GlobalGiving.org: Safe Water for Healthy Nepal

Project Update - Safe Water, Dec 2011

Angel Chitrakar — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:59:28 GMT

Act play performed by the students

Namaste, and Seasonal Greetings to all our donors, well-wishers and supporters from ECCA, Nepal. In the past months from October to December 11, we had been able to accomplish following activities;

Expansion of Safe water campaign in more district of Nepal

From December onwards, we are implementing Safe Drinking Water Program in 3 schools of Kavre, in coordination with an German Nepalese Help Association (GNHA).

Door to Door Campaign

In most of the slum areas, people are using chlorinated water distributed from community water distribution systems. But there are many households who are not using water from the community water distribution system. Hence, targeting those households, a series of door to door campaign was organized in the month of November in different slum areas so as to aware the households regarding the need and importance of using chlorinated water.

Training on the use of Chlorinator

A training program on the use of chlorinator was conducted on 5^th December 2011 at Binayak Bal Lower Secondary School, Badal Goan Kavre in coordination with GNHA. Altogether 26 participants from different schools participated in the training program. The program included a brief presentation on the water purification methods. It included various data related to water borne diseases in the context of world and in Nepal, the reasons behind different water borne diseases, the need of water purification and the utility of WATASOL for water purification as well as sanitation etc.

Handover of the responsibility of social promotion to the schools

For the sustainability and continuity of the programs at the community level for the long run, efficient and effective transfer of information is essential. Hence, after the proper inspection and guidance of all the necessary criteria for handover, ECCA handed over the responsibility of social promotion and distribution of the WATASOL in the community to the schools. However, ECCA will provide the support services that would be required for the schools in social promotion.

2nd Inter School Drama Competition

With an objective to make aware communities about safe drinking water and sanitation, different water purification methods and to prevent the communities from water borne disease, ECCA organized 2nd Inter School Street Drama Competition on Nov-Dec 2011 in coordination with 10 different schools. A total of 50 street dramas were performed in different 10 communities within Kathmandu valley by the students of 50 schools. The grand finale of the competition is schedule on 20^th January 2012 among the winner schools from different 10 communities. And the top three performers at the grand finale program will be awarded with the cash prize.

WATASOL stall in Street Drama Competition

Nature Club students of street Drama co-organizer schools had placed WATASOL stall in the community where the drama was performed and distributed WATASOL to the community people.

Follow up in the schools and entrepreneurs

Regular monitoring and follow up visits were done in all the schools and communities where Mini WATA and Standard WATA device have been provided. During such visits, quality of WATASOL and drinking water is checked and possible programs for the promotion of WATASOL is discussed with concerned persons.

Published articles in Newsletter

Articles related to the WATASOL and 2^nd Inter School Drama competition was published in December issue of Ecokhabar (Quarterly Newsletter of ECCA).

Installation of information boards at different sales outlet at Bungamati Lalitpur

To disseminate information about the availability of WATASOL, information boards were installed in different sales outlet situated at Bungamati, Lalitpur.

With the above notes, I would like to express my gratitude towards all our donors and supporters for the program as well as the GlobalGiving team for your continuous backup. We anticipate for the same kind of cooperation and support in the days coming ahead as well as seek your suggestion and guidance for the productive outcome regarding the program in future. I also hope for your small response about your feeling so as to encourage us. You could also drop in your response at ecca@mos.com.np.

Door to Door promotion campaign on Safe Water

Street Act - To generate awareness at local level

Project Update - Safe Water, Sept 2011

Angel Chitrakar — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:52:08 GMT

Door To Door Campaign by Students

The following activities were conducted during July – Sept 2011

Orientation Program

To inform people about the technology and to make them aware, several orientation programs were conducted for the teachers, students, community and different community groups. The orientations given are:

Geeta Mata Higher Sec. School (July 19, 2011)
Little Flowers Public School (August 4 & 9, 2011)
Community at Farsidole, Bungamati, Laitpur (Sept 3, 2011)
Slum area at Bansighat, Tripureswor (Sept 9, 2011)

Documentary Show

Documentary show has become popular in school and community. The major focus of the documentary show is to promote safe drinking water and chlorine solution, branded as “WATASOL”. From the documentary, students get information about easy methods to purify water at the local level. The Documentary is on water related issues, water borne diseases and how to disinfect. After the success of the program in the school, the nature club students also replicated the program in the community, neighboring schools and local groups. List of documentary shows:

