ODF village Verification Visit by PHED (Public Health Engineering Department)
On 21th June, 2012 Reported By: Hameed Ullah Khan Niazi
NRSP (National Rural Support Programme) and Plan Pakistan came into partnership in August, 2011 for WES project. The primary objective of this proposed program is to reach out 0.43 million people of 82,169 households (children 147,338, women 148,725, and men 137,284) in twenty five UCs of District Chakwal in three years to safeguard and protect their health from water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases by means of undertaking a series of measures. In first year 5 UCs have been taken as pilot phase where all project activities are implemented by NRSP since last September, 2011.The main component of the project is CLTS and SLTS that have been completed in all villages and schools in these union councils. By regular follow up four more villages of different Union Council were declared ODF last month. Already NRSP district office and Plan team visited these villages for verification. The detail of the villages is as under:
S# / Village / Union Council / Households / Population / ODF Verified & Certified by1 / Mundy / Begal / 1170 / 6023 / PHED
2 / Karsal / Karsal / 1185 / 6243 / PHED
3 / Jabbi / Begal / 320 / 2241 / PHED
4 / Thanil Kamal / Dhullah / 555 / 3296 / PHED
On June 21, 2012 again a joint visit of NRSP, Plan Pakistan and PHED teams was arranged in the above said villages one by one. The participants of the verification team were:
Hameed Ullah Khan Niazi , DPM-WES NRSP
Waqar Hussain, WES Officer Plan Pakistan
Sayyed Asif Ali Raza , CDO, PHED Chakwal
Haider Raza, CBM, PHED, Chakwal
Accompanied by implementing team of NRSP as:
Atif Abass, Shehzad Nasir, Noreen and Irrum Sadiqia, SOs – WES and Malik Mehmood F. Eng, NRSP Chakwal
1. Visit to Village Mundey:
Mundey is the largest village of union council Begal. Village consists of three main parts, two separated by a road and third one separated by a Naala. The village comprises of 1170 households, with a total population of 6023 including, men, women and children. The social structure of the village is as there are: Men community Organizations: 05, Women Community organizations: 10, Village Development Organization: 01 namely VO Mundey. There are total six schools, out of which two are private and the other four are Government primary both for boys and girls and also a high school for boys.
When we reached the village Mundey, the Village organization (VO) arranged a meeting of the community men, women and children. There are three CRPs working in this village. The CRP Sarwat Fatima gave the presentation of the village. She told that we started CLTS approach to sensitize the community, in our village during February, 2012. We performed sessions in schools, in communities, with men, women and children in different groups to sensitize about open defecation hazard and diseases caused by it. She told that almost in all households of our village latrine were present, but the villagers were habitual of open defecation. There were only 100 households that don,t have latrine at that time. Before this campaign the health and hygiene practices were poor and open defecation practices were high even in the households having latrine and the latrine in schools were only under the use of teachers and the students have to go for open defecation. After sensitization, they started using latrine; the school latrine was opened for students with availability of water and soap. Mostly households constructed latrines, remaining thirteen households who still lack this facility, but are commonly sharing latrine with the relatives or neighbors. The visitor put many questions on all participants and community members, and they replied satisfactorily. Then we visited different streets and households of the village and inquired them about the use of latrine, hand washing and water treatment and they replied satisfactory. As these days the schools are closed due to summer vacations, yet we met the teacher who was local and also visited the school. The latrine was in use with the availability of water, and according to teacher all students are using latrine regularly. Then we saw the demo latrine that was constructed at poor households and two families were using commonly. The headmaster of high school also participated the verification visit, during this he told that we have a big problem of water at our school, some it becomes very difficult to arrange water particularly in summer, but still we have continued our effort to maintain ODF our school.
At the end the visitors in his remarks appreciated the work done by community on self help basis, they started from individual need and as a whole declared the village ODF. He also want to know that how they will sustain it for a long time to be ODF, the community activist explained that the Cos and VO are responsible in their respective area for this cause. Secondly the separate sanitation committees have been formulated that are also responsible for its sustainability.
2. VVisoVillage Karsal:
Karsal is also a large village in the union council Karsal, the name of the union council is also on this village name, as it is the largest and at the heart of union council. Karsal is the very clean village where there are proper water drainage systems and people are sensitized of cleanliness. The LSO office is also situated in this village. The main source of income of the people is farming, livestock, services and some labor. The village comprises of 1185 households, with a total population of 6243 including men, women and children. There are three CRPs that are working in three different parts of village. This village has very strong social net work as Cos, VO and also LSO. NRSP organized them into 44 Cos of men, women and mixed. In spite of this , the health and hygiene practices were poor in the villages, mostly households have latrine but some households were still open defecating in spite they have latrine at home, that they were the concept of that this is only used by the guest they have at home. Some old men were habitual of open defecation, rather than use of latrine. There are total seven schools in the village; there are also high schools for boys and girls. The latrine in the high school were already in the use of students both in boys as well as in girls schools, but the latrine in other schools was present, but they were only under use of teacher, mostly the students were going out for defecating. Hand washing practices in children and women was very poor.
