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The project goal is to improve public health, community functioning, and quality of life in the community.
The project purpose is to provide safe water, sanitation facilities and hygiene education.
The project has the following objectives:
1. To mobilize, sensitize community members and create awareness on project activities
2. To increase access to safe water and better sanitation facilities.
3. To build the capacity of the community to set their own development agenda.
IDENTIFIED COMMUNITY NEEDS
This project seeks to improve access to safe water and improved sanitation in schools and households, the lack of which results in reduced personal hygiene, high prevalence of waterborne diseases, and loss of lives of children below the age of five years. A study by the PPP Team in Bugiri District found that the proportion of the population accessing an improved drinking water source was only 42%. This is below the national and rural access to safe water average figures of 73.8% and 69.5 % respectively, ranking among the lowest in the whole country.
The team also identified the long distance traveled from households to water sources and congestion at the water sources resulting in long waits to fill vessels. The average distance traveled to a water source was 1.5 kilometers, which is almost three times the recommended distance while the average wait time was 6 hours. There is need to increase the number of water sources to curb the current congestion and the distance. In addition, there is need for water purification and filtration as many of the sources currently in use are undeveloped springs, swamps, or unlined wells which are highly contaminated. Many of the developed water sources exceed WHO standards for bacterial colonies and there is a high potential for recontamination of household water transport and storage vessels.
Furthermore, as a long term sustainability measure, there is need to promote community ownership and responsibility for water sources and for other public utilities. One of the factors hindering self sustenance in the community is a continuing attitude that government or "others" should provide water to the community at no cost to the inhabitants. Therefore there is need to correct the widespread attitude that the entity that constructed the water source should also provide for maintaining the equipment. The fact that there is increasing self-reliance among a number of villages that collect funds for system repairs or, in a few isolated cases, collect fees monthly to fund future O&M is a step in the right direction that needs to be supported. In most cases skilled labor is unavailable and therefore there is need to avail low technology solutions and as well make it possible to periodically retain trained individuals for system maintenance.
Whereas a number of grassroots committees exist, there is need for additional training in the proper management of the water resource. In addition more sensitization is needed to reinforce lessons learnt much as most villagers are aware of WASH issues.
As far as sanitation and hygiene is concerned, several needs were identified from discussions with people in the villages. The study revealed that approximately 30 percent of households do not have access to any type of toilet and that only 3 percent of households have access to VIP toilets. This is against latrine coverage at national level that has continued to improve for the last five years, standing at 71 percent in 2010/11 from 69 percent in 2009/10. . An overwhelming 94 percent of household survey respondents expressed a preference for the VIP and only 3 percent each for flush toilets.
It was further revealed that schools have an average student to stance ratio of 79: 1 which is higher than the UN recommended student to stance ratio of 40:1. This scenario is particularly not conducive in a learning environment as it leads to a number of adolescent girls missing school and drop out of school eventually from the lack of privacy. According to the Bugiri PPP Report, 2013, 78% of the respondents of the household survey indicated that girls lost 4-5 days of school every month due to menstruation. A further 78% of respondents indicated that girls and women did not afford sanitary pads to use during this period. There is need to enhance privacy for girls in school by providing changing rooms and to assist them with sanitary towels in order to improve hygiene standards for girls and their performance in school. There is need for construction of more toilet facilities in households to improve sanitation and the student: stance ratio.
HOW THE PROJECT WILL ADDRESS COMMUNITY NEEDS.
Implementation strategy Objective One: Create awareness among 300,000 people on safe water use, hygiene and sanitation issues and adopt best practices in at least 2500 households by 2017.
1. Community Organization and Participation:
1. 1 Community mobilization and sensitization:
In a measure of getting the community involved, Rotary Club of Ntinda in collaboration with cooperating organizations shall carry out mobilization and sensitization. During the initial needs assessment as well as over the PPP Team's visit the Rotary Club of Ntinda established a good working rapport with the communities. The Club will build on this to strengthen community confidence and to get the community to believe in the project objectives which is evidenced by the openness and eagerness with which they wait for the project. This serves as an indicator that in this project, community participation will be ensured. Throughout the project cycle, the Rotary Club of Ntinda shall employ an interactive and participatory approach. This will be aimed at full participation of the community in order to yield tangible benefits. From the onset, community members will be taken through the project design in order to capture community perceptions and feedback concerning the project.
Community members will be sensitized in WASH related issues this therefore will help boost their understanding and as a result to participate wholly in the project activities. The most positive of all approaches to facilitate greater community participation is to provide residents with better knowledge. Obviously, the knowledge has to be in their value system. When it is, experience shows they usually act accordingly. Adequate time and means of diffusing the new knowledge must be employed for satisfactory results.
