Wash Journal (Issue 08)

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Issue 8 | June - August, 2017

Enhancing Girls’ Rights through Menstrual Hygiene Management Wash Project World Vision programme in Oyam District

Water Ministry needs Shs2 trillion to supply clean water to all Ugandans

WASH Project World Vision Uganda programme in Oyam District

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

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MoWE needs Shs2 trillion to supply clean water to all Ugandans

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Water For People: Changing Lives through Financing for Sanitation

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WASH Project World Vision programme in Oyam District

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Ensuring Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for all

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Implication of Land Policies and Laws on Water and Sanitation Rights and Services Delivery

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Luweero women impacting on communities through water & sanitation projects

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Enhancing Girls’ Rights and Comfort through Menstrual Hygiene Management

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Eastern Umbrella restores hope in rural water access in Mt. Elgon region

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Advancing children Rights and equality for girls through Menstrual Hygiene Management

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Rural women in Ngora district addressing own needs for safe water

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Humanitarian agencies struggling to improve lives in refugee camps

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Hand washing; a health practice bogged down by attitude

Bugolobi, Kampala-Uganda Tel: +256 414 305 000/414 505 005 2. World Vision (Uganda) Plot 15B, Nakasero Road.

World Vision Building, Nakasero P. O. Box 5319, Kampala Tel:+256 417 114 000/200 Fax:+256 414 258 587 Website: www.wvi.org WASH Coordinator: Charles Opolot copolot123@gmail.com

Director: Justine Ojangole jojangole@haiagency.com Legal: Alex Bagada Finance/Admin: Emmanuel Namawa Consulting Editor: Peter Mwayi Consulting Editor: Evelyne Kabajunga Business Dev,t Officer: Charles Okiria, Nakyanzi Agnes Project Officer/IT: Francis Emeru Distribution: Sam Okello Design & layout: Peter Mugeni

June - August, 2017

Editorial Contributors: Bill Oketch, Dan Wandera, Jane Nyaketcho, John Unzima, Justus Lyatuu, Richard Otim Printing: The New Vision Printing & Publishing Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers or any other organisation associated with this publication.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Water Ministry needs Shs2 trillion to supply clean water to all Ugandans

By Justus Lyatuu

If every household in the country is to have access to clean water by 2020, the Ministry of Water and Environment would need a budget of Shs2 trillion every Financial Year, an official from the ministry has said.

E

ng. Aaron Mabirizi, the director of Water development at the ministry, has said, the funds currently allocated are not sufficient to deliver water to every Ugandan, especially with the increasing population and the incidences of global warming.

He observed that Uganda has a challenge with water but delivering it to the doorstep of every Ugandan is the biggest challenge. “If we are to reach where all Ugandans want us to be, we should be having a budget of Shs2 trillion, but the current budget is far below, even the money allocated to us, we receive roughly 80 per cent of it,” he said.

The budget While reading the 2017/18 Budget early this month, Finance minister Matia Kasaija said the government had allocated only Shs632 billion to the Water, Environment and Sanitation sector.

Kasaija explained that the government will complete construction of Nakivubo, Kinawataka sewers and the Kinawataka pre-treatment and pumping system; construction of the Katosi Water Treatment Plant will also start.

According to Eng. Mabirizi, the ministry is allocated Shs650 billion to run Water and Environment, and of this, the water sector takes the biggest share of roughly Shs500 billion.

Although the funding seems to be small, Eng. Mabirizi said the financial constraints have not hindered the ministry from carrying out

Eng. Aaron Mabirizi, the Director of Water Development at the Ministry of Water and Environment.

its mandate as stipulated by the establishing authority. “Since 2000, the ministry has had strategic plans which prescribe targets to reach within specific periods but most of the time the funding we get from government is small, however, that does not mean we have to sit; we work within the budget,” he said.

Eng. Mabirizi said that over the years, several achievements have been registered in several programmes in the water and sanitation sector.

Sanitation and Hygiene He said safe water coverage in urban areas in Uganda has gradually increased over the last 25 years. Whereas access to improved

4 | WASH JOURNAL | June - August, 2017

sanitation has not increased at the same rate, there are plans to manage the waste water.

“Over the last years, we have been moving one-percentage point, however, last year, we moved from 65 per cent to 67 per cent for rural water, while for urban water we are at 68 per cent. Sanitation we are 79 per cent,” he said.

According to the Strategic Water Report 2016, over 90 per cent of the urban population in Uganda mainly relies on on-site sanitation (latrines or septic tanks), which requires emptying and proper disposal of the faecal sludge.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

For hand-washing, the ministry has been able to register 35 per cent up from 22 per cent in 2011. The ministry official says that is a major achievement taking into account that the financing is insufficient and there are no tangible results in such campaigns.

Unfortunately, the infrastructure development does not match the rate of urbanisation and as a result, sanitation challenges are prevalent in urban areas, especially in the urban poor areas.

“Funding is a major constraint yet Ugandans want to see water and sanitation delivered 100 per cent. I want to say that we have put mechanisms and if we got funding, we can ably deliver water and sanitation to the people,” Eng. Mabirizi said.

Some of the plans by the ministry include deconcentrating the implementation structure into; Water Development Facilities for small towns which have capacity and once funded, they can ably supply water to the people.

The ministry is also working with local governments by supporting them through developing water sources for 20 districts annually.

Challenges Operations are also a challenge. Eng. Mabirizi believes that operations should be paid for by the users, but currently the government is doing both capital investment and maintenance without any input from the users.

“In the rural areas, we are proud to say that with our meagre resources, out of every 100 sources, 86 are working. We have 40,000 boreholes across the country but 14 per cent of them are not working,” he said. Eng. Mabirizi added; “It’s the ministry’s prayer that the users meet the operational costs if we are to work within the small funds that we are given by the government.”

Future plans H.E. Yoweri Museveni, Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda and the Manager WSDF South West, Hillary Mutabazi, at the commissioning of Muhanga water supply system.

Faecal sludge management still poorly developed Eng. Mabirizi said less than 10 per cent of the toilet facilities in towns can be emptied, making the demand for faecal sludge removal low.

There are no disposal or treatment facilities in most towns, and there is a lack of cesspool trucks in most small towns with over 80 per cent of the trucks based in Kampala.

Due to the long haulage distances to the sludge disposal facilities, the absence of economies of scale (insufficient sludge volumes for treatment) and the cost of mobilising the cesspool trucks from other towns, the emptying charges are high.

The Strategic Water Report 2016 states that “The Sector is, therefore, paying attention to the proper management of faecal sludge from the on-site facilities, and there have been several interventions to address the sanitation challenges in both large and small towns, which include the whole service chain of faecal sludge management, including collection, transport and disposal.”

By 2040 we should have everybody with piped water, able to pay for it. At that time, the ministry believes, the question should not be water supply but water service. “That well apply to sanitation and hygiene too. We are building structures, capacity and developing new technologies,” Eng. Mabirizi said.

Developments All the faecal sludge disposal facilities are being managed by National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).

To improve the demand for faecal sludge services in the clusters, the Ministry of Water is piloting the integration of the faecal sludge service chain of collection, transportation and disposal within two clusters.

The clusters include Mbale, which encompasses Kachumbala, Budaka, Busiu, Iki Iki and the Iganga cluster which has Busembatia, Namutumba, Kaliro, Bugiri, Idudi and Namungalwe.

Transportation of the faecal sludge largely remains the responsibility of the private sector. However, in some towns where the ministry procured cesspool emptiers, the emptiers are managed by the umbrella organisation.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Budget cuts threaten Luweero’s water targets

By Dan Wandera

Considering that the national average coverage of safe water in rural areas stood at 67% by June 2016, Luweero district, with an average safe water coverage of 64.2%, is not so far down the ladder in rankings.

H

owever, the proposed budget cuts by the government, which are aimed at fitting into the priority national demands in the next financial year are already sending shivers down the spine of district officials.

The district officials fear they could fail to make meaningful increase in safe water coverage in the district due to the new proposals that cut across the different government ministries. This, they say, could cause the district to receive way below the Shs600 million in the Financial Year 2017/2018 for construction of safe water points. Robert Kalenzi, the district water officer, explains that unpredictable weather patterns characterized by long dry spells, have had a negative impact on some of the existing water points, including the protected water springs and shallow wells. Kalenzi says the water reliability in the existing sources has equally reduced. He adds that inadequate allocation of funding from the central government to construct more water sources would escalate the already existing water problem, if it did occur.

As a way of improving hygiene and sanitation conditions in the district that go along with water, the Luweero district authorities have started mass sensitization programmes for behavioural change. Henry Kasule, the district sanitation officer, says the campaign is partly a response to the low

sanitation levels in the district.

“District statistics show that hygiene and sanitation levels are at 69% with the cattle corridor areas of Kamira, Kikyusa and Butuntumula still struggling in areas of good hygiene. In some of these areas, only two out of 10 homes own a pit-latrine. This is partly attributed to the nomadic culture of some of the residents while many simply do not mind having a pit-latrine since they spend more time in the bush looking after their cattle. It’s this behaviour we are struggling to change,” Kasule explains.

The district hygiene and sanitation figures still fall behind the national figure of 79% for rural areas and 84.6% for the urban areas as of June 2016. The statistics for handwashing facilities in Luweero-based schools is at about 27%, according to the district sanitation office.

Kasule, however, says funding for sanitation programmes is still minimal with the department lacking transport means to effectively monitor the hygiene and sanitation programmes. He says with a budget of Shs22 million, the department can only handle 22 villages in a financial year.

Uganda joined the international community to commemorate the International Water and Sanitation Day, International Forestry Day and the International Meteorology Day from March 21 to March 23. A series of

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activities were lined up in various parts of the country, including the sanitation week where stakeholders undertook programmes aimed at promoting good hygiene and sanitation practices, tree planting campaigns to boost environment conservation and programmes by the Meteorological department.

Despite some progress, Martha Naigaga, the Officer in charge of environment and health at the Ministry of Water and Environment, says access to hand-washing facilities in schools is still low with only 34% of the schools having access to washing facilities, which would put the lives of pupils at risk of faecal-related diseases.

Zena Nasur, the secretary for health in Luweero, says many schools in the district have water tanks but are non functional.

“We need to continue sensitizing school managers and stakeholders about the need to install water facilities to ensure that children wash hands after visiting the toilets.

These habits are taught in schools but never practiced. These practices should also spread to the community where the children come from,” Zena says.

Wash Project

World Vision Uganda programme in

Oyam District

Project overview Good Hygiene and Sanitation practices are milestone areas which fall within the set Millennium Development Goal target. In line with its objective of improving adherence to good hygiene and sanitation practices,World Vision Uganda has been undertaking the WASH project for the Urban areas of Oyam, Loro and Kamdini in Oyam district for improved health and economic empowerment. change behaviour message to the target population in the Lango sub-region.

Among the positive strategies used to impact the message was the involvement of drama clubs, use of local artistes, football and netball galas to deliver the positive behavioural change messages to the targeted audience.

It is not surprising that the community has embraced the sanitation and hygiene campaign since the existing community structures were the main vessel for information dissemination. This is reflected in the positive and visible initiatives by members of the public in joining the general cleaning activities for their respective areas. Several villages are close to become defecation free while latrine coverage for the WASH project areas has risen to about 80%.

Members of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Water and Sanitation participate in a cleanup exercise in Oyam District.

Word Vision Uganda, in partnership with Caritas Lira, Global Forum for Development, BEV Consultants and Women Nutrition and Sanitation Project, successfully rolled out the WASH project worth EU330,733 funded by USAID through GIZ and World Vision Uganda to impact positive behavioural change and the good sanitation and hygiene practices.

The sanitation task forces which have been established at all levels and boosted by the clustering approach help to bolster the WASH campaign. At Kamdini, 109 clusters consisting of 25 members each were formulated. Oyam Urban Council has 100 clustered households while Loro Town Board has 78 clusters consisting of 30 members each. The cluster leaders have been critical in delivering the positive behavioural change message because the leaders play the model role for their respective areas.

