Kiribati’s North Tarawa declared first open defecation free island in the Pacific

Everyone on North Tarawa now has access to improved sanitation. Photo: ABC Radio Australia / UNICEF Pacific.

North Tarawa in Kiribati is the first island in the Pacific to be declared open defecation free, thanks to the “Kiriwatsan I Project”. The Ministry of Public Works is implementing this project with technical support from UNICEF and funding from the European Union.

North Tarawa is made up of a string of islets with a combined population of 6,102 (2010) and a land area of 15.26 sq.km.  Previously about 64 per cent of people used the beaches and mangroves for defecation and dumping their rubbish.

UNICEF spokeswoman Nuzhat Shahzadi says that diarrhoeal diseases cause 15 per cent of the deaths of children under five in Kiribati.

In March 2013, North Tarawa adopted the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach following a training of trainers course conducted by Dr Kamal Kar. The CLTS pioneer wrote that he had convinced Kiribati President Anote Tong to set December 2015 as the target date for the whole nation to become open defecation free.

The villagers of North Tarawa dig shallow pits and use local materials like brick and coconut leaves to build the toilet superstructure. They keep water and soap in one corner. After using the toilet, the villagers sprinkle ash to stop the smell and flies getting in, and then keep it covered.

Ms Shahzadi said that the women and girls were very happy that no longer have to go out on the beach in the middle of the night if they need to use the toilet.

Related web sites:

• IDS – Community-Led Total Sanitation
• CLTS Foundation
• IRC – Pan-Africa Programme (CLTS/SLTS/ULTS programme)
• SuSanA Forum – CLTS

Source: UNICEF, 11 May 2013 ; Radio New Zealand International, 13 May 2013 ; ABC Radio Australia, 14 May 2013

Nepal, Mid-Western Region: sanitation card system introduced

Villagers in Salkot, western Surkhet, have to produce a “sanitation card” when applying for services from the Village Development Committee (VDC).

The “sanitation card” system was introduced in Salkot in mid April 2011 when it was declared an open defecation free zone.

The card contains information on whether the house of the card holder has a toilet and has pledged to no longer practice open defecation.

According to VDC Secretary Tilak Ram Adhikari red cards are issued to households which do not not concrete toilets and white cards to those which do have them.

The VDC office claimed that the out of total 1,553 households of the VDC, 1,117 households have been using toilets.

Source: The Rising Nepal, 18 Jul 2011

Nepal, Kalikot: toilet mandatory for citizenship

It has become mandatory for the Kalikot residents to produce a certificate of possessing a toilet in order to obtain a citizenship certificate. In a bid to make Kalikot district open defecation free within 2015, the District Council endorsed 11-point declaration on sanitation last year, which states that those applying for citizenship certificate have to produce a certificate that shows that the applicant has a toilet in his house.

Similarly, the certification would also be mandatory while filing candidacy in local elections. “While only 2 percent population in the district had toilets in their houses until last year, the percentage has surged to 28 percent as of now,” said Ram Prasad Dahal, chief of District Water Supply and Sanitation Sub Division Office. “Number of toilet users has increased as many government and non-government organizations are engaged in making Kalikot an open defecation free district within 2015,” he added.

See also: Nepal mulls toilets-for-passports scheme, Sanitation Updates, 23 Jul 2009

Source: Gorkhapatra / NGO Forum, 28 Jul 2010

Nepal, Chitwan: a toilet revolution

Take a Pee & Get One Rupee. If you have traveled on the Prithvi Highway last year, you must have noticed this seemingly-ridiculous slogan in Darechowk, near Kurintar. Of course, if you have used public toilets before, then you may be more used to paying a rupee to urinate. Instead, members of The Sewa Nepal, a local NGO, pay anyone a rupee if he or she uses their toilet. And no, they are not joking.

India: impact of sanitation award scheme to be assessed

The government will assess the impact and sustainability of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (Clean Village Award) scheme implemented between 2005-2008. The Department of Drinking Water Supply under the Ministry of Rural Development will conduct a survey, based on a methodology that it developed with UNICEF, in 12 states*.