Shree Krishna Higher Secondary School (July 1, 2011)
Harisiddhi Higher Secondary School (For Students & teachers) (July 2, 2011)
Lalit Kalyan Lower Secondary School (July 7, 2011)
Thaiba Youth Club (July 9, 2011)
Yashodhara Bauddha Secondary School (July 18, 2011)
Bhagyodaya Higher Secondary School (July 26, 2011)
Dhapakhel Boarding School (July 27, 2011)
BalKumari Higher Secondary School (July 29, 2011)
Udaya Kharka Secondary School (Sept 16, 2011)

Door to Door Campaign

To reach out the new community for WATASOL promotion and refilling program in previously implemented areas, Door to Door Campaign has been organized frequently. Door to door campaign was focused in rural place of Lalitpur areas and slum areas of Kathmandu valley. Groups of students along with ECCA volunteers and WATA Resource Materials went to each household in the community and sensitized people about the need of Safe Drinking Water and role of WATASOL for healthy living. Beside the regular refilling program, the door to door Campaigns conducted in different new community were:

Hadegoan, lalitpur July 2, 2011
Slum area of Thapathali, Lalitpur Sept 16, 2011

National Essay Competition

Since the past 4 years ECCA is organizing National Essay Competition in different topics. This year also, on the occasion of World Environment Day 2011, ECCA announced Essay Competition for secondary level students on the theme “How can we recharge the ground water and make our drinking water safe" The notice related with call for essay competition was published in a national daily Nepali language newspaper Kantipur (June 5, 2011). The students were encouraged to write an essay on the basis of real situation of their own school environment and put their perspective regarding the theme. The competition was open for all the Nepali students studying in grade 6 to 10. The best three essays were announced on July 12 and prizes given on July 23, 2011.

Winner list:

Samrat Bikram Prasai, Occidental Public School, Anamnagar, Kathmandu
Aashma Khanal, Lalit Kalyan Lower Secondary School, Bholdhoka, Lalitpur
Riva Khatiwada, Occidental Public School, Anamnagar, Kathmandu

Scholarship Distribution

During the implementation of the WATASOL program in the schools, some of the students from Nature Club were very actively involved and also showed keen interest. So as to encourage them, scholarship materials (a set of note book, bag, copies, pen, pencil and other education materials) were provided. 70 students were provided the scholarship materials. The students were selected on the basis of their involvement in the WATASOL promotional activities and as per the financial need of the student. Selection was done by the nature club themselves in coordination with principal, guide teacher and ECCA social mobilizers.

Scholarship materials were provided to the students of the following schools:

Harisiddhi Higher Secondary School July 9, 2011
Shree Krishna Higher Secondary School July 15, 2011
Saraswoti Higher Secondary School July 15, 2011
Balkumari Higher Secondary School July 15, 2011
Tri Ratna Cooperative School July 15, 2011
Yashodhara Bauddha Secondary School July 15, 2011
Mahendra Gram Secondary School July 15, 2011
Bhagyodaya Higher Secondary School July 7, 2011
Udaya Kharka Secondary School Sept 16, 2011

Appreciation Distribution

For supporting the Safe Drinking Water program at the local level, seven individuals were provided Appreciation certificate.

Nirmala Shakya, Prabhat Higher Sec. School
Rajesh Pandey, Lalit Kalyan Lower Sec. School
Ramesh Shrestha, Lalit Kalyan Lower Sec. School
Dhurba Pd. Amatya, Yashodhara Bouddha Sec. School
Hem Chandra Raigai , Yashodhara Bouddha Sec. School
Krishna Pd Acharya, Udaya Kharka Sec. School
Krishna Man Maharjan, Tri-ratna Cooperative School

Promotion through local Health Post

In Southern Lalitpur region, linkage was developed with local health post and local women health volunteers. In the beginning, these volunteers were briefed about safe drinking water and WATASOL. Thereafter, while they were visiting households as part of their regular work, they also promoted WATASOL, supported in the refill and monitored its usage. Women health volunteers conducted 9 orientations (one in each ward) on WATASOL to the local mothers’ group and encouraged them to use WATASOL. For about a month, initially, WATASOL was distributed free of cost (to develop the habit). Later, it was sold.

Interaction among different stakeholders

To review the status of WATASOL distribution and promotion strategy, separate interaction was conducted in Dalchowki and in Chaughare (Southern Lalitpur). Participants were from the school teachers, nature club members, school management committee, women health workers and other health post staffs.