By engaging the district technical and political leadership, enlisting support of the urban authority leaders, parish chiefs, cultural and religious leaders, World Vision used the Sanitation Task Force Teams to disseminate the positive

The School-Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) campaign is one area where the WASH campaign has registered success. A total of 13 schools undertook the WASH project which involved training the teachers in Menstrual Hygiene Management,

June - August, 2017 | WASH JOURNAL | 7

WASH Project World Vision Uganda programme in Oyam District mentoring of the pupils on moral conduct between the boys and girls in school. To ensure sustainability of the SLTS, a total of 52 teachers selected from the 13 schools were trained. These involved the Senior Woman and Senior Male teacher including two sanitation teachers from each school. The schools received 52 hand-washing facilities and 78 jerry cans.

The teachers helped in the training of the School Health Clubs (SHC) which consist of 50 members in each school. Members of the SHC promote good sanitation and hygiene practices which are not limited to the school environment but transferred back to the community where the children stay after school. Schools under the Wash project have clean compounds while the pupils have been sensitized in good hygiene and sanitation practices. The schools have hand-washing facilities at the latrines. The children now have skills in liquid and bar soap-making.

Menstrual Hygiene Management is one area where the WASH project has scored highly at many schools. The girls, through the SHC, have been encouraged to freely talk about menstrual hygiene management.

The girls have also been trained to make reusable sanitary towels and are encouraged to open up about menstrual hygiene which is not a taboo but a normal life cycle. Menstrual hygiene management has not been limited to schools but girls and women in the community have been sensitized. The women and girls have acquired skills in making reusable sanitary

Sarah Kwansara Konga, 17, a member of the Health Club at Amaji Primary School in Oyam District, demonstrates how to wash hands.

pads, liquid and bar soap.

The challenge with most of these schools is the ever increasing population which does not tally with the available facilities including the latrines. In some of the schools, the children line up at the latrine because the stances are not enough. The school authorities are also advocating for the construction of drainable pit latrines (Line latrines).

Kamdini Sub-county LCIII Chairperson Sam Ogwang Alunyu dutifully claims his subcounty has scored in areas of good hygiene and sanitation practices, where 11 out of 14 villages are close to becoming open defecation free.

leaders from the WASH project area where cleanliness is now a responsibility for all residents. You must have a box or polythene bag for rubbish collection at your business premise. The residents dutifully keep watch to ensure that nobody litres rubbish.

For Oyam, Loro and Kamdini, the community leaders think the Sanitation Task Forces must remain active even when the World Vision project phases out to help mobilize the residents.

His testimony is shared by several other

“We are sorry that World Vision has scaled down its sensitization activities but hope the sanitation task forces continue getting support to mobilize the residents for positive behavior change,” Tonny Oming Lammex, the Oyam district Assistant Water Officer in Charge of Health, says in an interview.

Oyam District

southwest and Nwoya District to the west.

Time zone: EAT (UTC+3)

Coordinates: 02°14′N 32°23′E Lango Sub-region, Northern Uganda Area: 2,190.8 km2 (845.9 sq mi) Population (2012 Estimate): 378,900 Density: 173/km2 (450/sq mi)

The administrative headquarters of the district at Oyam, are located approximately 78 kilometres (48 mi), by road, west of Lira, the largest city in the sub-region.

Kole District

Kole District is bordered by Lira District to the east, Apac District to the south and Oyam District to the west and north. Kole, the district capital, is located approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi), by road, northwest of Lira, the largest city in the sub-region.

Coordinates: 02°24′N 32°48′E Lango Sub-region, Northern Uganda Population (2012 Estimate): 231,900

This location is approximately 290 kilometres (180 mi), by road, north of Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city.

Facts and Figures

Oyam District is bordered by Gulu District to the north, Pader District to the northeast, Kole District to the east, Apac District to the south, Kiryandongo District to the

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WASH Project World Vision programme in Oyam District

World Vision

improving hygiene and sanitation

practices

By Bill Oketch

Lango - Northern Uganda. Although people who were displaced by the conflict in northern Uganda have returned to their original homeland, they continue to face many challenges such as lack of clean water, poor sanitation and hygiene. Just like in other districts that suffered atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, waste management and access to safe and clean water have been a huge challenge in Oyam and Kole districts.

This often resulted into outbreaks of dysentery, diarrhoea, typhoid and other water- related illnesses in the area. In a bid to respond to this challenge, World Vision and it’s partners are working to implement a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects in Kole and Oyam.

The eight-month project operates in four districts of Lango sub-region: Kole, Oyam, Lira and Dokolo. It focuses mainly on education, health, nutrition and WASH, resilience, livelihood and child protection.

Under WASH, the project focused on increased access to safe and clean water, improved hygiene and sanitation practices within its catchment areas. “We are also focused on the sustainability of these WASH activities through strengthening the different structures especially the water users’ committees,” said William Mubiru, World Vision Programme Manager for Kole and Oyam.

To increase access to safe and clean water, World Vision does a number of things, especially construction of water sources.

Mubiru added: “We have done a lot in these communities, especially in Oyam and Kole as far as increasing water access is concerned through construction of boreholes and piped water scheme.”

To improve hygiene and sanitation, a number of community mobilization activities have been conducted. Hygiene and sanitation best practices such as hand-washing, pit-latrine usage, and use of bathroom, among others, form part of World Vision’s software component of WASH. “This project has focused on a number of activities such as WASH in schools, basically building the capacity of pupils in managing WASH,” Mubiru explained. “We have also done a lot to build the capacity of religious leaders, LC1 and cultural leaders and town council technical staff in managing WASH.”

William Mubiru, World Vision Programme Manager for Oyam/Kole.

Last year, 15 water sources, including 10 shallow wells and five deep wells were constructed in Aboke Sub-county in Kole. In Oyam, five water points were constructed in Kamdini and Minakulu. In the same year, a piped water scheme was constructed at Opeta village in Aboke Sub-county. “This year, we have constructed 11 boreholes: six in Kole and five in Oyam, and a piped water scheme at Apedi Primary School. We also put up a water tank at Acaba in Oyam,” the area manager said.

This project also did an assessment to establish the problem of WASH in periurban centres, schools and in different health centres. Thus, World Vision discovered several things, especially issues related to latrine usage.

For instance, a pit-latrine that would ordinarily be used by only 40 pupils, is being shared by more than 100 pupils in some schools. At Acet Primary School, Acaba Sub-county, the ratio was at 1:174 while at Acaba Primary School, the ratio stood at 1:250. This affects education because pupils feel uncomfortable to access pit-latrines.

There has been on-going sensitization

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WASH Project World Vision Uganda programme in Oyam District

Uganda Police Force officers join Loro Town Council community members in a cleanup campaign supported by World Vision.

of the community and pupils to improve WASH in Kole and Oyam. On the other hand, the project has also supported local governments to re-enforce by-laws, especially on hygiene and sanitation.

The WASH implementing agency has worked closely with the offices of the Town Clerk and the District Health Officer to conduct radio talk shows on awareness creation especially on WASH.

The organization has also used several platforms, especially local artistes to share information related to WASH.

leaders of the two districts put whatever we have done into practice, we will see a positive change.”

“Through the dialogue we had, we have already seen changes such as people appreciating that menstruation is natural,” said Mubiru. “The beauty about this intervention is that the district leadership and the communities have embraced it.

Overall, we have registered successes. If

Government policy requires every school countrywide to have a school hygiene and sanitation club. Under this intervention, at least 13 sanitation and hygiene clubs have been established in Oyam and their capacity has been built to manage WASH.

Key lessons learnt This was the first “urban WASH” project to be implemented by World Vision. The organization appreciates that the way interventions are done in rural settings is totally different from urban settings.

The other lesson is that several approaches were used in the implementation of the project including local musicians and radio talk shows. “We are going to continue supporting civic education. We really want to see people holding their leaders accountable; if we have voted for you, please come and give us the accountability,” Mubiru said.

“The WASH intervention was an eyeopener to the leadership because some of them were taking things for granted,” he added. “They were not doing a lot of monitoring, especially what was on the ground and in their schools.” It is also clear that local governments have not been enforcing by-laws, especially on hygiene and sanitation. Initially, they had formed by-laws, but these remained nonfunctional.

In schools, the poor learning environment affects enrolment and retention. For instance, last year, more than 800 pupils enrolled at Amaji Primary School but only

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about 500 pupils have registered this year.

In the long run, significant challenges remain for the local leaders in the project area. The district leadership in Kole and Oyam have challenges monitoring projects and inspecting schools. Also, the local governments have no budgets for WASH. They have been relying mainly on development partners and waiting for funds from the central government to implement activities related to water, sanitation and hygiene. This raises serious questions about sustainability of donorfunded projects.

WASH Project World Vision programme in Oyam District

World Vision

to conduct a full evaluation of

Wash projects

Improved adherence to good sanitation practices through positive behaviour change should be a responsibility of every individual in the community, Emmanuel Opoki, the World Vision WASH programme manager, gives a brief about the project for Oyam community.

World Vision Uganda in an effort to scale up the positive behaviour change, rolled out the WASH project in for the Urban areas of Loro, Kamdini and Oyam in Oyam district funded

by GIZ and USAID to increase knowledge for the use of basic sanitation facilities such as latrines, wash rooms and the general cleanliness for homes, health centers and schools.

WASH Project in Oyam District has been implemented through the set Sanitation Task Forces both at the grassroot and Local Government Administrative levels. This was meant to ensure the communities implement the project by themselves through sensitization using the available mass media campaign among other sensitization methods which involved use of drama groups and the involvement of school children as change agents. By Working through the grassroot structures the residents get to own up the project.

We have great hope that the set structures to manage, control and promote sanitation and hygiene that have been set up will help boost the hygiene and sanitation campaign in Loro, Oyam and Kamdini Urban Councils.

The impact of the WASH project within the communities should be a spring board to have better facilities in place. Individuals, schools, health centers and the local government should play their respective roles in promoting good sanitation and hygiene practices.

Emmanuel Opoki, the World Vision WASH programme manager

good sanitation sand hygiene practices. We also need to integrate behaviour change communication in all our hygiene and sanitation promotion programmes through positive interventions as a basis for better results.

When children grasp the basic health practices at school, they become change agents in their respective communities.

The background of School Health Clubs is to ensure that the children are not only instructed but take responsibility in ensuring that they stay in a good environment free from germs. Schools need to have strong sustainable Health Clubs structures for hygiene and sanitation education within and outside the school, Opoki asserts.

While World Vision Uganda is yet to conduct a full evaluation for the entire Wash project, the fruits are evident because we believe the message has been delivered and many residents in these areas are responding positively.

The end result for positive behaviour change through embracing good sanitation and hygiene practices should be a community with less disease burden, healthy children attending school and a health environment where the community is active in development projects for a better living. We also pray that the community embraces the positive health basics through promoting

Members of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Water and Sanitation hold a meeting with Oyam District Local Government leadership.

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WASH Project World Vision Uganda programme in Oyam District

How

World Vision is supporting

girl child

education in Oyam

By Bill Oketch

Oyam – Northern Uganda. The positive impact of educating girls is no secret, yet the girl child still misses school due to avoidable reasons: Menstruation! It’s a fact that girls get periods but it should not result in absences, and girls should not miss out on an education as a result.

According to the head teacher of Atapara Secondary School in Oyam district, Tom Otim, most girls start experiencing menstruation at secondary level.

Unfortunately, many of them are not prepared from home to face that reality. “Personally I was worried when I took my child to Senior One this year. She is yet to break through that and I do not know how she is going to overcome it,” said Otim. “I told my wife and the senior daughter to tell this young girl about that expectation.”

In Lango sub-region, many girls in rural governmentaided secondary and primary schools miss class over menstruation, which they always refer to as “sickness”.

However, experts blame some parents for not preparing their children early enough to face the reality.

Like girls and women across the world, 16-year-old Monica is self-conscious about bleeding on her clothes during her menstruation. But this teenager from Atapara Secondary School can not afford sanitary pads or tampons. Monica is not alone, and Uganda is not the only place where periods are a problem for girls.

The issue is widespread – particularly in rural, remote areas, where it can lead to girls dropping out of school entirely.

The Senior Woman Teacher at Acaba Secondary School, Dorothy Kabahinda, said such a student cannot stay in school when she cannot afford to buy sanitary pads.

“The girl child cannot stay in class and those things can make them start looking for a boyfriend, sometimes they go for early marriages,” she explained.