Foras will be organized where the community will be requested to give input into the proceedings and to also give feedback on the project progress. The community will be accorded opportunity to give suggestions on approaches that they think can work better for effective implementation of the project.
Community members will be called upon to participate in meetings and discussions and contribute to matters pertaining to the community. Not everyone can attend these meetings therefore, representatives will be chosen from amongst the community members to serve voluntarily. The Rotary Club of Ntinda will foster community participation by stressing the benefits to be gained both tangible and intangible. The project shall not impose on the people groups/structures that are not appreciated by the people rather it will be up to them to select for us people of experience, competency and good moral standing in the community. The Rotary Club of Ntinda will also stress the role and obligation that the community has towards improving the conditions in their area. This will therefore encompass creation of a sense of ownership of the project interventions. This will therefore call for the creation of working partnerships both at community and household level. As an entry point, The Rotary Club of Ntinda conducted stakeholders' dialogue meetings as a way of unveiling the project activities and plans to them and seek for their support and endorsement. This kind of initiative has boosted the confidence the community leaders have in The Rotary Club of Ntinda and they are always willing to render support where they can. Therefore we are going to build alongside that confidence the community leaders and individual households have in Rotary to advance this project.
Therefore at the start of the project, community mobilization will be undertaken. Mobilization will take various forms and steps at 3 levels (sub county, parish and zonal level). At each of the respective sub county level the key output of the meetings will be signing of the memorandum of the understanding with The Rotary Club of Ntinda. The memorandum of understanding is a commitment by the sub county to fulfill its roles and responsibilities. It also forms basis of the exit strategy to ensure that the sub county provides support to the communities once Rotary Club of Ntinda ends the project.
At parish and zonal level mobilization will be undertaken using printed posters that will be displayed at zone and parish offices. Later, letters will be sent inviting the targeted participants; who will include among others, the parish leaders, VHTs, divisional political and technical staff, religious and customary leaders, drama group leaders and school managers. A total of 30 one day sub county based mobilization/sensitization meetings will be held targeting 50-60 participants per meeting. The facilitation for the meetings will include stationery and refreshments during the meeting and transport refund. Issues to be explained in these meetings will include project approach and objectives, how communities will demand for the project WASH services, and introduction of cooperating organizations. Particular attention shall also be given to explain to the community and local leaders about their roles and responsibilities. It is after these meetings that Rotary Club of Ntinda will expect to identify specific communities, get the needs and demands of the communities as well as determine the scope of project interventions for each community.
Rotary Club of Ntinda will adopt a participatory approach where community members will participate in deciding on some course of actions to take in the project cycle. Some of the decisions will be on the criteria to be followed in selecting the direct beneficiaries of the project, deciding on the meeting venues, time and convenient days to conduct such meetings, formulation of byelaws to govern the established groups, selection of representation on the various community structures established among others. Most of the decisions the community will participate in will be at community meetings and occasionally focus group discussions will be conducted to seek opinion on certain issues. As a measure of fostering a sense of ownership and creation of sustainability of the project achievements, the community must /will have a material input into the project implementation both in monetary and non monetary terms.
1.2 Project launch and Handover
The climax of the community mobilisation and sensitisation meetings will be the official launch of the project, in order to win more political support and good will as well as to get recognition for Rotary International. Also possibly create avenues for more partnership and networking amongst other stakeholders. The project launch is also intended to promote transparency and public accountability of the project investments whereas the handover is to mark the starting of communities' responsibility in O&M of the facility. Project launch and handover promotes ownership and the eventual sustainability of the project. This will be taken as a further WATSAN awareness campaign and prominent persons like the District Governor, Bugiri District Chairpersons, Minister for water and environment or Ambassador(s), International and host Rotarians will be invited to officiate at the function. Special invited guests (20) will be facilitated with refreshments. Each sub county will be urged to participate in organising its function in the best way they wish.
2.0 Implementation strategy for Objective Two:
Increase access to safe water and better sanitation facilities
Basing on expertise of the PPP Team a number of solutions to the community needs above are proposed below. The approach to project implementation will be based on the concept of incrementally improving the health and living conditions of the inhabitants of the six sub-counties. Given the large geographical area and the diverse nature of possible solutions to the water and sanitation needs the Team has provided a series of potential projects rather than just one project. This is intended to allow Rotary Clubs or other donor entities to select the project(s) that best adheres to their individual criteria. Before project implementation starts we shall begin by identifying the specific communities to be served, refining the scope of work, and develop a more accurate opinion of probable construction costs. A team of experts will be assigned to carry out the above tasks. Project implementation will give priority to sub counties with greatest need for water and sanitation as per the recommendation of the PPP Team. This is intended to reap the greatest benefit out of the investments.
