NEW SANITATION INITIATIVE
Before launching the sanitation initiative in partnership with UNICEF, we prioritized meeting with local authorities and commune officials. It is a core value of ours to ensure all stakeholders are aligned with the vision for improvement, fostering long-term ownership and sustainability. While this approach led to a slower start, it has significantly smoothed operations moving forward. Unlike many NGOs that begin work without consulting local leaders, our method avoids the resistance or resignation often caused by a lack of community engagement. We believe that empowering and enrolling local leaders is essential for sustainable development.
To date, we have visited 58 communities, where we discovered that 2,469 homes—representing 78% of households—do not have latrines. This impacts approximately 14,487 individuals. Over the next nine months, our team will work with these communities to inspire and support them in building latrines. Importantly, we do not provide funding or subsidies; instead, the households themselves are responsible for constructing and maintaining their latrines.
In each community, we have established a leadership committee called CASA (Committee for Action Tracking Sanitation). Each CASA comprises 3-5 community members who are passionate about eliminating open defecation in their areas. These committees play a vital role in driving the initiative and ensuring its success.
One amazing way community members have been tackling the large amount of hard labor is through the cultural practice of Kombit. Kombit, which translates to “working together” are teams of community members who come together to work towards a common goal. Kombit teams exist for several types of tasks such as cooking, planting, or building a house. In this case, a Kombit team was formed to construct 24 latrines! A Kombit is conducted like this: One community member will host the others, providing them with food and drinks. Then they will work together on whatever tasks need to be completed. The next day, the same group will gather together again, but at another community member’s home this time. This continues until all tasks are completed! Kombit is an effective social practice because it fosters a sense of solidarity and mutual responsibility. It strengthens communities which in turn strengthens their mindsets. We hope to see more Kombit teams or similar collaborative efforts created to support sustainable development!