Like other districts in northern Uganda, Oyam suffered atrocities perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents for over two decades. After identifying challenges faced by the population during the postconflict period, World Vision decided to support parish level drama groups to promote hygiene, while five different billboards designed to portray good sanitation and hygiene behaviour were commissioned. The project also mobilised and sensitised 146 religious and cultural leaders to participate in sanitation and hygiene promotion as part of their routine duties.

Oyam District chairman, Nelson Adea thanked the donors for the timely intervention. “We thank World Vision for all the projects they are doing in Lango,” he said. Now, he added, the district leadership is working hard to ensure sustainability.

“We are really working hard to ensure that there is water for the population and we are already putting piped water schemes in all the corners of the district,” Adea said, while applauding partners for educating pupils on how to handle menstrual hygiene, adding that all the beneficiary pupils now know how to make their own reusable sanitary pads.

“This is very good because the cost of the sanitary pads

12 | WASH JOURNAL | June - August, 2017

Lucky Akello (16), a member of t

WASH Project World Vision programme in Oyam District

Nelson Adea Akar, Oyam District LC5 Chairman.

According to the chairman, the learners are now going into mass production of liquid and solid soaps that they can sell and generate income. “We feel this project will be sustained and our people are happy. We appreciate the work of USAID and GIZ that supported World Vision.

Before the intervention, water and sanitation was a huge challenge in Oyam District,” he said.

The district leadership is very happy to associate with WASH initiative.

“The lessons we have learnt from this project is just to keep the hygiene of our home,” the chairman added.

“The toilet must be clean, we must erect drying stands for our cooking utensils; people are no longer drying utensils on the ground. This is a good lesson- our people are now clean and they will live longer.”

the Health Club at Acet Primary school in Oyam Town Council knits a cloth.

would defeat most of them. Now they are going to make their own pads and they will keep the hygiene because water is available,” he added. With increased access to safe and clean water, the girls now only need soap to keep them clean. Under the WASH project, pupils have also been educated on how to make both liquid and solid soaps.

The residents of Oyam District have been encouraged to embrace smartness at home. “I am happy the women of Oyam have emulated WASH, they have already smeared their grass-thatched houses. The houses are so colourful and whenever you move around Oyam it is very clean and I urge them to keep it up,” the district chairman explained.

Currently, latrine coverage in Oyam stands at over 80 per cent. Adea is optimistic that very soon the district may strike 100 per cent. He encouraged those without latrines at their homes to build the facility and let there be water.

June - August, 2017 | WASH JOURNAL | 13

WASH Project World Vision Uganda programme in Oyam District

Oyam Children

become and

sanitation

hygiene ambassadors

When Lillian Akello (42), a resident of Amukungu village in Kamdini Sub-county, Oyam District, explains the positive health living behaviour in her home and that of her neighbours, she is quick to thank the school authorities for instilling good health habits in their children who positively participate and champion the establishment of structures such as the kitchen rack and hand-washing facilities at their respective homes.

Akello says her daughter, Sarah Kwansara Konga, a Primary Seven pupil at Amaji Primary School, helped in the construction of a hand-washing facility at the family pit-latrine and helped in the construction of a kitchen rack at home. She later mobilized her siblings in maintaining good health habits, including the proper use of the latrine hand-washing facility as well as explain the reasons why they have to wash hands with soap after visiting the toilet.

The children maintain cleanliness in the family compound and are very quick to remind everybody about the dangers of littering the home.

We have seen other children taking the same good health practices in the neighborhood. This has been boosted by the ongoing mobilization for good sanitation and hygiene practices championed by World Vision in our Area.

We have since learnt that the children have been trained in adhering to good sanitation and hygiene practices through the school health clubs. They have also been advised to practice the same good health behaviour at their respective homes, Akello says in an interview.

Sarah Kwansara Konga, 17, a member of the Health Club at Amaji Primary School in Oyam District.

At Anyeke Primary school in Oyam Town Council, the School Health Club members attest to the different roles

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they play both at their respective homes and at school in promoting good health sanitation and hygiene.

WASH Project World Vision programme in Oyam District “As a Health Club member and prefect, my first duty, when I arrive at school, is to ensure that all the litter is properly disposed at the rubbish pit before the teachers instruct me to do so. I do not have to wait for the other pupils but take on the responsibility to pick the rubbish,” Felister Achieng,15 a Primary Seven Pupil says, “The other children quickly join me to ensure that the compound is clean. I also take the responsibility of ensuring that all the hand-washing facilities placed at the school latrines have water,” says Achieng.

Achieng, in coordination with the other members of the School Health Club, helps in general cleaning exercise and ensure that the young children get first hand information on how to properly use the latrine and wash hands after visiting the latrine. Achieng has other roles to play in helping fellow girls in areas of menstruation hygiene management.

Felister Achieg, a Primary Seven pupil at Anyeke Primary School in Oyam Town Council demonstrates to fellow pupils how to wash hands.

To increase awareness on menstrual hygiene practices, 45 Village Health Teams (VHTs) have been trained on MHM and have cascaded the knowledge acquired to 53 villages surrounding 16 schools through conducting drama shows and awareness sessions.

“We have the washroom and changing room where the girls can be helped,” she says.

“This is done in coordination with my Senior Woman teacher who is in charge of the girls. We now talk freely about menstruation hygiene as girls and ensure that the message gets to all the girl children,” she adds.

Back at home, Achieng has championed the construction of a kitchen rack and the hand-washing facility for the pit-latrine at her parent’s home. “I have also made sure that my siblings maintain the compound clean and ensure that they cover the latrine after use. I also talk to other children in our community especially the girls about the good sanitation and hygiene

practices because we all need to stay in an environment clear of germs which spread diseases,” Achieng narrates.

Her version is collaborated by the testimonies from her Senior Woman Teacher, Evaline Akwero, the Patron of the School Health Club, Moses Lot Ogwal, and the school head teacher, Samuel Ongom.

“The girls who are members of the school health club are doing a good job. The practical lessons they get from the health club have made them responsible girls.

“Felister Achieng is a very responsible pupil who is not selfish to the information she gets but shares it with both the responsible teachers and fellow girls. We got training and facilitation from the World Vision WASH project where our girls can make reusable sanitary pads. These girls can now make sanitary pads by themselves. The only challenge has been lack of access to the right material used in making the pads. We believe once the material is available these girls can make hem at school,” Ongom says.

Moris Akejo (14), a Primary Seven pupil at Anyeke Primary School, is a

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WASH Project World Vision Uganda programme in Oyam District member of the School Health Club but is quick to say that he actively participates in clearing the bush around their home to ensure that mosquitoes, which spread malaria, are kept away. “I also helped my parents in putting up a hand-washing facility outside the pit-latrine at home,” Akejo says.

“We also spend little money on paying for medical bills because my parents have embraced the good hygiene and sanitation practices. The parents are proud of me when I engage my siblings in conversations regarding hygiene and sanitation. I talk to them about the dangers of littering rubbish around the home and also explain to them reasons why I keep slashing the compound.

Snakes are very dangerous and like bushy areas. This is the main reason why I always slash the compound both at home and school,” he adds.

The school children from Amaji Primary School, Acet Primary school and Anyeke Primary School among other schools where the WASH project has been rolled out, are now change agents for good sanitation and hygiene practices, Sam Ogwang Alunyu the Local Council III Chairperson for Kamdini Sub-county comments in an interview.

The World Vision Uganda WASH manager, Emmanuel Opoki, in an interview, attests to the fact that the project had in its target the school children to act as good behaviour change agents both at school and back at home. By establishing the School Health Clubs where the pupils are mentored and given responsibility of ensuring good sanitation and hygiene practices, the club members have to preach the gospel of positive behavioural practices to fellow pupils. It is high time we integrate behavioural change communication in all our hygiene and sanitation interventions.

At Acet Primary school in Oyam Town Council, Lucky Akello (16), a member of the school health club, says she teamed up with her siblings to construct a (tiptap) hand-

Kamdini Sub-county LCIII Chairperson, Sam Ogwang Alunyu (2nd R), with members of the School Health Club at Amaji Primary School in Oyam District.

Acet Primary School Health Club members and their teachers.

washing facility at home. Their parents were surprised by the new innovation. Other children from the neighbourhood have taken up the idea and are making the tiptap at their respective homes.

At school, Akello, together with the other members of the School Health Club, fetch water and fill the hand-washing containers at the school latrines. “It is our duty to maintain good hygiene and sanitation. I also talk about Menstrual Hygiene Management with fellow girls at school. I cannot feel ashamed because we have been sensitized by the Senior Woman teacher. We also make reusable sanitary pads,” Akello reveals.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Implication of Land Policies and Laws on Water and Sanitation Rights and Services Delivery This briefing note is based on a study (January 2013) carried out by WaterAid Uganda with support from the European Union Facility. The study aimed at identifying and assessing the implication of the land sector policies and the legal framework to access to safe water and adequate sanitation services especially for poor communities in Uganda and water resource management and protection for sustainability.

The research included a substantive review of Uganda policies and practices and utilised both qualitative collection methods in four sample districts of Napak, Amuria, Masindi and Pallisa, where WaterAid Uganda is currently implementing Water Sanitation interventions.

Although most water resource and sanitation infrastructure are institutionally developed by Local Government or the Civil Society Organizations, the land on which these investments are is owned or held by either individuals or customary and to some extent by Government. This has a lot of tenure implications with regard to ownership, security and access to these facilities.

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Uganda’s high population growth rate at 3.2% per year (state of Uganda Population Report 2012) and the rapid increase of the population (estimated at 34.1 million) has put a lot of pressure on the land and land-based resources including water. According to the state of Uganda Population Report 2012, Uganda’s population will reach 54 million in 2025, and 130 million by 2050.

With the increasing population, land tenure, land access and land use issues will greatly impact on people’s ability to access safe water sources and adequate sanitation. Given the importance of land access for livelihoods, it is important that land governance issues are addressed to ensure the human right to safe water and sanitation for all.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

The other matter alluded to is the general lack of physical planning in communities where placement of amenities for water and sanitation would be a predetermined matter and such land, therefore, secured.

Land Policies Access to Wash There is need for a systematic procedure for land requisition for water infrastructure placement. Most communities in the rural areas are patriarchal and family property, including land, is inherited along such lines. Therefore, the land on which water infrastructure is placed is commonly owned by individuals and families in the rural areas.

Although there are elaborate participatory processes through which communities agree on the placement of infrastructure, little care is taken to ensure that agreements are actually signed and are in safe custody.

The law does state that the owner can be compensated for land but on the other hand it is silent on how much that compensation should be. This finding points to the ultimate vulnerability of investments in water sources; as land becomes scarce amid high population growth, the right to compensation, even in the face of public good, second or third generation holders of rights to such land will definitely lay claim to the land on which the water sources are placed thereby limiting community access to safe water.

Section 36 of the Water Act provides for estimates (right to use land) by agreement with the owner or through the director but such estimates terminate six months after the date of creation unless it is registered with Registrar of Titles. This provision may not be feasible in the case of customary land ownership.

The Land Act vests all rights to water resources (any natural spring, river, stream.

Watercourse or other natural sources for water) into the government. However, there is no legal provision on accessing these water sources. This was particularly the case in Masindi, where investors cordon off land without consideration of access to water and other resources that the community needs.

Much as the Land Act under Section 44 (5) expressly prohibits the leasing out or otherwise alienating forest reserves and wetlands, district land boards have continued to lease out these public trust natural resources. According to a parliamentary report by the Natural Resources Committee,

It was also shown in the discussions that cultivation near water infrastructure is not only intended to strengthen claims of land around the water sources but also results in the shrinkage of easements to the water source. The shrinkage of easements translates into a possibility of conflict. The other matter alluded to is the general lack of physical planning in communities where placement of amenities for water and sanitation would be a predetermined matter and such land, therefore, secured.

August 2012, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (Uganda Land Commissions) has continued to issue land titles to developers in wetlands. The district land boards have often been blamed for this, however, making the excuse that wetlands are not demarcated or gazetted. The wetlands department has also been cited on a number of occasions blaming NEMA for issuing permits without consultation with the lead agency. These are serious institutional challenges in the management of the environment with the management split across sub-sectors of natural resources resulting into a complex, internally fragmented, conflict and highly centralised system without effective co-ordination.

