Sustaining ODF: A Case from Nyando,Kenya
Nyando district in Nyanza province is one of the districts selected among the pilot areas for CLTS implementation in Kenya. Part of what informed this decision is the fact that Nyando traditionally was a district that experienced deadly cholera outbreaks every year during the rainy season. The DPHO of Nyando district Mr.Nicholas Makotsi explains that the disease burden was so huge and had such devastating effect year on year that it remained a big priority for his team to bring under control. From the time of implementation of CLTS in Nyando, the impact on health outcomes were so impressive that Nyando is now no-longer vulnerable to this annual outbreaks.
Sustainability of ODF is critical in ensuring that these outcomes carry on and that the overall impact of community led total sanitation to the community are achieved. This is not without challenges as the residents of Nyando found out. This region as a result of heavy rains and flooding during the rainy season in November and December is very vulnerable to homes and latrines being swept away. This is the reason we visited Nyando in December 2011 to monitor the progress in sustaining ODF and how the villagers were handling this challenges.
Tom Omullo a passionate CLTS consultant accompanied us as we visited the region, made home visits and carried out surveys. He had been and still is very instrumental as a natural leader in triggering and assisting community members in behaviour change and adopting new social norms that included latrine use and hand washing. Tom realises just how important it is to sustain the gains already made in this village that was verified and celebrated as ODF. He realises that our measure of success in CLTS is in developing and retaining behaviour change in the community such that they can handle and overcome challenges such as floods without slipping back to OD.
Together with Tom, Mr. Makotsi and the PHOs based in this village we made our way to a Ms. Sarah Atieno’s home where heavy rains two days before had unfortunately caused the family latrine to collapse. Our team was very impressed as we neared the home to notice that a few metres further down, mama Atieno had immediately started construction for a new latrine. Tom Omullo obviously pleased by this outcome noted “It is very good to see what communities can achieve on their own. You see, this lady has decided on her own to re-construct this toilet without expecting somebody else to do it for her”
As we found out from Sarah during the interview,re-constructing the toilet was an easy decision for her. She said this to us as she stood right beside the latrine now under construction “Before Tom and the health officers came to our village to talk to us about our unhealthy lifestyle, my family suffered a lot from diarrhoeal diseases like amoeba. At that time I never saw the connection between open shitting and these diseases. I also did not see how my neighbours’ waste disposal practises affected our family health. I spent a lot of money treating my children and myself for these diseases. I also lost time from my farm and the children missed days of school as a result. But during the triggering meetings, we did the shit calculation and cost of managing this diseases and I realised how much money we were spending. So now, I am sure that a latrine is a must for my home. I would also expect my neighbours to re-construct their toilets if theirs collapsed”
This visit and this interaction with a villager who testifies that CLTS has made a lasting difference in her family was so profound. Fora young mother like her, one would have thought that she would consider it a huge challenge to re-construct and maybe wait for outside help orseek to use the neighbours’. The passion with which she told her story and the determination with which she quickly got a new latrine put up shows that sustainability of CLTS is indeed possible when a community is well triggered and motivated to own the process.
Sarah Atieno and her son standing next to the new latrine under construction.