text: ICONO has developed a prototype that will be
  tested out in order to gain valuable knowledge regarding function,
  implementation and maintenance.
  
  The project's goals, among other things,
  are to make the latrine easy to clean, to provide it with a seal
  that will keep insects away and, simultaneously, to ensure that the
  surrounding room - typically a tent - will permit light and air to
  penetrate and circulate.
  
  Learn more about The Child-Friendly Latrine
  Project in this animation:
  
  video not avalilable
  
  "We have taken our point of departure in the children's need to
  use the toilet without being afraid - and at the same time, we are
  aspiring to make the latrines as easy to clean and as safe as
  possible.
  
  "Moreover, we have sought to fulfil the requirements of
  simplicity and minimal maintenance, and we have tried to ensure
  that both the size and the weight of the latrine have been adapted
  to the eventual transport of the units on pallets to be sent to the
  emergency/disaster areas," says Peter Bysted.
  
  The latrine consists of a squatting board made of plastic, a
  light superstructure that can be set up over the latrine - and a
  unique drop-formed "trap" made of soft silicone with a very smooth
  surface. The "drop" is opened by the weight of the excrement or the
  urine and closes up again after the excrement has passed on
  through. In this way, the odours and the insects will be cordoned
  off from the latrine and the tent and accordingly, there will be no
  visual contact into the hole under the latrine. The material is
  soft and the surface is so smooth that the latrine can operate
  without the use of water - or with very little water, like recycled
  water from the daily laundry or water that has been used for
  cleaning.
  
  "We are well aware that water is a very scarce and very dear
  resource in most disaster areas. For this very reason, the latrine
  is going to have to operate without having to be flushed every
  single time - and we are aware that there must be a minimum use of
  water for cleaning and sanitizing. The entire latrine, including
  the latrine board, the "drop" and the tent that is to be set up on
  top of an aggregate folded together during the process of
  transport, so that it will be ready to be unfolded and set up just
  as soon as it happens to reach the refugee camp. The bags, within
  which the excrement can be collected and eventually transported to
  the composting site, have a structure that will allow water and
  urine to run out, but which, in fact, is so impervious that it will
  prevent the passage of helmint eggs, worms and other pathogenic
  organisms", informs Peter Kjær Mackie Jensen. "The solutions
  offered with this kind of bag for excrement and this kind of
  composting are something that nobody has ever come up with
  previously - although it really does appear to be so logical. It's
  not the case, however, that there's going to be room every place
  for digging two large holes in the earth for the excrement - just
  think of mountainous areas or situations in connection with flood
  catastrophes - or for implementing a 9-month period of
  composting."
  
  Design criteria for the Child-Friendly
  Latrine
  ICONO has developed the Child-Friendly Latrine on the basis of
  certain established design criteria:
  
  As seen from the child's point of view:
  this means to say, there is to be no direct visual contact with the
  excrement in the hole beneath the latrine; the latrine cabin will
  be lit up and will be free of insects; it will be free of
  foul-smelling odours; and there will be room for both mother and
  child.
  
  Technical criteria: a smooth surface on
  the squatting board to ensure that the latrine can be cleaned with
  only two litres of water - or even less. The squatting board can be
  fabricated in durable plastic.
  
  The surface must be smooth, with rounded corners, and without any
  cavities where bacteria or eggs might otherwise deposit themselves,
  and it must be serviceable in connection with different kinds of
  customary practices of cleaning the latrine - whether these
  practices might involve the use of water, paper or leaves
  - and it also has to be usable by more vulnerable groups of
  people, such as the elderly and the disabled, by means of a
  higher-positioned seat, which can easily be placed on the squatting
  board and removed again, after use.
  
  Logistics: Low weight (about 50
  kilograms per latrine), so the units can be stacked and optimised
  for transport; the latrine will possess the dimensions prescribed
  by a standard euro-pallet; and every latrine will have everything
  included (drain, tent canvas, door, etc.) and can be shipped simply
  and without complications.
  
  Easy to empty and to recycle the excrement as
  fertilizer: There are two composting systems being
  put into play here: one involving a bag that can be removed and
  transported away from the latrine and another one that involves
  switching use of the latrine back and forth between two different
  holes in the earth - after nine months of composting, the
  fertilizer can be dug out of the holes in the ground and can be
  utilised, safely, for agriculture.