BY FELIX BASIIME
BUNYANGABU – Two non-government organisations (NGOs) have unveiled joint plans to build ventilated improved pit latrines for 12,000 homesteads in the Rwenzori sub region. The two humanitarian groups are Amref Health Africa and Aqua for All.
According to Teo Namata, the Project Manager of Amref Health Africa, the two NGOs are carrying out the latrine construction part of a five-year project that is being implemented using the FINISH [Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health] model. FINISH is an integrated hygiene improvement model used to scale up the use of better public health facilities in poor rural areas.
According to the brains behind FINISH, the initiative is used to avail sanitation facilities while at the same time integrating financial resources into the value chain, thereby raising awareness and creating a demand for more sanitation services among end-users.
In the Rwenzori region, according to Namata, Amref Health Africa and Aqua for All are working to achieve their objectives using FINISH by pitting the families that receive the latrines against each other to ensure that the cleanliness of the facilities is maintained at all times.
“We have Sanitation monitors around the region who are visiting the clusters of 10 families in each village and these clusters compete,” she says.
The project is mainly focusing on helping communities achieve a “mind-set change” by mobilising them to use and maintain improved washable pit latrines for better living conditions. Such latrines are already in Kyakahinda A village in Kibiito Town council, Kajumiro A and Kaina A and B villages all in Bunyangabu district.
According to Robert Mugisha, the Village Health Teams (VHTs) Coordinator for Rwimi sub county, Kaina parish has so far achieved 80 per cent of the NGOs’ targets for washable latrines in the area.
“We are targeting to reach 100 per cent by May 2019,” Mugisha says.
Amref Health Africa is also partnering with the local governments in the areas where they have embarked on their initiative, along other organisations such as Hofokam, Hewasa, and WASTE.
Through the FINISH programme, Amref works with partners to contribute to realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) three (Good Health and Well Being), SDG six (Clean water and sanitation) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
“Where the programme has covered so far, people are aware of the need for a safe and durable latrine,” Namata says.
To achieve the target of the programme, the authorities are also working to regulate standards, create demand, monitor progress and support the scaling up of FINISH through sector uptake, as well as create an enabling environment for non-state parties to play their role.
The Kabarole District Health Inspector, Ms Olive Tumuhairwe, says that their role is to monitor usage and presence of toilet facilities, hand washing, the general cleanliness of the environment, waste management, drinking of safe water as well as extending to water sources.
