World Vision Nepal

World Toilet Day was marked in Lamjung Area Development Programme (ADP), World Vision International Nepal, on 19 November with a number of activities in collaboration with the District Sanitation Steering Committee of Lamjung District.

At schools and children’s clubs, teaching on the importance of sanitation was given. Lamjung ADP also supported the distribution of leaflets on the importance of toilets and how to build safe toilets in rural areas. In a function organised to celebrate the day, mothers’ groups, schools and Village Development Committees (VDCs) which have already declared their areas as Open Defecation Free (ODF) zones were also felicitated. The day’s celebration also included a workshop on Sanitation and Toilet in Beshisahar, where nearly one hundred participants, representing surrounding villages, schools and agencies took part.

A video on ECOSAN (Ecological Sanitation) toilets was shown to let the participants know more about environmentally friendly toilets, and discussions on the importance of sanitation were also held. Mr. Bhoj Bikram Thapa, Water and Sanitation Division Engineer of Lamjung District, presented a paper on the need for sanitation, government strategy on sanitation, the situation of sanitation in Lamjung District, and the need for a cumulative approach to achieve the government goal of Total Sanitation by 2017. The programme ended in a squat by all for one minute to join hands in giving a voice to the millions of people in Nepal who do not have access to toilets and are compelled to defecate in open fields.

In Nepal, only 45 percent of the population have access to toilets. There is wide gap between urban and rural areas where there is low priority and inadequate resources for sanitation and hygiene. The lack of good hygiene practices contributes to diarrhoea and water-borne diseases and results in the death of more than ten thousand children in Nepal every year. Defecating in the open not only has health and environmental hazards, but also puts many young girls’ lives at risk in rural Nepal. Lamjung District lies in the western region of rural Nepal and faces a number of challenges in the sector of sanitation with most of the population without access to household toilets.

In collaboration with Green Society, a local NGO, and District Water Supply and Sanitation Division Office (DWSDO), Lamjung ADP has been carrying out Environmental Sanitation Project under Community Health Project since 2008. A number of activities are undertaken in this project. They include training for communities on environmental sanitation, hygiene and sanitation, importance of safe water and communicable disease prevention; formation of sanitation groups; orientation on environmental sanitation to child clubs, teachers and local leaders; regular home visits to generate awareness; the provision of a subsidy, based on the poverty level, to community people for household toilet construction; the installation of garbage pits in each village cluster; the provision of buckets for waste to each household, as well as regular monitoring. To date Lamjung ADP has supported the construction of 895 toilets in Lamjung District benefiting 3,064 people. With the involvement of Lamjung ADP ten villages in Baglungpani VDC and four villages in Bajhankhet VDC have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) zones. Villages are declared ODF zones by organising a ceremony and holding rallies under the leadership of local mothers’ groups. The mothers’ groups also put up signboards stating the rules and regulations for keeping their villages free from open defecation and the penalties for violating them. This is carried out after completing toilet construction in all households in the village and when the community makes a commitment to use toilets and keep their environment clean.

Children from community child clubs and local school clubs have also been involved in promoting sanitation and hygiene in their communities. Dilip Rana (14) from Gaonshahar VDC-3, an active member of a child club who has led the club in advocating for the construction of household toilets, says, “It is our duty to keep our surroundings clean. If our house and community has good sanitation, our health will improve which is also our wealth.” Children have also been able to perform better in school as a result of household toilets. Arpan Rai (11) from Rauthok village, Banjhakhet VDC, says, “I am able to study better as I reach school earlier than the times when we did not have toilets.”

Surendra Babu Dhakal, Lamjung ADP Team Leader, also a member of World Toilet Organisation, says, “Lamjung ADP participated in celebrating the World Toilet Day as water and sanitation is one of our key areas of development work where we have worked to improve the health of the communities we work in and this day will help us sensitise the public about the importance of using toilets and calls on the concerned stakeholders to allocate more resources in the promotion of sanitation and hygiene in the district.”