The placement of sanitation infrastructure in rural areas except in the rural growth centers does not have land tenure issues because in the majority of these cases, the land is already owned by the developer.

However, in the mushrooming rural growth centers and urban areas, land tenure challenges are beginning to emerge, virtually all land is claimed by someone. Due to poor physical planning, lack of development control and week enforcement mechanisms of planning and development regulations, road reserves and other reserved pieces of land have serious challenge to agencies that want to provide public sanitation facilities. Property owners also have a fear that allowing the construction of public facilities on their land would encourage encroachment on their property by outsiders seeking to use the facilities. Institutional challenges are also aggravating attempts for water resource management.

Most of the official documents in the water supply and sanitation sub-sector do not identify land tenure and natural resources tenure issues as impacting on the challenges in the performance of Water Supply and Sanitation subsector (WSS).

Yet the challenges of deforestation, forest degradation, wetland enforcement and degradation, degradation of catchments, climate change, among others, have land tenure and natural resource tenure dimensions. The integration of the WSS and Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) sub-sector as proposed in the overall sector coordination, synergy and efficiency, should be utilized to ensure sustainability of resources in the sector.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

The uncertainty in land tenure and use of laws may lead to the distraction of wetland habitats, water catchments and location of future water and sanitation facilities.

Encroachment of protected areas and commercial exploitation of the remaining natural resources in key biodiversity areas are very real possibilities as returning clans and selected individuals position themselves to get access and use of key natural resources (Rugadya, 2008).

Pupils wash their hands with a hand-washing facility after using the latrine.

Unclear policies also lead to controversy in land use and conflict resolution. Much as the Constitution vests management of wetlands in the hands of the State, this does not extinguish proprietary rights and interests. Examples are case of those with freehold titles, mailo titles or leasehold titles issued prior to the 1995 Constitution, some wetlands are claimed by communities as community Common Pool Resources (CPR).

What about wetlands on customary land? The Land Regulations, 2004 needs to be reviewed, particularly on issues of land ownership and certification. The National Land use Policy (NLP) provides an opportunity to harmonise and update all policies and regulations related to water resource utilization.

The Unique Situation in Post-Conflict Areas Land is the most important natural resource for development in Uganda. Given the centrality of land to livelihood and poverty reduction, it has become the center of disputes and controversy in Northern Uganda. Literature shows that over 90% of the land in Northern Uganda is owned

under customary land tenure. Statutory and customary land policies and land Laws are still quite unclear on conflict resolution.

Under Ugandan customary legal systems, particularly in northern and eastern Uganda, land is usually communally owned by clans but it can also be owned individually.

Rights and responsibilities that derive from communal ownership are shared among various members of the clan, according to traditional practices.

Usually, the head of a clan or family, the “custodian”, has the responsibility to look after each member’s land rights and to allocate land fairly to all (LEMU, June, 2007). Under this system, disputes are heard and settled by elders. Customary land tenure is the most common system governing Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and returnees’ land rights. However, displacement has also weakened the role and authority of clan elders, as they may have died, and traditions and customs are less known by the younger generations (UN HABITAT, December, 2007).

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WaterAid’s intervention in the districts of Napak, Amuria, Masindi and Pallisa stems from the fact that their sanitation and water coverage rates are below the national average and with the objective of supporting the Government Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for northern Uganda.

For the last 21 years, northern and northeastern Uganda has been the scene of wars and insecurity because of armed rebellions and cattle rustling among the Karimojong.

From 2006 to date, there has been gradual improvement in the security situation and this has promoted the return and resettlement of IDPs. With the return of IDPs to their ancestral land, there is need for WASH intervention in the communities as many of the water sources have previously been located near the camps in conflict areas of Amuria and Katakwi. In addition, Masindi and Pallisa have experienced increased population as a result of displacement of people from conflict areas, which has increased pressure on available resources.

This can be a source of conflict and affect the sustainability of vital water and environment resources.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Key messages A number of stakeholders are contributing in ensuring the right to water and sanitation is attained by all. However, the Government holds the primary responsibility and must ensure that every one of its citizens can enjoy sufficient, safe, acceptable, accessible and affordable water without discrimination by setting laws, policies and programmes directed towards fulfillment of this right.

1.

Government should review and harmonize the land policy, the land use policy, the different land use sector policies (the Environmental Policy, the Wetlands Policy, the Water Policy) and the relevant sector laws and regulations to eliminate inconsistences and contradictions and fill any policy gaps. A step in the right direction was approval of the National Land Policy (NLP) in February, 2013. This policy is to guide the legal forms in the land sector. The NPL supports the registration of the land rights under customary tenure and contains a number of important reform proposals to cause gender equality with regard to land rights and inheritance of land. The draft also includes measures geared at rationalizing and streamlining the land dispute resolution structures and recognizes the role of customary institutions in making rules governing land, resolving disputes and protecting land rights. Its implementation will establish criteria for gazetting and degazetting of conservation areas cognizant of the vital role the natural resources and habitats play in the livelihood of minority groups.

2.

The Ministry of Water and Environment should establish/rise awareness on the mechanism through which land allocated for the placement of water infrastructure is legally removed from the donor with clearly discerned boundaries.

3.

The Ministry of Water and Environment together with her development partners should create a

platform for integrating and mainstreaming WASH sector issues in the environment, land and urban subsectors to minimize institutional conflicts, competition and contradictions. The Ministry should promote public and institutional awareness creation campaigns in land tenure issues in WASH at all levels and in particular at the district, subcounty and community levels.

4.

Government should ensure that NEMA, the wetlands management department, the District Land Boards and the Uganda Land Commission harmonize their policies and operations in respect to the management and use of wetlands.

They should also promote mitigation strategies to protect the catchments through the enforcement of relevant laws and policies.

5.

Although through this research minimal cases were identified of refusal for WASH facility construction or access, the potential for future land conflicts that may have an effect on service delivery and natural resource protection is high with the unclear laws and policies in place today. Customary law and customary land tenure systems have yet to be successfully integrated into Uganda land policy and law. The absence of guidelines and experience in this leaves the land law open to different interpretation that could be confusing and may lead to unnecessary conflict and disputes. Uganda’s legal and regulatory framework for natural resources at the district level need to be made suitable to work alongside as customary approach to land use tenure.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Enhancing Girls’ Rights and Comfort through Menstrual Hygiene Management Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) is an issue that is fundamentally ignored in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and education sectors.This has led to significant negative effects on the health and education of women and adolescent girls.The absence of clean water for washing, private changing rooms and sanitary materials in schools has aggravated the problem.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

To increase awareness on menstrual hygiene practices, 45 Village Health Teams (VHTs) have been trained on MHM and have cascaded the knowledge acquired to 53 villages surrounding 16 schools through conducting drama shows and awareness sessions.

R

eality of taboos and social-cultural restrictions surrounding menstrual practices prevent the adolescent girls from accessing information and facts on menstrual hygiene. It’s imperative for women and girls to access the necessary knowledge, facilities and the cultural environment if they are to manage menstruation hygienically and with dignity.

About Plan Uganda Innervation Plan Uganda is a child-centered development organization with a mission to achieve lasting improvements in the lives of marginalized children in developing countries through a process that unites people across cultures and adds meaning and value to their lives. Plan is currently working on Tororo, Lira, Kamuli, Kampala and Luweero and 15 districts of Acholi and Lango subregion.

Plan Uganda, with support from Australian and Netherlands governments, is implementing the Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) project. The main purpose of the project is to reach to 100,000 rural women and adolescent girls, boys and men in Tororo and Lira districts to manage their menstruation effectively and hygienically through improved knowledge, attitudes and practices and increased access to affordable and hygienic pads.

Prior to this, Plan Uganda conducted a Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) study in Lira and Tororo which revealed that 28% of girls miss school during menstrual periods, 45% respondents reported having no facilities that support girls while in periods in their schools. At least 12.7% (99) respondents knew of girls who dropped out of school due to menstruation. The KAP study confirmed findings of earlier studies that revealed that; girls who attend schools without appropriate water supply and sanitation facilities prefer to remain at home during menstruation.

To increase awareness on menstrual hygiene practices, 45 Village Health Teams (VHTs) have been trained on MHM and have cascaded the knowledge acquired to 53 villages surrounding 16 schools through conducting drama shows and awareness sessions.

Pupils and teachers from eight schools in Tororo have been trained too on this subject.

Key achievements As a result of the project, adolescent girls are now confidently attending school when experiencing monthly periods. They freely talk about menstruation with their teachers, parents and peers.

This development has encouraged them to put into practice the knowledge acquired through the awareness and training sessions.

Boys’ attitude towards girls is changing drastically due to the sensitization provided on puberty and menstruation. The boys in the project schools no longer tease girls who are experiencing menstruation and instead talk to fellow boys on the issues surrounding menstruation among adolescents.

The community awareness has in addition exposed to men the type of materials women and girls use during menstruation. This has motivated men to support the health of their daughters and wives. They can now freely purchase the reusable AFRIpads for their daughters and have also enrolled as agents of the product.

The engagement of boys and men in menstrual hygiene has created an enabling environment for the women to effectively handle this issue.

The trained schools have included MHM into the school health systems with the trained boys and girls setting action plans to cascade in the information to all the classes and all children who did not participate in the mainstream trainings. With the availability of information on how to track each monthly period, girls’ confidence to manage their periods improved and a sense of self-esteem has been attained. Even schools outside the project area have contacted Plan Uganda for awareness and training on MHM. The sale of AFRIpads kiss is boosting income of the dealers and improving their livelihood. Testimonies of sustainability are being documented and will be shared in another issue.

Going forward In a bid to scale-up Menstrual Hygiene Management in Tororo and Lira, Plan Uganda will continue promoting an integrated programme that directly supports the construction of safe and private washing and sanitation facilities, improved drinking water and hygiene education in target schools.

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Advancing children Rights and equality for girls through Menstrual Hygiene Management

By Jane Nyaketcho, Project Coordinator MHM

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian not for profit organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. Guided by our Country Strategy (20172021), we are committed to rural women and adolescent girls in Tororo, Lira, Alebtong and Kamuli to manage their menstruation effectively and hygienically through improved Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices and increased access to affordable and hygienic pads through effective Menstrual Hygiene Management programming

Girls and boys of Achilet Primary School knitting pads with their teacher.

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M

enstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) is referred to holistically as the articulation, knowledge, skills and having positive attitude to manage menstruation with safety and dignity using safe hygienic materials. Menstrual hygiene is essential for health, education and dignity of both girls and women yet less prioritized among households with low incomes across Uganda.

Menstrual Hygiene Management is still being considered a secluded issue culturally and not to be talked about in public yet it contributes to girls missing 1- 3 days of Primary school per month; 8-24 days per year and 11 % of schooling missed due to menstrual periods, (IRC 2013). This is contributed to by a range of sanitation issues including: lack of gender-friendly latrines, lack of privacy, shared latrines among boys and girls and sometimes teachers, with lack of pads contributing to a lesser percentage with the highest being lack of gender friendly WASH facilities (46%), (Plan International Baseline survey, Dec 2012).

The lack of knowledge among the girls widens the gender disparity among school boys and girls, it accelerates absenteeism due to fear of embarrassment from the boys owing to lack of the right information.

If it can be known by both boys and girls as a normal process which sets in due to puberty, and girls supported with the necessary WASH facilities at school, and their skills developed on how to make and use a hygienic pad, then each girl in our communities would attain her full potential and we would have contributed to the equality that we are striving for among the boys, girls, women and men in our country.

Sustainable approaches to Menstrual Hygiene Management Over the last four years, Plan International Uganda has been implementing an MHM programme in 4 districts (Lira, Kamuli

Tororo and Alebtong) in Uganda. The overall goal of the programme is for rural women and adolescent girls to manage their menstruation effectively and hygienically through improved Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices and increased access to affordable and hygienic pads by 2018.

