Most people living in North Tanzania do not have access to toilets of any kind and practice open defecation (OD). This greatly reduces the life expectancy of all people living in the region and leads to significant contamination of water sources. Improved sanitation is one of the main barriers facing rural Tanzanians. We aim to increase the number of constructed latrines in the region, and to create behavioura change to stop people from practicing OD through Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)
More than 9% of Tanzania's population continue to practice open defecation, which brings serious health risks, and rural areas are far behind urban in all dimensions of access to WASH services. Poor sanitation disproportionately affects women as fetching water is traditionally a female role. Lack of water, sanitation and hygiene services in schools result in girls missing school as when they reach puberty. Having a latrine is a basic human right and we want to help people build their own toilets
CLTS is cost effective and requires no community subsidies. Training people in the importance of using toilets, to stop practicing OD, and giving them the skills needed to build their own latrines will dramatically lead to improved sanitation across the area. CLTS relies on trainers going into communities and creating behavioural change. A key point of CLTS is to impress on households that they have all the materials available to them to construct their own latrines.
20000 people to have access to clean and safe sanitation due to the CLTS programme causing behaviour change and the latrine they now have at their residence. Improved health due to the clean and safe sanitation access - for participating households. Women will particularly benefit health wise, avoiding UTI's and improving menstruation sanitation. Increased awareness and understanding of the importance of good sanitation and what constitutes good sanitation
