Zimbabwe - THE ROLE OF A WOMAN IN SANITATION

Entry 13189

Liquid waste management is a serious problem in Kadoma. Such waste has an impact of climate change and poses a potential time bomb to disease outbreaks. Kadoma city had a problem with provision of proper public sanitation facilities and sewages used to run along the streets. General barracks and single quarters are serviced by communal toilets, such a scenario poses a time bomb for serious communicable diseases like cholera.Kadoma city engaged the effect community. The community realised that city council on its own cannot improve their living standards and they took it upon themselves to do what they could do on their own. A group named Batsirayi was formed and registered with Kadoma city housing department as a community based organisation (CBO). The group organised itself and started cleaning the toilets while the council support them by providing water and disinfectants.The Batsirai group helps to clean all the communal toilets in the single quarters and general barracks are in Rimuka. The group members also walk around the area to repair the sewage reticulation system in single quarters and general barracks area and also advocate to the community to keep the environment clean around single quarters and general barracks.Ministry of government provided the project with technical support, provision of water and detergents. Political leadership provided political support. People living with disabilities assisted in designing facilities with total inclusion. External partners included Oxfarm, UNICEF and technical expertise.The government has provided this project with $9277026. The project has directly benefited 990 participants and indirectly reached 1150 participants. Through this project people around Kadoma have access to safe and clean water, including toilets.The key challenges to this project were shunning toilet cleaning and lack of resources. However, that has never hindered the group from continuing to pursue their dream of having clean toilets around the community. Kadoma City Council was engaged for protective clothing, including private companies for support.In terms of Monitoring and Evaluation, focus group discussions were held, monthly meetings were conducted. The idea was to use action plans during implementation and measure the output and compare the results with what had was planned.Senzeni Matare says, “Our hygiene standards have improved ever since the cleaning of the toilets was handed over to local community.” Women have been empowered, now they can even unblock the sewer reticulation system.The general barracks and single quarter’s community have improved. They were the worst affected by overflowing sewage but now people are living in a dry community. The borehole was connected to the toilets and tanks to provide clean water. This exercise have changed the environment and the community at large.The lesson learnt through this project was that the community groups need to work hand in hand with relevant ministries for their projects to succeed. Empowering communities with knowledge and skills yields results in culture sustainability. Partners need to integrated communities in project implementation, with the correct community capacity building the community can do wonders. Problems identification and solving is better done by the people on the scene Knowledge is power, if people are given the knowledge they can do wonders.