The programme is based on three main objectives: 1. To improve the knowledge, attitudes and practices of women and girls in schools and the wider community as well as men and boys; Education on menstrual Hygiene changes everything. Under this objective, Plan International Uganda works closely with teachers, community health workers and village volunteers in a number of participatory and creative approaches including community radio shows and drama. School girls and boys are trained on MHM and making of their own pads; awareness creation through community theatre and dialogues to improve on knowledge. Selected girls and boys are trained on the whole aspect of Menstrual Hygiene Management from the same schools in order to enhance their knowledge and buy in for boys and girls to understand that menstruation is a normal process which is part of the body. Mothers and fathers have been brought on board through community awareness sessions and dialogue so that they, have the right information and can support the needs of their children as they reach puberty.

2. Increased access to affordable and hygienic sanitary pads among rural women and girls. The programme addresses the expressed consumer demand for cost-effective, washable menstrual products, through the Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) sales representatives working directly with AFRIpads plus other women groups trained on making/knitting of reusable pads from locally available materials. Participating VSLA members gain a competitive advantage over retailers that only market mainstream brands of disposable sanitary

Girls’ latrine with a burning chamber attached to the washroom

pads by filling a market niche with a unique product innovation. In order to support these microenterprises, participating VSLA members are facilitated with business development training sessions and sanitation marketing materials. By engaging in the microenterprise of AFRIpads, VSLA members can fill the market void for this basic health commodity while also generating an income.

3. Improving access to equitable gender friendly WASH facilities among school girls and boys. Menstrual Hygiene Management is not complete without the provision of appropriately designed gender and disability-friendly facilities. It is important that facilities at schools are designed to support the needs of the girls to enable them enjoy learning and stay at schools.

Latrines designed for girls must have a washroom provided and a burning chamber attached to manage the used pads, water has to be provided to enable them bathe while at school on top of well trained teachers to support them.

Baseline findings revealed that girls absenteeism and partly school dropout were largely contributed by the lack of gender-friendly latrines (46%). As a result, the programme embedded provision of sanitation facilities to compliment software activities. This has provided an enabling environment for girls to effectively manage their menses and stay at school.

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Our achievements and Recommendations Improving school attendance Plan International’s efforts have made measurable contributions to girls’ school attendance. Over 9,000 girls are now able to use hygienic sanitary pads, avoiding leaks and staying in school free of fear or discomfort. The mid-term review of Plan International Uganda’s MHM project conducted in November 2014 revealed that the proportion of girls reporting to have missed school because of menstruation went down by 11% from 37% reported at commencement of the project in 2012.

This change was registered within one-and-a-half years of project implementation in the district of Tororo alone. Increased knowledge about menstruation and support for girls at home and at school were cited as well as improvement in girls’ enrolment as cited by some education officers. This is being attributed to training, which improved girls knowledge on MHM, and skills development on making reusable which has been conducted in over 66 schools and communities in Kamuli, 50 in Lira and Alebtong, 60 in Tororo. See link: https:// youtu.be/0fuX23m2C6Q

Attitude change Change of attitude has not only occurred among boys who now consider menstruation a normal situation and support the girls but no longer embarrass them in case of soiling but also among the fathers and male guardians who did not know what girls and women go through each month. These have been able to purchase pads freely for their daughters as well as talking to them about menstruation. Change of attitude among parents is being attributed to the community dialogue and theatre which is used as an avenue for both mobilization and information delivery. The initiative attracts

hundreds of people who come to learn and acquire knowledge on issues girls and women face and how it affects school attendance and health. These sessions are also used to demystify some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding menstruation as facts are delivered to people through the plays and during the dialogue sessions where participants ask questions surrounding Menstrual Hygiene Management.

Menstruation matters to everyone, everywhere Peter’s change story Peter is a primary school teacher in Tororo. Before the school was trained on Menstrual Hygiene Management, some of the teachers, including him, thought that girls should not come to school when menstruating. “I thought that by staying at home, it would save them the embarrassment of boys laughing at stains from leakage,” says Peter. He was, therefore, hesitant when Plan International Uganda approached the school with the proposal to train the boys and girls together on Menstrual Hygiene Management. “I thought menstruation was women’s business and there was no point in training boys as well.“ Finally Plan International Uganda trained both girls and boys in the School Health Club on Menstrual Hygiene Management.

The members of the School Health Club spread the key message throughout the school that menstruation is normal and children supported each other to manage menstruation.

Following this training, a lot has changed at the school. “Girls come to school throughout their menstruation and boys do not tease them when they are having their periods. Instead, they inform a teacher if a girl needs help,” says Peter.

Peter considers the most significant achievement was the enormous change in attitude. “Both boys and girls now freely talk about menstruation. “I even discuss Menstrual Hygiene Management with my daughters, something I never thought I would feel comfortable to do. So this change has also transformed me and my daughters,” Peter adds.

Access to pads has increased

Wimon-tek Group members exhibit their hand-made reusable pads at an event in Lira.

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As Plan International Uganda deals with the silence surrounding menstrual hygiene, the project has contributed to increased access to hygienic menstrual hygiene materials and adoption of good hygiene behaviour among the girls and women. The empowerment of community women groups, girls, boys and teachers in making of local pads in Lira, Kamuli, Tororo and Alebtong districts has improved access to hygienic pads with over 15,000 AFRIpads kits sold plus over 1,200 locally made pads sold out in less than three years.

Rashid Javed, the Country Director Plan International Uganda, inspects pads made by girls and boys of Nawansaso Primary School in Kamuli District.

Challenges

Lessons Learnt

Low income among households

Holistic approach

Whereas Plan International Uganda desires to have every rural adolescent girl and woman access hygienic and affordable sanitary pads, the low income levels of the households continue to impede the realisation of the objective. This is made worse by household dependency entirely on agriculture for their livelihood, which has been hit by unreliable erratic weather leading to poor crop yields.

The purchase of the pads depends mostly on good crop harvests which enables households to sale part of their produce to acquire other household items, including the pads. The building of capacity of adolescent girls and women groups in locally making intermediate affordable reusable pads is an intermediary option towards increasing access to pads especially for those at bottom of the pyramid.

Menstrual Hygiene Management requires a holistic and integrated approach to improve knowledge, attitudes and practices within communities visa vis provision of pads hand outs and the genderfriendly WASH facilities. Unless the issues surrounding culture and the knowledge gap are dealt with, it will take long before registering the required impact. In other words, Menstrual Hygiene Management is not about pads but the KAP comes first among all stakeholders to challenge the status quo.

Cultural beliefs Although strides have been made in dealing with the most critical issue of culture, it still stands out as a challenge in breaking the silence on Menstrual Hygiene Management across the different regions. This needs to be handled with care to ensure that people and cultural issues are well managed to ensure dignity and respect. Choice of words and how they are applied are important as there is need to always agree first with stakeholders on what can be acceptable and well received.

Working in Partnership To deliver and register impact on Menstrual Hygiene Management, there is need to work in partnership at all levels as each plays a different role in sustaining the programme.

At policy level the Ministry of Education plays a key role and they need to be involved throughout the design and implementation for buy in of the strategy and oversight role, schools and communities are an entry point since most of the affected girls are at school and those to be influenced (women, men, boys) live within specific communities. Delivering on an MHM requires a spectrum of actors including private sector like AFRIpads, Eco-pads and other Civil Society Organisations (Local women

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Odidia drama group entertain guests during an awareness campaign in Akano Parish, Lira District

groups) to fill gaps which NGOs cannot attain, notably manufacture and sale of pads. There is no doubt there will be continuous provision of services beyond the programme lifespan.

Menstrual Hygiene Management requires a holistic integrated approach to improve knowledge, attitudes and practices within communities visa vis provision of pads hand outs and the gender friendly WASH facilities.

Community theatre and dialogue Given the fact that dealing with MHM is complex especially at community level, using participatory approaches like community theatre and dialogues provides practical ways of identifying issues within a community and formulating workable solutions to different issues identified during the sessions.

Secondly, using skits to portray menstrual hygiene and how it impacts on the education, health and wellbeing of a girl and woman delivers the message home and communities come out to confess that these are daily happenings within their homes which need to be addressed.

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Boys and men Inclusion within the programme

Male engagement, particularly school-going boys, is critical in behaviour change as they not only spend more time with their sisters while at school but contribute to their comfort given the fact that they always embarrass girls who specifically soil their dresses while at school by isolation and insulting them with words like “a cow has delivered.�

This is brought about by limited knowledge on changes which occur during puberty to girls and or the normal processes created by God that different sexes experience. Men are the head of the households in most homes in our communities and, therefore, take decisions in resource allocation for different household needs, which makes it pertinent that they get to understand fully what their daughters and wives go through in order to allocate the necessary support required each month and start considering menstruation as normal.

VOICES OF CHANGE

Empowering girls and boys on MHM Patrick Omalla, 16, comes from a family of nine children. He shares the change that has transpired at his school due to Plan International’s Menstrual Hygiene Management project.

“It was a mess at our school before Plan International Uganda’s intervention, with girls facing humiliation once they soiled their dresses while in class. It would begin with one person telling another about the girl with a stain and soon it would be the whole class and the school knowing what is happening. It is all laughter, noise and insults...have you aborted, get married, abortion is a Patrick at his school, during crime. It is Patrick, then it’s Godfrey, an the interview.

Paul and in just a minute everyone around has known what has happened to Norah.

Oh My God. She cannot get up to move out of class as boys make noise and sing ‘Abortion is a crime, it makes people leave school, Go get married why do you abort?’ The next day Norah would be absent; the whole week she is not seen at school. The moment she comes back to school she is reminded of the incident and laughter around her, off she goes... no one cares to know her whereabouts any more.

boys on Menstrual Hygiene Management. It was a good idea including boys in MHM training as it has created a difference.

“They have appreciated menstruation as a normal process; they no longer humiliate girls but instead report to teachers if a girl soils her dress. I personally took on the role to educate my sisters who were not part of the training and continue supporting with creating awareness among other children since I am a member of the health club,” Margaret, 13, says. The most significant change the programme brought to their school is that “girls know how to manage menstruation; they know their cycle and pre-menstrual signs Margret during an and soiling of dresses in our school has completely reduced. The school interview at her school in Tororo. provides soap for girls, we have changing dresses and girls can access the washroom anytime they feel like. We are no longer scared since we know that it is normal.”

Peter, the science teacher, adds that the MHM has simplified their work. “We do not have to follow up on whether the girls have pads as the programme has empowered them with the knowledge and skills to manage their menstruation effectively,” he says.

“Respect for girls from boys has improved as they know it is normal than humiliating them. Girl’s attendance improved with minimal absenteeism,” Peter adds.

Thanks to Plan International’s Intervention.

Girls had no support from teachers and would have nowhere to go for help once they soiled their dresses. They feared approaching any teacher and would suffer in silence, the Wash room that was constructed by Plan in 2013 was never open and not in use at all before the orientation and training on MHM in our school.

A change has occurred in our community and school due to Plan International Uganda’s intervention. Plan trained both girls and

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Humanitarian agencies struggling to improve lives in refugee camps

By John Unzima

Uganda hosted the International UN Refugee Solidarity Summit three days after the commemoration of the World Refugee Day on June 20, 2017, placing a spotlight on the challenging situation of refugees in the country. refugees share the only borehole. According to Everest Musa, the Refugee Welfare Committee member, that borehole has also broken down, causing further water stress.

The school children are most affected as they spend several hours waiting for water, and some attending school without shower.

In April, there were only 264 functional boreholes in the 18 refugee settlements in Adjumani district for 215,312 refugees, giving a ratio of 1:815 refugees. Though NGOs were trying to provide clean and safe water, they also had to ensure that jerrycans used by the refugees and water points remained clean to avoid potential threats from contamination since the refugees drink the water without boiling it.

Some of the South Sudanese refugees fetch water at Dzaipi settlement camp in Adjumani district.

I

n the camps where refugees live, many challenges stand out including hygiene and sanitation. Latrine and water coverage remains low although refugee agencies are struggling to improve the situation to avoid possible outbreaks of water-borne diseases.

In some camps, the water tables are shallow, meaning latrines cannot be sunk to desired depths since they easily collapse due to the weak soil types and sandy nature of the land.

This is especially the case in Adjumani and Moyo districts.

On average, access to safe drinking person a day stands at 16.6 litres above the minimum sphere standards of 15 litres, but

below UNHCR standards of 20 litres. Daniel Mwesige, WASH officer at the Lutheran World Foundation, an NGO operating in West Nile, said some of the settlements are in water-stressed areas making it hard to drill high yielding borehole.