Promotion in Private Schools

Orientations and interactions have been done to create awareness in private schools, and Community Drinking Water System (CDWS). The staffs of these institutions have always been supportive in this kind of promotional programs. Through these programs, WATASOL distribution has been possible in the scattered community.

WATASOL stall in different occasions

Students of Tri-ratna Cooperative school are distributing WATASOL from the stall kept in the religious place (Karyabinak Temple) every Saturday. Likewise, ECCA as well as schools are also distributing WATASOL frequently through stalls kept at different occasions and report card distribution.

WATASOL stall kept during report card distribution and other occasions:

Bal Binod Secondary School, Natole
Machindra Bahal, Bungamati
Khokana Mohatsav, Khokana
Omkuli Mahatsav, Thaina
Sal Nadi Mela, Sankhu
Eco festival of British School, Jamsikhel
Lachhi, Thecho
Lagankhel, Lalitpur
Harisiddhi, Lalitpur
Flea Market at ECCA
ECCA Day
National Children Day

Promotion in Adult Literacy Class

To promote WATASOL, the students of Adult Literacy Class were also given orientation about safe drinking water and WATASOL. The students purchased WATASOL and used it.

Chlorinated water distribution through Water Tank

The slum communities have large size public drinking water tank which is managed by their resource person. An entrepreneur visits them and supplies WATASOL. They put WATASOL in the water tank, thereafter treated water is distributed to the slum dwellers.

Promotion at water distributor

In case of Yashodhara Bouddha Secondary School, one of the staff Mr. Dhurba Prasad Amatya promoted WATASOL in Gangajal water distributor – which is a mineral water producing company. After few interaction and follow up they agreed to use WATASOL for disinfecting the equipments. Now the school is selling WATASOL to them.

Sales from individual nature club students

In some schools, some students need to come from far-away places. So the normal promotional activities could not reach such locality. In such case, individual students of that far-away community promote WATASOL in their respective area, for which they get 30% of the WATASOL sales. They are thus helping to promote WATASOL as well as getting certain incentive, which motivates them for further promotion in their area.

Monitoring visits

Regular monitoring is being done in all the localities where Mini WATA and Standard WATA device have been provided. During such visits quality of WATASOL and drinking water is checked and possible programs for the promotion of WATASOL is discussed with concerned persons.

Interschool Competition

Harisiddhi Nature Club of Harisiddhi Higher Secondary School organized an Interschool Competition in different heading such as Essay competition (6th July, 2011), Art Competition (7^th July 2011) and Debate Competition ( 8^th July, 2011). On the last day of the program (9^th July), prizes and certificates were distributed for the winners. The main objective of the program was to create awareness about the Safe Drinking Water and WATASOL among the students from different schools.

Production of A Short Documentary

A short documentary on water borne disease and WATASOL was recently produced by ECCA.

Implementation of Project in 3 more schools of Illam

In coordination with a NGO Namsaling Community Development Center (NCDC), Illam ECCA transferred the technology to 3 more schools at Illam.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all donors for your continuous support in our initiation. We would also like to request you to send us your feedback, comments and suggestion regarding our project at ecca@mos.com.np so that we could implement our programs more effectively.

Regards,

Students campaigning in the community

Use of WATASOL in the community water distribution

Student disseminating information through stalls

Orientating community on safe drinking water

Links:

Newsletter

Project Update - Safe Water

Angel Chitrakar — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:57:10 GMT

Students Promoting WATASOL in local festival

The following activities were conducted during January – March 2011

Door to door campaign in different areas of Kathmandu valley:

To uplift the awareness about the importance of Safe drinking water for healthy life and the role of WATASOL for it, a door to door campaign was conducted to the different areas. During the door to door campaign, ECCA had mobilized Nature Club students of different schools. Involvement of Nature Club students in the campaign will develop their skill in such activities and it was felt that they gained confidence to deal with the community.

Orientation on safe drinking water:

Orientation on safe drinking water was conducted for women’s group of Lalitpur called Bhelachen Maa Pucha, Bhelachen, Lalitpur on 9th January, different local child clubs on 22nd January and Jagat Sundar Bwonekothi Secondary School, Kathmandu on 4th March 2011.

Participation in Safe drinking water seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh:

To share and to learn, modalities and best practices, a seminar on ‘Safe Drinking Water, was jointly organized by Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES), Dhaka, Bangladesh and ANTENNA Technologies, Switzerland on January 17-19, 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The aim of the seminar is to ensure a common mutual learning on the Pilot programmes for testing different business models for selling chlorine in Nepal, Bangladesh and India.

