Thirty-one families, 149 people, need adequate sanitation. The request is to install one latrine per home to improve the health of this community.
Narrative
As mentioned, there were no problems or delays in the schedule. The latrines were built as planned in spite of the long distances involved. Quisaurita is about 76km from the town of Camoapa where we have our office and takes nearly 2 hours to travel to.
We interviewed one beneficiary, Doña Corina and she shared the following:
Hygiene basically didn't exist in this community before since we didn't have latrines. It was common to see headaches, fevers, coughs and diarrhea, especially in the girls. Although the latrine installation was recent, we seem to see less illness so far. With the project, we are much better off, now we don't have to wait hours to go, we don't have to go to the bush; I feel we have more privacy and comfort and our quality of life is improved. We are committed to maintaining the latrine clean and nice to use. We want to thank Blue Planet and El Porvenir profusely for this project.
Sustainability
Creating and measuring long-term impact
Our health and hygiene education program is how we ensure long-term impact. As mentioned in other benefits, 2 community members will be trained in hygiene and maintenance to reproduce this knowledge in the community. Each family is responsible for maintaining their own latrine.
Learnings
Knowledge of project and process for sharing
This project in particular went very well. The community members have started the learning process of hand-washing, the cycle of contamination, the 10 norms of latrine use, and other topics.
In 2009, our staff have been looking at different ways to increase sustainability in the single-pit VIP latrine model. One new initiative in 2009 was to use our tie to the community through the community educators to encourage families, when their old single pit latrines filled (if they had one), to relocate the superstructure to a temporary pit in the meantime that they leave the old one lie fallow for at least 6 months. Another NGO in Nicaragua has been recommending this, but EP is still investigating this further to see if 6 months is sufficient and under what conditions the time period may vary.
Impact
People Impacted: 149
People Getting Sanitation: 149
All 31 latrines were constructed without any problem. Through the construction of the project, masonry skills were acquired that will help with the long term maintenance.
People Getting Other Benefits: 149
Hygiene and sanitary education workshops will be carried out to ensure improved health in the community as well as proper use and maintenance of latrines. At least 2 community members will be trained through our train the trainer methodology to reproduce the hygiene message throughout the community. This is also reinforced by our local radio program in Camoapa.