“To address this challenge, we motorize water supply to settlements that are water stressed, but we are overwhelmed by the number of the refugees although we try to manage with the meager resources,” Mwesige said.

One of the most affected is Pagirinya settlement, where there is only one borehole providing safe drinking water for 100 households. Both the locals and

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“We do not have enough charcoal or firewood for boiling water for drinking,” Josephine Ajok, a South Sudanese refugee, said. “We take it just like that. Just last week, my child had severe abdominal pain and the health officials advised me to use boiled water for drinking, but there is not enough money to buy charcoal.”

Improved latrine coverage for refugees, but water still a major challenge Another problem is latrine coverage, which stands at 78.1% for the 32,319 households across the settlements in Adjumani district.

Pagirinya settlement alone with a population of 23,926, has 78.2% of latrine coverage – still a tremendous improvement, according to agencies, compared to the last two years.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

A man finishes the construction of a borehole in Adjumani Refugee settlement. Photo/John Unzima

This success is being attributed to the work done by over 228 hygiene promoters recruited by implementing partners across the settlements in the district. The refugees too are given latrine digging tools, including a hoe, pick axe, spade and bucket as well as hygiene kits and a five-liter jerry can and soap.

However, household hand-washing coverage stands at 53.9%, representing only 17,410 households across the settlements in the district. A situation analysis of children in Uganda shows that only four out of every 50 households have a hand-washing facility with soap and water.

But one of the biggest challenges is access to water.

Refugees move out of the settlement to access safe drinking water, in most cases from the host community where it is available. This exposes the girl-child to sexual and gender based violence which has resulted in increased cases of defilement in the settlements.

Recently while meeting Ann Mutavati, the UN Women deputy country representative, at Ayilo–II settlement, the women complained of runaway defilement cases in the settlement.

There is also hostility from host communities.

In the search for safe drinking water, the refugees have conflicted around water points resulting into pockets of mild hostilities between refugees and host communities.

The children, especially, are pushed away by adults at water points.

US$172 million for 2017, with most priority needs amounting to $125 million. It remains unclear how long the refugees will stay in West Nile, which means that the Uganda government, districts and humanitarian organizations should be prepared to host them longer.

The Refugee Desk Officer in the Office of the Prime Minister in Arua, Solomon Osakan, said in some camps like in Imvepi and Rhino Camp, the refugees are given priority to fetch water first and the locals come in second.

But he said this could breed hostility in the communities due to water shortages.

Among earlier donors, the Irish government has offered €600,000 in humanitarian assistance for the South Sudanese refugees living in the region.

In Boroli, the situation has improved. This settlement used to be notorious due to conflicts with the host community over water resources. Kevin Maiya, a woman leader in the settlement, said they used to register many cases of conflict, but this has subsided as boreholes in the district increased to 13.

“We still have challenges with water points managed by both host and refugee communities, where hosts do not want to pay borehole service fee set by the water committee,” Maiya said.

According to World Health organization standards, the maximum distance from a household to the nearest water point should be 500 meters. The standards also indicate that persons in emergency need 2.5-3 litres of drinking water a day, 2-6 litres for keeping basic hygiene, and another 3-6 liter for cooking.

Despite efforts to improve water supply, the numbers of refugees keep going up.

According to OPM’s refugee desk officer in Arua, Solomon Osakan, by May 1, Imvepi Refugee Settlement had 71,971 refugees, Rhino Camp had 86,392, Bidibidi 272, 206, Palorinya 148,381, Adjumani 208,790, Lamwo Refugee Settlement 12,754, and Lobule in Koboko 4,330.

Other pledges were made at the solidarity summit.

The situation Water About 8,730 m3 of water is provided to Bidibidi Settlement mainly through water trucking and 33 operational handpumps.

The Obongi water treatment unit is now operational and supplying an average of 100 m3 of water per day for trucking to Bidibidi. A piped water system was completed and provides water to 30 tap stands in Zone 1. Three additional boreholes were drilled providing a total of 5 boreholes in Zone 2. Five further boreholes are planned for this Zone.

Health Two additional static healthcare facilities are needed in Zone 3. Lack of blood transfusion services continues to be a challenge. An additional ambulance was acquired by the health sector during the reporting time, bringing the total number of ambulances in the settlement to 4. This leaves a gap of two as each Zone should have two dedicated ambulances. With the daily increase in the population of Bidibidi and the opening of a new Zone “4”, this gap is likely to become more pressing.

To assist these refugees, UNHCR needs

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Water For People: Changing Lives through Financing for Sanitation Water For People, together with Soroti District Local Government supports the development of a sanitation supply chain, linking households to entrepreneurs and Postbank Uganda for financing support to construct improved pit-latrines, that are cleanable, sealable and durable. Below is Scovia’s story, one of Post Bank’s loan officer and how she works with the people.

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t is 4:30pm at the Soroti Branch of Post Bank. In the front office, a wife reminds her husband of their surname as he fills in a form, while a backpacking tourist explains to a clerk that he has to be in Tanzania the next morning. The lines are long and the conversations are many.

But tucked away behind the main building is the more tranquil ‘Loans Section’. Here, clients bow their heads in concentration, quietly looking over forms and listening to the officer explaining the loan they are about to take out.

Most are farmers from the surrounding villages. They speak in lowered voices, asking the woman with a warm smile what the questions mean. Scovia Akoth, the Group Lending Credit Officer, is always ready to answer any query, and she loves her job.

“I used to work in the front office but then was moved here. I love it here in the Loans Section, and I am proud of

what we do for people,” Akoth says.

As Akoth was moving her desk from the front office to the Loans Section of Post Bank, Water For People was looking for a financial institution that could be an effective partner in their Sanitation As A Business (SAAB) approach. Post Bank, which was already giving out what is known as WASH loans, was the most obvious choice of partner.

“A WASH loan has a condition that the money goes towards a sanitation structure in the applicant’s household,” Akoth explains.

Under Water For People’s SAAB approach, the client must use this WASH loan to pay a community mason to build improved sanitation facilities at their home, the most popular of which are latrines fitted with sato pans which keep out bad smell and flies.

“However, we do not give them the

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loan money all at once, we do it in installments. We only give them the next installment once a different part of their sanitation structure is completed,” Akoth says.

On what most of her clientele looks like, Akoth smiles widely and says they are mostly women. This is partly due to another WASH loan condition that states that the applicant must be a part of a savings group. In Soroti district, savings groups are made up mostly of women, and so the matriarchs of households apply for these loans on behalf of their husbands and families.

“These women need to come with a recommendation from their savings group and they have to describe to us in detail, what sanitation structure they are going to build using the money.”

According to many community members, the interest rates on the WASH loan are much more manageable than the

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

“On a daily basis, after supplying water, I walk back home with Shs30,000. I fear the day when the proposed water connection project succeeds. I will be driven out of business,” Okiyon says.

Moreover, we have also ensured that the bank gets into contact with the mason, and they advise each other on how to help the client,” Eyora says.

Scovia Akoth, the Group Lending Credit Officer, Post Bank Soroti

rates they pay in the savings groups, the former being 1.14% and the latter being 10%.

One challenge still experienced by Post Bank in implementing the SAAB approach with Water For People, is the community’s mistrust of big commercial banks. “Many people still fear borrowing from banks like us. This is because they hear rumours of land and livestock being taken away when someone does not pay on time.”

In response to this, Water For People

also engages with local government leaders such as Martin Eyura, the District Health Inspector, to sensitise people about loans. He explains how he engages the community.

“We ask people if they have never borrowed anything in their lives. We ask people, ‘Isn’t there something you borrow for home from time to time?’

People reply that they borrow salt and water. We tell them it is the same principle with money. You can borrow but have a plan for paying it back.

Under the SAAB approach, the local government leaders have the added roles of creating demand for sanitation products, regulating the market and building capacity among village health teams among other duties.

Akoth herself, always tells the loan applicant: “We want to see you succeed.

Loans are for helping, not taking away what you have.”

Judging by the number of people walking into that back office to get a WASH loan, and then coming back to excitedly describe their new smellfree latrine, Akoth’s back office is truly changing lives.

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Ensuring Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for all

Samuel in his paw paw garden. Right: Some of Samuel’s manual irrigation equipment.

Sustainable Safe Water Projects Triggers Agricultural Livelihood Initiatives for Economic Empowerment among Refugees Water Mission Uganda (WMU) is a Non-Profit Christian Engineering ministry working to improve access to sustainable safe water and sanitation solutions.WMU is affiliated to Water Mission headquartered in N. Charleston, USA, with a vision to be recognized globally as a Best in Class Christian Engineering Ministry in the area of water and sanitation by 2017.WMU has implemented 105 Safe Water Projects, serving over 300,000 people in 33 districts of Uganda since 2007.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Our Technology Water Mission utilizes cutting-edge technology in the areas of water treatment, energy, remote monitoring and human interaction in water and sanitation projects across the globe.We carefully evaluate each community’s unique needs before beginning a project. In providing reliable clean and safe water,WMU employs appropriate water treatment solutions based water quality testing conducted for every source used.These solutions appeal from filtration and disinfection options, including a portable water treatment system referred to as the “Living Water Treatment System™” (LWTS™).

T

he LWTS™ has the capacity to purify contaminated water at a rate up to 40,000 litres per day using renewable energy in which solar powered pumps propel raw water through the LWTS™. These pumps draw water from surface or underground sources powered by solar, AC grid, or generator. Once treated and pumped through to a storage reservoir, water flows by gravity from the storage tank through delivery pipes to public tap stands strategically located in the area.

In Uganda, where solar energy is available and reliable throughout the year, adoption of solar systems translates into long-term cost savings and greater reliability and sustainability for water projects.

finding food as well as clean and safe. Now we access it from a tap stand just next to our home.

“With limited access to farmland but with urge for farming, I decided to engage in micro point irrigation for fruit farming!.

I have planted paw paws a self-reliance strategy, best for refugee settlements like this one where I reside,” he adds.

Samuel further reiterates; “Now, my family is able to sustain themselves on courtyard fruit gardening, as well as kitchen/ vegetable gardening. And much as the dry spell has been quite severe in this season, I have been able to grow fruits to this size.”

Project Locations Most of these projects are situated in remote villages, rural growth centers, schools, health centers and fishing communities (Islands) as well as refugee settlements in Northern and West Nile of Uganda. In one of such refugee settlements, the investment has triggered a commercialized approach to orchard farming, a livelihood option for economic empowerment. One such farmer initiative is that of Samuel, a resident in the refugee settlement of Boroli Refugee Camp in Adjumani district.

This initiative only commenced after the installation of the safe water project by WMU with funding from UNICEF.

“Prior to the installation of the safe water solar powered system in 2014 by WMU, life was very difficult; the only available water source was about 2km away from this camp which was not chlorinated and had a lot of iron at the same time. This posed a great challenge because we had to move long distances in search of clean water,” Samuel narrates.

He also asserts that, this only ended when Water Mission Uganda implemented a clean and safe water project in this settlement. The community was saved from the scarcity of

This safe water project serves way over 5,000 refugees including a child friendly center. Its main aim was to provide clean and safe water for improved health, social and spiritual transformation. This has, however, triggered livelihood an economic empowerment for enterprising households like that of Samuel. The project was implemented in 2015 by WMU under funding from UNICEF.

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Luweero women group to impact communities through water and sanitation projects

By Dan Wandera

Good Hygiene and Sanitation practices coupled with inadequate access to safe and clean water facilities remains a challenge in many parts of Luweero District. Several interventions have been made to boost safe water coverage by both the district and partners who include the Church, NGOs and CSOs. A women group in Luweero District has taken the campaign to a higher level by encouraging members to embrace good hygiene and sanitation practices while ensuring that their families have access to safe and clean water at their respective homes.

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or Kikunyu Kwagala Women’s Group based in Butuntumula Sub-county in Luweero District, the welfare of the group members including their respective families has been a top priority since 2012.

This partly explains the reasons for the improved hygiene and sanitation facilities at their respective homes such as rain water harvesting tanks constructed by the group for the members.