Promotion of WATASOL through women’s group

Previously Safe Drinking water campaign was promoted through Nature Clubs of the schools, Community Drinking Water Supply (CDWS) and individual entrepreneurs. But with the beginning of the year 2011 ECCA has been successful to promote WATASOL through women’s group. One of the women’s group called Bhelachen Maa Pucha, Bhelachen, Lalitpur has already started promoting WATASOL as a solution for safe water treatment in their area.

Installation of information boards, flex and pasted posters

To enhance the visual impact, information boards were installed in different places like Letang Market Place, in front of Village Development committee (VDC), Letang, Morang, in Lalit Kalyan Lower Secondary School and Prabhat Higher Secondary School of Lalitpur. Similarly two flex were also distributed in each chlorinator implementing school. And posters were pasted in the project implementing area.

Organized different awareness programs:

WATASOL stall: To raise awareness about water purification techniques among parents and community, WATASOL stall was placed in the schools during report card distribution as well as in different places.

Street Drama: During Khokana Mahatsav on 15th -17th January, Nature Club students of Tri-ratna Cooperative School had performed street drama in Machindra Bahal & Khokana on the theme “Importance of WATASOL in water purification”.

Documentary show: On 1st February, the documentary show on contamination of drinking water was held at Machhindra Bahal, Bungmati, Lalitpur. The objective of the program was to aware the community about the water related issues, the rate of water pollution and importance of its purification.

Community Interaction Program: Lalit kalyan Lower Secondary School and ECCA had jointly organized community interaction program on water purification techniques on 22nd February in the school. About 30 participants from the community along with teachers and school students had participated in the program. The participants were interested in WATASOL technology and shared their queries. The interaction made the program more convenient and effective and the experiences shared by the teachers helped to build trust. The interaction program was followed by a drama show presented by the students of the nature club on importance of water purification.

Developed promotional tool:

Mick Minard (conservation + communications) from U.S visited ECCA and developed communication tool (a visual narrative) for ECCA.

Similarly, Christophe Menigault from Cause A Effect visited ECCA and developed video and article on how ECCA is promoting chlorinator technology in Nepal.

International Day celebration:

World Wetland Day: On the occasion of World Wetland Day 2011, door to door campaign on safe drinking water was conducted on 2nd February to the community of Dhapakhel area. The program was followed by visit to Nagdaha (one of the wetland) and sharing about different environmental issued on wetland.

World Water Day: Similarly, on the occasion of World Water Day 2011, different programs such as Water Walk at different Stone Spouts of Lalitpur, water classroom visit located at Yasodhara Bouddha Sec School and documentary show was conducted on 22nd March. In the program counselors, volunteer and Nature club students had participated. Sharing on different water related issues’ including importance of water purification was also done during the program.

Nature Club Interaction:

To share the experiences and problems during different promotional activities of WATASOL in the community, an interaction program was organized between 15 Nature Clubs of different schools, on 1st March. 48 participants from these clubs had participated in the interaction program. Problems along with the possible solutions were discussed during the program

Students on Door 2 Door Campaign for WATASOL promo

WATASOL Promotion through stall in local community

Students performing Street Act Play in Community

Watasol Stall by the students in their community

Links:

Project Update - Safe Water

Angel Chitrakar — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:15:56 GMT

By the end of December 2010, following activities have been achieved.

Implementation of project in two more districts of Nepal: ECCA had started safe drinking water program in eight districts of Nepal; Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Morang, Jhapa, Rupandehi, Aachham and Chitwan. Recently, ECCA also implemented safe drinking water program in two more districts; Illam (in partnership with a NGO, Namsaling Community Development Center) and Sunsari (in partnership with Samyak Shikshya Primary School).
Orientation and Training Conduction in Schools and Communities: Different orientation and re-orientations were conducted in schools, in slum areas of kathmandu, for different women's groups of East Nepal, and for teachers of different schools. Trainings on the use of chlorinator were conducted in Illam and Sunsari Districts, and different Rotary Club supported Schools of Lalitpur District.
Organized Different Awareness Programs: ECCA organized different awareness programs in schools as well as in communities (such as parents gathering in schools to disseminate knowledge about water chlorination, stall placement in communities by the students of different schools on different events and local festivals) to disseminate information on importance of chlorinator in water purification etc. Lalit Kalyan Kendra Lower Secondary School of Lalitpur organized a rally in which students displayed banners with the message of safe drinking water and the rally ended with the street drama in Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur. Similar programs were also organized by Buddha Secondary School, Kerabari, Morang (East Nepal).
Survey on WATASOL User Response: Survey on WATASOL user response was done in East Nepal and also in the slum areas of the Kathmandu valley. During survey, it was found that most of the users didn't like the smell of chlorine solution the first time but after regular use they had no problem with the smell. Some users had discontinued the consumption of chlorinated water because of its smell.
Door-To-Door Campaign: For the promotion of safe drinking water campaign in East Nepal, ECCA mobilized two social mobilizers for Door-To-Door campaign.
Supporting Materials: For the ease of the promotion of safe drinking water, additional flyers and flex were printed and distributed in the schools as well as in the communities.

