Sanitation advocacy yields results at Wantugu in N/Region
The shining example of Mma Zenabu Issahaku, a 51-year-old mother of five and a native of Wantugu in the Gushegu District in the Northern Region, has triggered mass construction of places of convenience and also ensured regular clean-up exercises in the community.
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She has lived all her life in the village without any decent place of convenience before taking this initiative, she and her household always had to resort to the bush to attend to the call of nature.
Now, Mma Zenabu has a household latrine that she constructed all by herself. She felt that defaecating openly in the bush, which had been part of her daily routine, was not dignifying.
She, therefore, decided to dig her own pit and covered it with firm tree branches, polythene and sand. She also used local materials to tile the floor and the entire structure of the toilet.
Mma Zenabu was not done yet. She decided to dig a child-friendly pit of about four feet for children less than six years.
Motivation
According to her, she was motivated by advocacy messages and activities by WaterAid Ghana, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) operating in the area.
In 2014, WaterAid Ghana in collaboration with New Energy, a local NGO, started the implementation of a 3-year sanitation advocacy campaign funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The main objective of the project was to train communities, and support them with lobbying and advocacy skills, with the view that they would be able to engage duty bearers to support them get non-sewered toilets in their homes.
Community profile
The Community Development Services Manager of New Energy, Mr Abdulai Kofi Wumbei, said the Wantugu community had a population of a little over 1000, according to statistics from the Gushegu District Assembly in 2010.
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It has 69 households and is a predominantly Dagbani speaking community with one per cent Fulani settlers. Islam is the main religion practiced in the community. Hitherto, the Wantugu community and even households were engulfed in filth with sewage water running in between houses while children defaecated openly in front of homes. Personal hygiene, such as washing the hand with soap, was rarely practiced in the area.
According to him, the selection of the community for the sanitation advocacy programme was, therefore a deliberate attempt by New Energy to further push for the construction of toilet pits for all 69 households to own and use their individual latrines.
“The results have been phenomenal. Households have constructed their own toilets and hand washing kits which are being utilised to save the people from contracting diseases,” Mr Wumbei further indicated.
He added that the community could now boast of over 28 household latrines for both men and women, fitted with hand washing facilities.
Project
During the 2005-2006 fiscal year, New Energy, with funding from WaterAid Ghana, facilitated the construction of 25 lined pits in Wantugu to improve sanitation in the community. For several years, only five households constructed their own toilet ‘superstructures’ for use.
‘Several attempts were made through community hygiene promotion in the community, but there was still no change in the people’s attitude until the sanitation advocacy programme was introduced,’ he stated.
Challenges
A critical observation made by Mma Zenabu was the frequent collapse of pits that were not lined with cement bricks, especially during the rainy season. Another challenge was the shallowness of the pits which often made it full after short periods.