The group has so far built 125 rain water harvesting tanks for its members and encouraged all members to have a pit-latrine, kitchen, hand-washing facility, and a rubbish disposal pit. Life has greatly changed with members reportedly able to save money which used to be wasted in treating diseases as a result of poor hygiene and sanitation.

Agnes Namuga Mugwanya, the Chairperson Kikunyu Kwagalana Women’s Group says, families of the group members with the rain

water harvesting tanks have ample time to concentrate on other family projects because they do not have to move for long distances to fetch water at the valley dams provided by government.

“Many of the residents used to depend on water at the valley dams shared by animals and humans. You could spend between 3 to 4 hours at the dam. This time is now allocated for farming projects because we harvest the rain water and store it. We are also surprised that the families which used to spend money treating diseases brought about by poor hygiene now use the money to plan and expand their income projects.

This is explained by the fact that we have pitlatrines and hand-washing facilities among other hygiene and sanitation facilities. We meet as group members and discuss the challenges to find means of resolving these challenges,” Namuga says.

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Women under Kikunyu Kwagalana Women Group construct a rain water harvesting tank at Kikunyu village in Luweero District. Photo/Dan Wandera

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

John Paul Kibalama, the LCIII Chairperson Butuntumula Sub-county, says the Women under Kikunyu Kwagalana Women Group have excelled in hygiene promotion and are now a model group for the sub-county which will soon receive funding to expand and promote their projects.

“The women have mobilized their members to have sanitation facilities and are engaged in the construction of the rain water harvesting tanks. Several parts of Butuntumula have a poor bed rock which does not support drilling of bore holes. The water table does not favour shallow wells, which partly explains why we still have a water problem. The rain water harvesting tanks have greatly reduced on the water problem. Many residents still depend on water from the valley dams,” Kibalama said.

“I appeal to Kikunyu Women’s Group and Busoga Trust to expand to other areas,” Kibalama added.

Jane Nabawanda, 54, a beneficiary of rain water harvesting tank including the hygiene and sanitation projects, says under the Kikunyu Kwagalana Women Group, her family used to trek a distance of 7km to the nearest valley dam for water.

The women, who work in collaboration with Busoga Trust, a Church of Uganda-based Charity organization which has trained the women in water tank construction for needy communities, are spread through the villages of Bamugolode, Gweyawade, Kakabala, Katende, Kyawangabi, Gayaza, Nabitaka, Buzirandulu and Lutuula all in Butuntumula Sub-county.

We could waste most of the valuable time on water yet we had to engage in farming to have food for our families. We only get water shortage during the long dry spell. We have also been sensitized on how to keep the water tank clean and reserving some of the water for purposes of ensuring that we use safe water even at times when the rains are low. Our group members are facilitated with the cement and wire mesh by Busoga Trust after paying the mandatory contribution fee of Shs40,000 to the group account.

We are even ready to construct water tanks for residents who are not group members because we have all the required skills after getting the training,” Nabawanda said.

Edward Lukwago, an officer attached to Busoga Trust attributed the success story of Kikunyu Kwagalana Women Group to hard work, unity and willingness to learn and make better the livelihood of their respective communities.

“They work as a group and do all the construction work for the rain water harvest tanks because they are trained and have also mastered the art of constructing and maintaining the water tanks. They do not need to hire experts to clean the tanks,” Lukwago said.

“They do the work themselves and are even ready to be contracted to build the rain water harvesting tanks for people outside their group,” Lukwago added.

Florence Namubiru, a resident of Kikunyu village in Butuntumula Sub-county said, the group members testify that the rate at which their children contract diseases has greatly reduced because of good hygiene and sanitation practices. We clear the bush around our homesteads and ensure that we do not have breeding grounds for mosquitoes which cause malaria. We appeal to government to consider drilling bore holes to help us get clean and safe water during the long dry seasons when we do not expect any rainfall.

Parts of Luweero District, especially the cattle corridor areas which include the sub-counties of Butuntumula, Kikyusa and Kamira, have a poor bed rock which does not support the sustainability of deep shallow wells, including the motorized bore holes.

The bore holes drilled in these areas get dry leaving the residents without clean and safe water. This explains why Luweero District Local Government has been lobbying for the valley dams according to Luweero District LCV Chairman Ronald Ndaula.

While the National figures for safe water coverage in rural areas as by June 2016

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stand at 67%, statistics from Luweero District Local Government for safe water coverage stand at 64.2%. The district, according to Robert Kalenzi, the district water officer, has drastically scaled down on the allocation and drilling of shallow wells in the cattle corridor areas because many of the shallow wells have dried up because of the poor bed rock in parts of Butuntumula, Kikyusa and Kamira sub-counties. The district received Shs669 million to drill 19 motorized bore holes with the detailed hydrological survey already underway in the different parts of Luweero District.

Luweero District officials currently nurse a fear of failing to hit future targets for improved water coverage due to the recent budget cuts that affected the different government ministries which could see Luweero District receive about Shs600 million for the FY 2017/2018.

The unpredictable weather patterns characterized by long dry spells have had a negative impact on some of the existing water sources, including the protected water springs and shallow wells. The water levels have reportedly reduced according to Kalenzi.

The district has stepped up a campaign to improve hygiene and sanitation conditions through mass sensitization programmes for behavioural change. Henry Kasule, the Luweero District Sanitation officer, says funding for sanitation programmes is still minimal with the department lacking transport means to effectively monitor the hygiene and sanitation programmes. With a

budget of Shs22m, the department can only handle 22 villages in a financial year.

Statistics from the district sanitation office put the hygiene and sanitation levels at 69% with the cattle corridor areas of Kamira, Kikyusa and Butuntumula still struggling in areas of good hygiene. In some of these areas only 2 out of 10 homes own a pitlatrine.

This is partly attributed to the nomadic culture of some of the residents while many simply do not mind to have a pit-latrine since they spend more time in the bush looking after their cattle, Kasule said. The District hygiene and sanitation figures still fall behind the national figure which stands at 79% for rural areas and 84.6% for the urban areas as

by June 2016.

According to Martha Naigaga, the Officer

in charge of Environment and Health at the Ministry of Water and Environment, access to hand-washing facilities in schools is still low with only 34% of the schools having access to washing facilities, which puts the lives of children at risk of fecal-related diseases. The revelation collaborates the statistics for hand-washing facilities in Luweero-based schools which is about 27% according to statistics from the district sanitation office. “Many schools have water tanks but are non functional. We need to continue sensitizing school managers and stakeholders about the need to install water facilities to ensure that children wash hands after visiting the toilets.

These habits are taught in schools but never practiced. These practices should also spread to the community where the children come from,� Zena Nasur, the Luweero District Secretary for Health and Education, said.

Many of the residents used to depend on water at the valley dams shared by animals and humans.You could spend between 3 and 4 hours at the dam.This time is now allocated for farming projects because we harvest the rain water and store it.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Women and children fetch water from a new tap stand extension by Eastern Umbrella of Water and sanitation in Kwtwakha village in Mutoto Sub-county, Mbale district. Photo/Opolot Charles

Eastern Umbrella restores hope in rural water access in Mt. Elgon region

By Opolot Charles

Scovia Nambuya, a mother of three, has resided in Katwakha Village in Mutoto Sub-county, Mbale district, for her entire life. Unlike in the past when numerous permanent streams flowed freely through the village, the rise in population and infrastructural growth has interrupted this environmental abundance.

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“

In the rainy season, there’s abundance of water that we harvest from our roofs.

But during the dry season, the water scarcity gets to the peak. Here, we have to rely on Nakhabaale Stream.

You get there at 4am and wait until about midday to fetch water because the queues are often long,” Nambuya explains.

With the extension of three public tap stands to her village, however, this anomaly is solved. The Eastern Umbrella of Water and Sanitation (EUWS), an operational arm of the Ministry of Water and Environment, has extended three tap stands from the Nambale gravitational flow scheme into the village.

“These taps have reduced the hours we used to spend at the streams queuing for water.

The water pressure is okay and the water is equally very clean and safe. We are so grateful to this organisation (EUWS),” Nambuya says.

According to Martin Wamalwa, the EUWS manager for operations and maintenance, the Ministry of Water and Environment conceived the concept of umbrella organisations to ensure sustainable supply of clean and safe water to the population across the country. At present, there are six umbrella organisations serving various regions in the country. The EUWS was established in Financial Year 2007/2008 and operates in 32 districts in the region.

“The establishment of umbrella organisations has significantly improved the functionality and sustainability of the water and sanitation facilities in the country. The six umbrella organisations established by the water and environment ministry currently support over 500 facilities in small towns and rural growth centres outside the National Water and Sewerage Corporation mandate,” Wamalwa explains.

In eastern region, Wamalwa says the umbrella organisation is supporting over 100 facilities through activities such as

A community WASH educator inducts members of the water source management committee for a well in Ngora. Photo/Richard Otim

routine inspections and monitoring of the facilities, minor repairs and replacement of the missing or worn out parts of the facilities.

It has also made extensions and new connections to increase coverage on top of routine water quality monitoring.

“At the time of establishing the umbrella in the eastern region, several water supply facilities were experiencing dire challenges including aged or old infrastructure. We have repaired these and put community structures to ensure functionality of these water sources,” Wamalwa says.

As such, the sustenance of these water sources and extension of piped water to more areas has increased access and reduced the outbreak of water-borne diseases.

“Before we established the eastern umbrella, there were frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea.

This was mainly due to consumption of dirty water by the rural communities and those living in slums. We have managed to minimise this frequency and contain outbreaks in some areas. It’s one of our greatest achievements,” Wamalwa explains.

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Despite the progress, Wamalwa says the umbrella organisation still has a few hurdles to overcome in the course of providing sustainable water supply to the communities it serves.

“We operate in 32 districts. But our budget is small. There are old infrastructures that would require an overhaul. This situation needs a lot of money yet the umbrella has a very limited budget.”

“In some cases, these anomalies have led to intermittent water supply. There are also losses through leakages, illegal connections and many others. Besides, power fluctuations have at times led to burning of electrical gadgets like mortars,” he adds.

“There’s also unwillingness to pay for water consumption among users. This is where we get money for operation and maintenance.

This unwillingness is mainly due to political interference where politicians mislead the people that such services from government are for free,” Wamalwa says.

And it’s these hurdles that the umbrella is striving to overcome in its main goal of providing clean and safe water to the communities it serves.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Rural women in Ngora district addressing own needs for safe water

By Richard Otim

With recurring bouts of El Niño-induced dry spells, several water sources in most rural communities across Teso sub-region continue to dry up.This has been compounded by the fact that just less than half of the local population has access to adequate water supply.

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n many of the families, mothers and girls are responsible for finding and collecting water for their households’ cooking, drinking, washing and cleaning. But this always involves trekking long distances in the search for water and several hours spent out of home.

“The task (of looking for water) is backbreaking and all tiring. Sometimes we have to walk for long distances stretching

to over three kilometers and spending long hours to take turns in drawing water,” said Deborah Apio, a 13-year-old school girl from Moru-Irion village in Ngora Sub-county, Ngora District.

In all this, mothers and girls face the hardest brunt of water crisis, circumstances that partly are to blame for rampant incidences of domestic violence in the rural areas.

Drawn from low-lying and shallow wells, the water is often contaminated and infested with germs that cause many of the known water-borne diseases.

With 78% water coverage though, Ngora is still faced with inadequate safe water access for some under-served communities and this is accounting for much of the low water access.

Children in Palam Sub-county, Ngora district pumping water. Borehole water constitutes a bigger percentage of water sources in the district, however, there is still a gap in safe water provision. Photo/Richard Otim

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

a borehole with additional support from “Drop In The Bucket”, a charity supporting communities with safer water facilities,” Apio explains.

Around the world, women are increasingly coming together to address their own needs for water and sanitation and their strength and courage is transforming communities.

A community WASH educator inducts members of the water source management committee for a well in Ngora.

With support from ACH360, a volunteer organization inspiring grassroots communities to seek better health through self-reliance, the mothers’ group in Ngora has also been able to start a local early learning center where children from economically vulnerable families learn about best water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices as an integrated part of their lessons.

The mothers have also been engaging in weekly savings with an ultimate goal to enhance access by the households to water at their homes and be better equipped to maintain their own health.