Miss Qamar, who is also LHW, Miss Anila and Miss Rabia who are the member women community organizations. They took the responsibility of mobilizing the community and to sensitize the men, women and children about the poor practices, with the support and guidance of VO and male members. They started work as Community Resource Person (CRP) under WES project. They aware the community in different triggering events at different locations. They went door to door and convey massages of open defecation hazards, safe drinking water, and hand washing practices. They told the community that we are spending a lot of money on the disease born by open defecation, by this practices the human feces again becoming the part of our diet. Our children are week physically as well as mentally. If we spent this money once on latrine construction, or adopt the use of latrine regularly followed by hand washing with soap, we can save our self from many disease and thus from loss of money. They also sensitized the teachers, parents and students on these matters. Most of the households constructed new latrine, many started proper use of latrine with hand washing facilities, and some poor which still not constructed latrine, start using toilet on sharing basis with their relatives. They also constructed four demo latrines at poor family’s household with the support of NRSP.
This story is told by Muhammad Akram, the president of VO Karsal and is the residence of this village in a presentation about the progress of WES project which campaign they started few months ago and took the responsibility to free his village from open defecation and its hazards and side effects, to a verification visit from Plan Pakistan and PHED team. He also visited many household along with visitors, streets, and asked question from different men, women, children and students. All the answer was encouraging.
3. Visit to Village Jabbi-:
The village Jabbi is present in union council Begal. The resident of the village are also poor .They mainly depends on farming, livestock and labor. Total household of the village are 320 with a population of 2241 including all Dhokes, including, men, women and children. The CRP Sobia Sanam is working as community mobilize, who is also the manager of women community organization. There are sixteen community organizations of men, women and mix in the village. There is one village organization, the LSO president and General Secretary; M. Zahoor also attended the meeting. The awareness campaign was started in December, 2011. There are three schools in the village each one for boys and girls and one middle school for boys. According to Sobia Sanam, before the start of WES project, the hygienic conditions in the village were poor; mostly the people were adopting open defecation practices. Out of 320 households, 20 household were without latrine, remaining have toilets, but the use was poor, either by the guest or women, children and men were not properly using. When the campaign under this project was started and she sensitized the community in different triggering sessions, at many locations, she realized them that this practice is causing a huge loss of our new generation. All diseases born are due to unhygienic conditions particularly the open defecation. Our children remain daily ill because of this hazard. She went door to door, and attended the meeting of COs and sensitized the community about these issues. She also went to the schools, have sessions with teachers, students and parents and school councils, and ultimately make them realize to have these latrines in the use of student. The VO Jabbri also supported her in this campaign. They motivated the men about this matter. So after a regular follow up, she got success and the village Jabbri was declared ODF.
The verification team from PHED and Plan have meeting with community and the CRP briefed them about the pre and post conditions of the village. Then they visited some households and saw the demo latrine that was constructed at M. Iftikhar and Shehnaz Begum’s home, two other households are sharing with her because they live in the same. The condition of the village was good and no human excreta were found in streets, fields or drains. The toilets were observed with soap and other hand washing facility. The households were using safe water for drinking. We also visited M. sajjad, who is poor men, and is such aware that he arranged some resource to construct the sun structure and the super structure was made by bamboo or other wheat or maize straw. He told that we are six family member, before we were going in the field for open defecation, and face lot of problems, particularly the women and during the rain, but now we are feeling easy and all members are regularly using, and wash hands with soap. He told that I will construct the super structure by bricks, for that we will try to collect money by saving and earning.
When it was asked about the continuity, they replied that we will sustain it by convincing the poor households to build their own latrine and will support them in this regard. The Cos and sanitation committees will play their role and will sustain by proper follow up.
4. Visit to Village Thanil Kamal:
Thanil Kamal is a village in union council Dhullah. It consists of 555 households with a population of 3296 including men, women and children. The village consists of twelve Mohall’s and Dhokes, where separate triggering was done by CRP. There are four schools in the village. There are 3 women community organization .Mr. Qamar Abass performed the responsibilities of CRPs for community mobilization. He told that we started work with our community during December, 2011. Before this, the condition of village regarding health, hygiene and sanitation was not good. Mostly the villagers were habitual of unhygienic practices, like unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation facilities, and open defecation practices. The latrine in girls’ school was used by students, but mostly the students go for open defecation in boys’ primary school. At that time mostly households have latrine, and 29 households lack this facility. Even some households in spite of having this facility were practicing open defecation. Mr. Qamar Abass sensitized the community about the hazards of open defecation and other unhygienic practices. He triggered men, women, and children. He also triggered the teachers, students and also parents. He went door to door to convey the massages of hygiene and other sanitation related issues. He developed linkages with LHW, religious leader, shopkeepers and others notable of the community. He conveyed the massages in different sessions and also through wall choking in the whole village with different massages. He told that now the condition is totally changed, about all households constructed latrine, only few are using on sharing basis, but they stop open defecation. This entire story was told by M. Qamar Abass to the verification team from Plan Pakistan and PHED, Chakwal, to the village they declare as ODF by the community.