The objective is to assess the impact of NGP [Nirmal Gram Puraskar] on the pace of progress of sanitation availability and usage in the country under TSC [Total Sanitation Campaign] and its related impacts on health, education, gender empowerment, social inclusion in rural areas on different user groups particularly the rural poor. This study will also assess the durability and sustainability on the provision and usage of sanitary facilities over time. The rational of this evaluation study will be to provide important evidence on the NGP component of the TSC. The Study will provide a national level report on assessment of impact of NGP.

The Government of India introduced the NGP incentive scheme in 2003 under its Total Sanitation Campaign to reward local government institutions at village, block and district level, that had achieved full sanitation coverage (for households, schools and day-care centres) and were declared open defecation free.

* States to be covered in NGP assessment survey

Source: DDWS

A 2008 UNICEF study on NGP villages found high levels of non-use of toilets (34%), and that only 34% of schools had separate toilets for girls and boys. In most villages the study found a “severe drop in efforts towards social mobilisation and monitoring of ODF status after the NGP award has been received. This has resulted in slippage of ODF status in many GPs and is a serious concern with respect to sustainability”.

Source: PIB, 13 May 2010 ; DDWS/Ministry of Rural Development, 11 May 2010 ; India Sanitation Portal – Nirmal Gram Puraskar

India, Himachal Pradesh: good response to sanitation awareness campaign

The hill state of Himachal Pradesh is surging ahead on the path of becoming completely free from open defecation by the end of 2010.

There has been a tremendous increase in rural sanitation coverage from less than 30 per cent in 2001 to over 80 per cent in 2009. The campaign to stamp out open defecation is eliciting encouraging response from the rural masses and yielding a positive outcome.

The gram panchayats, which achieve 100 per cent sanitation coverage in terms of individual household toilets, schools and anganwadis, defecation-free and clean environment are being provided fiscal incentives. As many as 22 gram panchayats (village councils) were given the “Nirmal Gram Puraskar” in 2006-07 and the number rose to 245 in 2007-08 and 253 in the following year. Gram panchayats receiving the incentives could use the funds for maintaining sanitation facilities in their respective areas. The blocks and districts could use the funds to set up monitoring mechanisms for sanitation. However, the gram panchayat is derecognised if it fails to maintain the ODF status.

The maximum number of 125 Nirmal panchayats was in Mandi, followed by 29 in Kangra, 23 in Shimla, 25 in Hamirpur, 15 in Solan, 13 in Sirmaur, 7 in Chamba, 8 in Bilaspur, 3 each in Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti, one each in Una and Kinnaur. They were given cash rewards ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh A sum of Rs 3.65 crore would be disbursed among the ‘Nirmal Gram Panchayats’ so that the remaining panchayats were also inspired to follow their footsteps. The government has decided to honour the people who contribute in the implementation of total sanitation programme in their respective areas.

The government has also started the ’Maharishi Valmiki Sampuran Swachhata Puraskar’ to help achieve the goal of safe and hygienic sanitation facilities for all and to motivate the panchayati raj institutions. School sanitation reward scheme and Mahila Mandal Protsahan Yojna has also been started.

Source: The Tribune, 21 Feb 2010

Nepal, Surkhet: toilet a must for local elections

A campaign is going to be started in Surkhet district, in the Mid-Western Development Region of Nepal, to make it mandatory for candidates in the local elections to have a toilet in his/her house. This campaign is a part of the five-year sanitation action plan prepared by the Regional Monitoring and Supervision Office to make Surkhet an open defecation free district by 2015.

Stakeholders and political parties have committed to implement the action plan. According to the action plan, the political parties have to give high priority to sanitation, include sanitation in their manifesto and mobilize their youth wings to work in the sanitation sector.

In related news, the Village Development Committee (VDC) of Maidi, in Dhading District, central Nepal, said it will cut off its services to those consumers who do not construct toilets in their homes. The VDC has launched a “One House One Toilet” campaign that it hopes will help to declare Maidi an open defecation free zone.

