • Input a series of responses to questions on community, cultural, economic and environmental context
  • Select from a range of appropriate strategies or solutions that might work to meet their particular WASH needs
  • For each solution, get the information on building, maintenance, finance, and community education
  • Connect with local contacts and resources for additional support

A limited yet dynamic and powerful demo. To demonstrate what the Community Choices Tool might look like and a few of the potential capabilities, we have developed a prototype demo that has:

  • Only technologies and solutions for sanitation and household water treatment issues - the full tool would provide integrated solutions for the entire WASH sector, such as water supply, large-scale excreta treatment, and hygiene solutions or combined solutions for both sanitation and hygiene, as well as solutions appropriate for both families and communities
  • A limited number of questions which touch on some environmental, cultural, and financial aspects - the full tool would ask more questions in the local language, esp. questions appropriate to local context, terminology, etc.
  • A limited number of solutions - the full tool would include a full range of technologies and approaches, and over time would grow with the addition of new and improved solutions
  • Solutions geared toward West Africa, one of the areas with the greatest need in the world for WASH solutions - the full tool would be developed and created regionally with locally-appropriate solutions and contacts, but would also draw best practices from other regions.

A platform to obtain feedback. The goal of this prototype is to obtain feedback on what is most needed in terms of substance, format, output, and dissemination of an ideal Community Choices Tool. The overall development of the tool is envisioned to be a multi-regional, multi-organization global effort, and the tool will be built from the ground up and iteratively with local organizations. The development of regional support centers to support community use of the tool is a critical part of this, as is translation into multiple languages, and online, DVD-ROM and hardcopy dissemination

For more information and background research on this effort please visit http://www.pacinst.org/reports/WASH_tool.

How to Use the Community Choices Tool

  • Register to use the site. Check your email inbox (and spam folder) for your password.
  • Log in. Enter a location name (e.g. Oakland), and click on the entered location to begin answering the questions. Once the location name appears as hyperlinked text, click on the location name to begin using the tool.
  • You will be given a choice of using the 'Sanitation Module' to find excreta treatment solutions for household or community, or the 'Water Module' to find household water treatment solutions. Click on whichever module you want to use. Later, you will be able to go back and use the other module on the same location.
  • You will be presented with questions one by one. To advance to the next question click the 'Next' button, to return to a previous question click the 'Back' button.
  • Once you finish answering all the questions, click 'Finish'. A ranked list of recommended solutions will appear as hyperlinked text; click on each solution to get more information about each.
  • Fill out the survey at the end of your review - your feedback is essential to the development and success of this tool. On the Recommended Solutions page, click on 'Please Send Feedback'.

Thank you,

Pacific Institute Community Choices Tool Team

Meena Palaniappan, Project Director
Misha Hutchings, Research Associate
Lucas Howell, Programmer
Matthew Heberger, Architect

P.S. When you're done, please provide your feedback, including comments, questions, and suggestions on how to make this better. You can provide your feedback through the feedback page, or sending an email message to any of the team members (names linked to email addresses above).