Sustainable Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project for Sidama Region, Ethiopia

Are you searching for project based on Hygiene and Sanitization. This proposal will surely help you. If you are a non government organisation and want to design your own project proposal on the related subject have a look at this project. One third of the world’s population, which is approximately 2.5 billion men, women and children do not have access to safe water and sanitation facilities. It is evident from various research studies that there is a direct relation between Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and health of an individual. UNICEF reports that over 60 to 80 percent of communicable diseases are attributed to limited access to safe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services in Ethiopia. Therefore we design this project to establish and demonstrate a sustainable model for improving Water Supply, Hygiene and Sanitation in rural areas and in primary schools in project region.

Project Summary:

One third of the world’s population, which is approximately 2.5 billion men, women and children do not have access to safe water and sanitation facilities. It is evident from various research studies that there is a direct relation between Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and health of an individual. UNICEF reports that over 60 to 80 percent of communicable diseases are attributed to limited access to safe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services in Ethiopia.

The overall objective of the project is to successfully establish and demonstrate a sustainable model for improving Water Supply, Hygiene and Sanitation in rural areas and in primary schools in Sidama Region.

What is the rationale for the project?

According to reports of the WHO and UNICEF, one third of the world’s population, which is approximately 2.5 billion men, women and children do not have access to safe water and sanitation facilities. Furthermore,  it is estimated that over 673 million people still practice open defecation in fields, forests, bushes, plastic bags, rivers and lakes (WHO/UNICEF, 2019).  It is also estimated that almost 3 billion people do not have access to hand washing facilities with soap.

It is evident from various research studies that there is a direct relation between WASH and health of a community and individual. Unsafe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene practices can have dire consequences on the health of people, especially the children under the age of 5 years. Over 700 children under age 5 die every day of diarrhoeal diseases due to lack of appropriate WASH services.  Along with Diarrhea, inadequate sanitation and hygiene also causes diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and hepatitis.

UNICEF reports that over 60 to 80 percent of communicable diseases are attributed to limited access to safe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services in Ethiopia.  Undernourishment is a serious issue in Ethiopia, and 50 percent of the reported cases are a result of poor hygiene and lack of access to water supply and sanitation. There are strong links between sanitation and undernourishment (stunting) as open defecation leads to fecal-oral diseases such as diarrhea, which worsens malnutrition (UNICEF). Let us look at the Water and Sanitation in numbers in Ethiopia:

• • 65 percent of households have access to improved water sources
  • Only 6.3 percent of households have access to improved sanitation
  • 60 – 80 percent of communicable diseases are attributed to limited access to safe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services
  • 70,000 under-five deaths per year due to diarrhoea
  • 17 percent of people practice improved hygiene behaviours and live in healthy environments.

The data above clearly shows the need to establish a sustainable model for WASH to improve the existing situation.  The overall objective of the project is to successfully establish and demonstrate a sustainable model for improving Water Supply, Hygiene and Sanitation in rural areas and in primary schools in Sidama Region.

The project will be launched in coordination with the local communities and the local authorities. By adopting a participatory and integrated approach the project will help the communities in adopting safe drinking water practices, sanitation, seepage management and hygiene.  The project will be implemented over a period of 3 years.

What is the project aim and objectives?[

The overall objective of the project is to successfully establish and demonstrate a sustainable model for improving Water Supply, Hygiene and Sanitation in rural areas and in primary schools in Sidama Region.

Specific objectives are:

• • To bring about a behavioral change in the communities with respect to WASH by promoting low cost WASH facilities and creating awareness on the linkages between proper hygiene/sanitation and both individual and community health.
  • To develop child friendly WASH facilities in Kindergartens and primary schools in the region to improve hygiene practices in school children.

Who will benefit from the project?

The project will be implemented in the Sidama region, which is one of the regional states of Ethiopia.  The project will directly benefit a total of 5, 92, 539 households in Sidama Region. The total population of 2,954,136, of whom 1,491,248 are men and 1,462,888 women. The project will also improve the WASH facilities in  the 75 kindergartens, 633 primary schools in the region.

How do you plan to implement the project?

The project will be implemented through a participatory and collaborative approach. The local communities and the local government authorities will be involved throughout the project implementation phase. The project will have two sets of activities, one set of activities will be towards community awareness on WASH and the other set of activities will be towards improving the WASH infrastructure in the primary schools in the identified project villages.  The following activities will be undertaken to make the project effective and successful.