Source: Kantipur / NGO Forum, 28 Jan 2010 ; Kantipur / NGO Forum, 27 Jan 2010

Nepal: No toilet, no job

Staff of some organizations in Dolpa [Karnali Zone, western Nepal] will [lose] their job if they do not construct [a] toilet in their house by the end of this fiscal year in mid-July 2009. [S]taff working in Deprox Nepal decided to request the management not to extend the term of the staff who do not construct toilet within mid-July.

Similarly, Decade Dolpa has also decided not to extend the term of the staff if they do not construct toilets [by] mid-July. Staff working in these organizations have also agreed to the condition. Chief District Officer Dil Bahadur Ghimire has requested all the staff to construct toilets [after] the District Drinking Water Office requested all offices, schools and organizations to construct toilets to make the district an open defecation free zone.

[...] Less than 12 percent of the population in Dolpa use a toilet.

Source: Kantipur / NGO Forum, 29 April 2009

Nepal, Lalitpur: new sanitation initiative benefitting Lubhu people

Lalitpur: The people living in Lubhu [or Luboo], and its vicinity are now happy that they now [have improved sanitation and ended the practice of open defecation]. ”After two years of continuous efforts made by the [Lubhu Infrastructure and Environment Improvement Committee (LIEIC)], most of the villages in the areas have been free from this serious problem,” Ram Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of the of Committee, said.

[...] A total of 152 toilets, including both general and ecological sanitary [ecosan] toilets, have been constructed at private households as well as public places at the initiative of the committee and UN-HABITAT. Anil Sthapit, director of [NGO] Guthi, said that bricks have been laid down in 2,000 square metres of local roads and a drainage system

[Besides sanitation, a new piped water supply system was constructed and over 50 traditional wells and ponds revived]. Also the 800 students of local Mahalaxmi Secondary School have benefitted from a rainwater harvesting system, [with a capacity of 5,00 litres], installed in the area. The water is processed through a bio-sand filter processing system.

A total of 803 locals were trained to make villages free from pollution, maintain safe drainage facilities and create public health awareness campaign in the area. These people are now providing training to other people.

The project was a joint effort of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Centre for Integrated Urban Development, WaterAid Nepal and UN-HABITAT.

See a short Nepalnews.com video (in Nepali) on the Lubhu project here.

Source:  NGO Forum, 05 Jan 2009 ; The Kathmandu Post / NGO Forum, 04 Jan 2008

Pakistan: stopping open defecation through behavioural change

“I remember the time when I’d get up to the chirping of the birds, walk across to a nearby field, relieve myself in the fresh, open air -undisturbed – go to the nearby canal, take a bath and then come home to a hearty breakfast… before going off to work in the fields,” said an old farmer.

“This is the mind-set against which we are working,” said Wasim Aslam, an activist striving to make 564 villages in Pakistan open defecation free (ODF).

Aslam is from Lodhran, one of the implementers of the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) campaign initiated by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP), and one 1,500 activists who have been trained to get the CLTS movement off the ground.

[...] The 1,500 trained activists are mostly men, but their success is in large measure due to the women behind them. Irfanullah, a local counsellor in Peshawar, said that had it not been for his wife, he would not have made any headway.

[...] “We want people to need a toilet. We don’t just give it to them as they may not necessarily use it. We work on their psychology,” said Aslam, adding that CLTS was first introduced in Pakistan in 2004.

[...] According to Javed Ali Khan, director-general of the Ministry of Environment, ODF initiatives have benefited about 1.12 million people. The practice of open defecation in rural areas came down from about 74 percent of the rural population in 1990, to 45 percent by 2006.

According to the Ministry of Environment, 73 percent of the population now has access to a latrine – 96 percent in urban areas, and 62 percent in rural areas.

CLTS is now included in the national sanitation policy, said [World Bank sanitation specialist] Alrai.

Source: IRIN, 12 Dec 2008