Project Update - September 2010

Angel Chitrakar — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:36:54 GMT

The following activities had been achieved till the end of September 2010:

Developed Strategy for Mini WATA and standard WATA : To focus the margins and profitability of the delivery systems of WATASOL (chlorine solution), the strategy for Mini WATA and Standard WATA was developed to promote the WATASOL approach into a franchising model. These plans include the production and distribution plan of WATASOL in schools and communities in three sizes flasks: 1000ml, 200ml, 50ml, investment, no. of months for the payback of the investments and sharing of income among the stakeholders.

Implementation of project in different districts of Nepal: ECCA has reached eight districts; Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Morang, Jhapa, Rupandhehi, Accham and Chitwan for the implementation of safe drinking water program and is planning to reach several other districts in future. Till September 15, 2010 ECCA has already implemented safe drinking water program in 29 schools, 3 community drinking water supply system, 1 Hospital in Accham, 13 communities and also implemented 3 Entrepreneur model in different parts of Nepal.

WATASOL (Chlorine Solution) Distribution to Flood Victims ECCA produced Chlorine solution in its office premises for the relief of flood victims during the time of the flood disaster in the month of August, 2008 in Eastern Nepal. ECCA prepared 20-litres of WATASOL, filled it in two 10-litre Jerry Cans distribute it in the areas where flood victims were having the water borne diseases. The supplied WATASOL was sufficient enough to treat 80,000 litres of water. Therefore the device can also be very much helpful in combating the waterborne diseases during the time of disasters. As long as the WATASOL production unit is nearer to disaster areas, the quicker supply of WATASOL can be provided, hence reducing the number of patients and death tolls. Therefore the chlorination device has also acted as a life-saver, being able to go among people facing hazard of waterborne diseases

Orientation and Training conduction in schools and communities: Nearly 250 people from schools, the community drinking water supply system and the community were trained in production and quality control of chlorine and drinking water. Around 3000 people were sensitized on chlorine as a simple alternative technique of water disinfection.

Developed supporting materials for the promotion of WATASOL: For the promotion of WATASOL, ECCA has already developed some supporting materials such as flasks (50ml, 200ml and 1000ml), stickers, posters, flex, flyers, information board, t-shirts, caps, bags and flip charts.

Organized different Events: ECCA has organized different programs in schools as well as in communities to create awareness on water purification through chlorination. In Lalit Kalyan Kendra Lower Secondary School of Lalitpur a one day program on speech competition was organized. In July 2010, an inter-school drama competition was organized for the schools of Eastern Nepal and similar program was also organized for the schools of Kathmandu Valley in Sep 6-8, 2010.

Implementation of Safe Drinking Water program in slum areas of Kathmandu Valley To overcome water and sanitation problem in the slum areas, ECCA has also started program on safe drinking water in the slum of Kathmandu Valley. ECCA is promoting WATASOL in the slum area for water disinfection as well as for sanitation. WATASOL is produced by using WATA device and distributed in 50ml, 200ml and 1000ml bottles. Till September 15, 2010, ECCA has promoted WATASOL in 10 different slums of Nepal.

Coordination with different NGO’s: The Safe Drinking Water program is implementing in different new places with the support of different NGO’s. ECCA and Rotary Club of Patan jointly organized one day training for different schools of Lalitpur on June 2010. The program was also started in Bhandara, Chitwan (around 170km from Kathmandu). A one-day training on the use of Chlorinator was conducted in the month of July, in coordination with Shanti Griha, a not-for-profit organization, established in 2001, working with a multi - pronged approach addressing human beings spiritual, physical, intellectual, as well as development needs.