Activity: Community Awareness and Mobilization  

• • Situation analysis:  Toget an understanding of the existing hygiene practices, water supply, and sanitary conditions our team will undertake a detailed situation analysis. A standardized questionnaire will be used to collect data on knowledge, attitude, and practice on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and a site visit will be conducted to get information on the status of (WASH) related infrastructure in the villages. The aim of the study will be to:
    • assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of rural residents on water, sanitation, and hygiene in the  identified project site
    • existing infrastructure for water supply, status of toilets, wash basins, availability of soaps etc.
  • Creating Awareness:  The first and foremost step is to create awareness amongst the communities on issues related to WASH. Only when communities understand the importance of safe water, hygienic practices and sanitation, will they adopt better practices. For making the awareness drive a success, the following tasks will be undertaken:
    • Development of a plan for awareness generation: Our project team will work with an external consultant to develop a plan for carrying out the awareness drive. The awareness plan will cover the following:
      • Identifying key stakeholders to be covered (Schools, parents, health officials, local community etc.)
      • Communication material for Awareness Drive (tools that will be most effective in carrying out the message).
      • Key messages to be used during the awareness session
      • Key activities to be conducted for sensitizing the community to have maximum impact.
    • Design of IEC material: Our design team shall prepare IEC material to be used for the awareness drives. Important key messages related to WASH will be printed on leaflets, posters, banners, hoardings and booklets.  All the material will be in vernacular and will have simple graphics and data to show the importance of good WASH practices.
  • Awareness Drives: Once the necessary material for awareness is ready, we will initiate the awareness drive in the project villages. We shall be distributing the IEC material in the villages and will keep some material even at the primary health care centers.
  • Community Mobilization: The primary purpose of the mobilization is to engage with the community members to address the issues related to WASH in their respective villages. Considering the proposed project will yield the desired outcome only when implemented in a participatory approach, it will be important to mobilise the communities right from the early stage so as to get their feedback for improving the existing WASH condition in the villages. Following are some of the activities that we will be undertaking as part of community mobilization:
    • Community meetings with community leaders, religious and political leaders to discuss the WASH issues
    • Public Debates
    • Puppet shows
    • Village literacy fairs to share WASH information
    • Listening groups to listen to and discuss local telecasts on radio
    • Storytelling in which the narrator recounts a story to highlight key messages related to WASH.
    • Door to Door sessions to discuss the importance of WASH and practices to be used to ensure proper hygiene.
  • Formation of volunteer WASH coalition: Volunteers from the community are vital to achieve the mission to improve WASH indicators in the village. Individuals who are active and have a good rapport in the village will be brought together to form a Village WASH coalition. This group of volunteers will be trained by us to carry out the extension related activities in their respective villages.
  • Training on WASH:  The volunteer WASH coalition will be trained on various aspects required for improving WASH practices at household level.  This will include:
    • Correct way of Hand washing
    • Drinking and Storing Safe Water
    • Use of Drying Rack for drying washed utensils
    • Building and using a simple toilet
    • Maintaining a Clean Compound

Activity: School Infrastructure Development 

• • Identification of schools: The first task towards the infrastructure development of schools will be to identify the primary schools in the project villages. Schools which cater to a larger population of children in the age group of 3 to 15 years will be selected for development of infrastructure.
  • Feasibility Assessment:Our teams will conduct a feasibility assessment of all the identified schools to understand the infrastructural requirement for each school. This will need the team to understand the
    • availability of water
    • nearest water sources
    • space for construction of toilets
    • quality of available water
    • treatment of water to make it safe for consumption
    • drainage of grey water
    • space hand washing facility
  • Development of child-friendly hygiene and sanitation facilities:  Basis the feasibility report we shall develop child friendly hygiene and sanitation facilities. This will include the following facilities in all the identified schools:
    • Safe drinking water
    • Separate toilets for girls and boys
    • Handwashing facility
    • Proper drainage and treatment of grey water
    • Soap dispensers

The school will be responsible for the maintenance and cleaning up of the facilities and to ensure that students use the toilets, we will also be conducting an education campaign in the project schools.

• • Education on WASH in schools: Developing the facilities in the schools will be of help, only when the students and teachers use the facilities and change their attitude towards WASH. To ensure that the facilities are used properly and children understand the importance of safe water, hygiene and sanitation, we will be organizing a comprehensive WASH education series in the project schools. The education campaign will include:
    • Regular classes on maintaining hygiene in school
    • Child friendly audio-visual tools to enhance the awareness
    • Celebration of water day,  hand hygiene day, menstruation day, toilet day
    • Poster competitions on WASH
    • Awareness on personal hygiene
    • Awareness sessions on menstruation amongst adolescent girls
    • Importance of handwashing
    • Preventing contamination of water
  • Formation of WASH clubs:  Each school will also have a WASH club of students. The primary purpose of these WASH clubs will be to ensure that all students in the school are using the facility properly and are following basic WASH practices.
  • Training of teachers:  Teachers from the school will also be trained on various aspects of WASH and also on the maintenance and operation of the facility.

Sustainability of the project

The success of any WASH project happens only when the communities adopt safe water, hygiene and sanitation practices. This would mean to bring about a change in the behaviour and practices that are being currently used by the communities. To make the project sustainable we will be creating WASH volunteer groups in all the project villages. These volunteer groups will be responsible for carrying out the extension activities of the project. Considering these volunteer groups will be individuals from the same village, the community members will listen to them and will bring about the change in their habits.

Also, having implemented such projects in the past, we understand that changing old habits takes time and therefore to ensure long term involvement with the project villages we shall initiate health extension programs at the primary health care. We will be collaborating with the primary health care centers to conduct hygiene and sanitation awareness campaigns even after the project ends, so as to ensure that people do not go back to the old habits.

The school WASH program will also help in ensuring sustainability of the project. As students in the schools will be learning about the importance of WASH, they will be carrying the message to their homes as well. This continuous flow of information between the parents and their children will ensure that people do not go back to the old practices. Also, as the children will have access to WASH facilities in their school premises, they will reinforce suitable WASH practices in their homes as well and will motivate their parents to develop WASH facilities within their houses as well.

Give Details of your organization:

XXXXX is based in Rural Ethiopia and works on issues related to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in rural areas. We have an experience of over 10 years in implementing WASH projects in different areas in Ethiopia. For our continued efforts towards improving WASH parameters, we have also been awarded by the local government for the last 3 years.

Detailed Budget