A woman draws water from an unsafe source at Amukudarat well in Ngora Sub-county. Ngora has 78% water coverage but access to water is still low. Photos/Richard Otim

“On average, Ngora is doing well in terms of water coverage. But it’s unfortunate that in some parts of the district, women still have to stay out of their home for over six hours waiting to fetch water,” says Christopher Opio, the Ngora district water officer.

According to a recent report by WaterAid, eight million people in Uganda still do not have access to safe water while some 4,000 children die every year from diarrhea caused by unsafe water conditions.

While it might undeniably imply that to have

such challenges addressed would require charitable funding as the only way to provide safer water sources for the communities, a group of 50 mothers from Moru-Irion village in Ngora Sub-county, Ngora district, have since decided to take the bolder step in addressing the water crisis they are faced with.

“We made a contribution of Shs2,000 per household as community contribution towards co-funding for a protected water source for our village. A few families responded but we were able to secure

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“It is anticipated that with such savings, once accumulated, the mothers will be able to put up water harvesting facilities for their homes. This is intended to remove obstacles impeding water access and bring the power of safe water and sanitation to poor households,” explains Esther Amucu, an official with ACH360.

Through the self-reliance model, the mothers anticipate to take out loans in the future for building household water tanks and hope to support one another in this aspiration.

As such, they would have helped themselves in enhancing increased recognition of their efforts, skills and knowledge outside the scope of their traditional WASH roles, strengthened voices for their families and communities to negotiate their own needs with new opportunities for women’s partnerships, autonomy and independence.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Community-Based Strategies for Sustaining Water and Sanitation Interventions Water and sanitation are basic human rights that need to be promoted in a sustainable way. Sustainability is a key aspect which Plan International strives to achieve starting from project design to implementation. This is because we would like to ensure that the beneficiaries receive uninterrupted access to safe water throughout the design life of the water supply system.

Esther Katerega, Treasurer, Kiguga Water User Committee.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

According to the Ministry of Water and Environment, the national functionality of rural water supplies ranged between 80% to 83% in the last nine years.This is relatively lower than the sector target of 90% by 2015. As a result concerted efforts are required from different stakeholders to improve water source functionality and sustainability. A number of strategies have been designed to foster sustainability, which embraces the technical, institutional and social aspects.

F

rom the onset, a demand responsive approach is applied whereby the communities where we operate demand for the service through the district water departments. Plan Uganda works closely with the districts and other stakeholders to deliver the service to the community.

The community is involved at all levels to ensure that they own and sustain the project. Community-based structures are established to support poor operation and maintenance of water sources repairs, service, financial management and record keeping. The hand pump mechanics are provided with toolkits to conduct repair and servicing of sources.

The community members agree on an appropriate system for user free collection

to contribute towards the operation and maintenance fund. In some communities to make this system effective, we have linked it to the village savings associations so that more funds are generated and can be used to support different activities as agreed by community members.

of the areas where we have sunk deep boreholes, the residents were collecting water from dirty swamps and ponds.

This would expose them to water-borne diseases.

Plan Uganda also puts into consideration the six critical requirements through targeting communities that have attained open defecation free status to maximize benefits from the interventions and foster sustainability.

The biggest challenge though, is that the population keeps growing at a fast rate, so soon we shall have much higher demand for water. Furthermore, with more communities’ attaining open defecation free status, the demand for safe water is overwhelming.

It’s worth noting that it’s difficult to meet all human needs, but Plan Uganda, together with other stake holders, has done a commendable job of constructing boreholes in areas where access to safe water was a severe challenge. In most

But the efforts rendered in building the capacity of communities with skills and knowledge on proper use and management of water sources will go a long way to ensure that the facilities are sustained.

Plan Uganda works closely with the districts and other stakeholders to deliver the service to the community.

The community is involved at all levels to ensure that they own and sustain the project.

Luwero pump mechanics.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

State Minister for Primary Health Care Dr Joyce Moriku (squatting) watches as a young boy washes hands with soap at recent sanitation week celebrations held in Luweero District. Photo/Dan Wandera

Special Report

Hand-washing: A health practice bogged down by attitude

By Dan Wandera

While the country sets targets for better health standards in line with the Millennium Development Goals, available statistics for sanitation and hygiene standards give a shocking revelation for the hand-washing with soap campaign where only 36% of the total population in the country wash hands with soap after visiting the toilet, according to the Water and Environment Sector Performance Report 2016.

T

he shocking revelation leaves little doubt that even the 36% of the population who wash hands with soap after visiting the toilet are safe from getting infections spread through faecal matter associated with diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, Intestinal worms, scabies, cholera and dysentery, Malaria, trachoma among other diseases.

As Uganda joined the international community to commemorate the National Hygiene and Sanitation week celebrated at Nyimbwa Sub-county in Luweero District on March 17, the revelation by health actors,

including government officials acknowledging the need to step up campaigns for hand-washing with soap to ensure health living hit hard.

The State Minister for Primary Health Care, Dr Joyce Moriku, in her speech pinned the low percentage for people who wash hands using soap after visiting the toilet on attitude and poor cultural background, which calls for stepping up the campaign in schools and communities for better health habits to limit the spread of preventable diseases which consume about Shs389 billion annually.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

A man washes hands after visiting the toilet located at Nakaseke District Headquarters. Wasing hands with soap after visiting the toilet prevents the spread of germs. Photo/Dan Wandera

“This money could have been channeled to other sectors of the economy while at the same time ensuring that we have a healthy and productive population. We waste a lot of time visiting health units for treatment of these preventable diseases.

We also have a big number of people dying from diseases brought about by these poor health habits,” Dr Moriku said.

In urban areas outside Kampala about 84.6% have access to sanitation facilities with an estimated 39% of the urban population having toilets with handwashing facilities. On the other hand, access to rural sanitation has been put at 79% by June 2016.

Shockingly, while the national standard for school sanitation recommends a pupil to latrine stance ratio at 1:40, the ratio worsened and greatly dropped from 67:1 in 2015 to 70:1 in 2016. Of the 111 districts in Uganda, only eight districts presently meet the national school sanitation standard.

Access to hand-washing facilities in schools has continued to be low. Only 34% of schools in Uganda according to the Water and Environment Sector Performance Report 2016, have hand-washing facilities, which puts lives of children at risk of faecal-related diseases leading to constant absenteeism from school due to preventable diseases.

In Luweero District, it is reported that many schools have non functional water facilities including water harvesting tanks. It is very common to find schools with water harvesting tanks which are non functional due to acts of vandalism by both children and members of the public. The water tanks have been vandalized, with the school authorities very reluctant to fix the water taps in cases where the taps are missing.

Even schools which have tried to have hand-washing facilities, the water cans are most times empty and do not have soap. This could defeat the purpose of the hand-washing campaign, Henry Kalule, the Luweero District Sanitation officer, revealed in an interview.

manager AMREF Health Africa in Uganda, one of the actors in sanitation and hygiene sector for both communities and schools in Uganda, says reaching a higher target including hitting a 100% target for handwashing is achievable.

“We currently have a robust programme where we have already constructed about 60 latrines each with five stances in 52 schools within our programme areas in the urban areas of Kampala and Gulu among other areas. We ensure that the latrines have hand-washing facilities but the children need the assistance of school administrators to ensure that the handwashing facilities remain relevant and functional.

Eng. Mutwalib Walude, the Programme

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“We have also fixed and established Menstrual Hygiene Management areas in these particular schools to help our girl children. We target a 100% for handwashing by the year 2030,” Walude said in an interview.

The Luweero District Health Officer, Dr Joseph Okware, says the state of hygiene and sanitation in many areas of Luweero District is still wanting, with some families still defaulting on the establishment of pit-latrines at their respective homes.

This partily explains why the prevalence of open defecation is still high in some

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

parts of Luweero district especially the cattle corridor areas of Kamira, Kikyusa and Butuntumula Subcounties.

Shs22m as annual budget for hygiene and sanitation activities for the entire district. “This money is still very little to create an impact,” Dr Okware revealed.

The campaign has had slow progress due to several factors including the nomadic nature of the population within this area and the little funds availed from both the Central and local governments at the district level for purposes of sensitization and establishment of public latrines.

Faecal sludge management in Uganda is still poorly developed. It is reported that less than 10% of the toilet facilities in most Ugandan towns can be emptied. There are no sludge disposal/ treatment plants in most town in Uganda while most small towns in the Country have no access to services of cesspool emptying trucks. Many of the hand-washing facilities in Uganda lack water and the soap.

Available statistics from Luweero district sanitation office indicates that central government extends

How to keep clean You can keep the environment clean and safe from diseases by keeping water sources clean, clearing bushes around homes and school compounds, draining stagnant water and ensuring proper disposal of human excreta. Washing hands using soap should not be limited to people who visit the toilet. Washing hands is a requirement at every time because the germs can be got anywhere. We need to be vigilant by maintaining all the good health habits in our respective communities.

“Actors in the health sector including the Civil Society organizations blame the slow response to handwashing to attitude and lack of hand-washing facilities at public places. We need to have the hand-washing facilities put up at all public places especially the public toilets and pit-latrines. These facilities should have water and soap. We also need a sustained sensitization campaign on the dangers of not washing hands with soap,” Henry Namakola, the Luweero District Health Educator, said in an interview.

One of the challenges faced by school authorities according to the Luweero District Education Officer, Florence Bbosa Ssekitoleko, has been the constant acts of vandalism reported in several schools in the district. The water tanks are vandalized by people who reportedly come into the school compound outside the normal school time.

“They take away the water taps and sometimes use nails to destroy the plastic water tanks. My headteachers have registered this complaint. It is

also true that most of these schools do not have a permanent fence to ensure security of the tanks from the suspected vandals. This negative behaviour by people who would behave as parents is very bad,” Bbosa said.

At Nalwana Church of Uganda Primary School, the European Union in partnership with Plan Uganda constructed a 5-stance pit-latrine with hand-washing facilities fixed outside the latrine but the school authorities claim the water tank was vandalized by unidentified people.

“This is the reason the children are unable to wash hands after visiting the latrine. We hope to talk to the parents and ensure that the tap at the tank including the water gutters are fixed,” the School headteacher Ayoub Bakulu Mpagi, said in an interview.

Indeed many public places in the country have no hand-washing facilities at the places of convenience.

At Luweero District Headquarters, the toilet facility at the District Administration block has no running water at the wash tab.

A worker who preferred to have his name not mentioned for fear of reprisal claimed that the taps have been dry for a long time. The other latrine facilities except those at the district health office have no hand-washing facilities. “We are used to this situation because many people do not mind washing hands after visiting the toilet. This is Africa. We live by Gods’ mercy,: the 44yr old adult said.

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WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Partner organisations involved in Wash

Plan is a child-centered community development organization that has been working in Uganda since 1992 to help vulnerable children access their rights, reads a brief on their twitter page.

Among other things, they promote safe water usage among children, handwashing behaviour among children and promote sanitary pads among the girl child, as well as inculcating good health practices and skills. Info Plan Uganda sponsors about 39,700 children, their families and communities in 5 districts across the country: Tororo, Kamuli, Luweero, Kampala and Lira.

World Vision Uganda is a development and advocacy non-government organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice in over 50 districts, with 53 Area Development Programmes (ADPs) in Uganda.

The organisation seeks to address causes and effects of poverty through development, relief and advocacy. Over 128,633 registered children benefit from World Vision Uganda’s work.

48 | WASH JOURNAL | June - August, 2017

Water for People is an organization that deals in provision of access to safe drinking water and sanitation. They aim to stop a situation where one suffers or dies from a water or sanitation-related disease. They have been in Uganda since 2008.

Water for People is working in target districts to increase the sustainability of water systems by exploring the role of the private sector and the potential of water businesses to manage water systems.

Water Mission Uganda (WMU) is a NonProfit Christian Engineering ministry working to improve access to sustainable safe water and sanitation solutions. WMU is affiliated to Water Mission headquartered in N. Charleston, USA, with a vision to be recognized globally as a Best in Class Christian Engineering Ministry in the area of water and sanitation by 2017.

WMU has implemented 105 Safe Water Projects, serving over 300,000 people in 33 districts of Uganda since 2007.

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