The projects identified are based on the number of units that will require investments of USD 100,000 to 250,000 and require approximately two years to implement. Specific sites for construction or installation of the units will be determined as the project progresses together with help from the local administration and community members.
2.1. Projects to achieve Objective Two
The following projects are the proposed solution to community needs:
2.1.1 School Water & Sanitation Project
The project will improve water supply and sanitation facilities at ten public schools by constructing two ferrocement water catchment tanks, complete with 30m of gutter, and one 8-stance VIP at each school. A majority of the schools have at least one catchment tank; however, in many cases the tank and gutter need to be replaced. In addition, all of schools visited by the PPP Team that had catchment tanks only utilized a small fraction of the available roof area. The project will entail maximizing the use of available roof area at schools by installing additional rainwater catchment tanks and gutters. The water will be made available to neighboring households as well in order to avoid vandalism as a result of excluding persons from outside of the school. Note that even with the increased storage and rainwater collection area the tanks may still run dry during extended periods of little or no rain. In order to minimize the effect a secondary source within reasonable walking distance should be provided, if possible. The school administration will take responsibility to replace a broken tap and fix the gutters. Based on an average school size of 720 students as observed by the Team, the number of students impacted by this project will be 7200 students.
2.1.2. Protection of Springs with Biosand Filters
The project will develop 25 protected springs currently in use by villagers. This will entail development of unprotected springs or unlined wells, which may also require some source protection. Given that the springs and shallow wells are generally polluted or at risk, the project will also include the distribution of household biosand filters.
Household size biosand filters will be used to provide treatment at the POU for water collected from contaminated sources such as springs and swamps. They will also be considered to treat water that becomes contaminated when it is transported to the home in an unclean vessel.
a biosand filter (BSF) is an adaptation of the traditional slow sand filter, which has been used for community drinking water treatment for 200 years. Laboratory and field study have shown, biosand filters to remove the following:
• Up to 100 percent of helminthes (worms) Up to 100 percent of protozoa
• Up to 98.5 percent of bacteria
• 70-99 percent of viruses
Based on the government standard of 250 users per protected spring water source it is assumed that 42 households per source will require a biosand filter. The total project impact will be for 1,050 households. It is common practice to utilize resources that are in closest proximity and the least congested; thus, a large number of persons will be assisted by the improvement of the water point(s) in closest proximity. In addition, these sources will serve as a backup to other facilities, such as boreholes, when such units are taken offline for maintenance.
2.1.3 Hand pump Boreholes
The project will construct ten new boreholes. Based on the government standard of 300 users per borehole (50 households/borehole) the project has the potential to benefit 500 households.
The predominant request among interviewees is for an increase in the number of boreholes. With the exception of the groundwater near Lake Victoria and one well in Muterere, boreholes have been shown to provide a consistent source of clean water.
Projects involving the construction of boreholes will be accomplished in concert with the District Water Office. The project will go through government's standard process for borehole implementation which includes the following steps:
• Find a reliable drilling company;
• Commission a hydrogeological survey (a);
• Determine community location preferences (b);
• Decide on location considering (a) and (b);
• Hire a third-party to complete an EIS;
• Obtain necessary government permits;
• Clear roads within the community for drilling rig access;
• Drill borehole;
• Evaluation of borehole performance (production, quality, etc.); and
• Install pump (if evaluation result is positive).
2.1.4 Solar Pump Boreholes
Similar to the project above, this project entails the construction of five boreholes; however, the unit will be fitted with an electric pump powered by a solar panel. The system will include a tank and standpipe at the bore site and a remote tank and standpipe near another housing cluster approximately 2km away. Installing solar pumps on boreholes is expected to double well yield and provide collection points in closer proximity to end users The assumption is that such a system will be capable of serving twice the population of a standard borehole; therefore, the project would benefit around 500 households.
2.1.5 Step 2 Chlorine Generators
This project will involve the mass distribution of the small Step 2 Chlorine Generators that run on D-size batteries. The project is envisioned to distribute units to approximately 5,000 households and provide training in its use.
2.1.6 Health Centre Compost Toilets
In an effort to promote a more positive attitude regarding the use of composting toilets this project will install eight units at each of the District Health Centres. The toilets would be open to the public to use. The compost material will be utilized on agricultural demonstration plots to show proper and safe use of human waste to improve crop yields. The number of facilities to receive these units would be six; it is unknown the number of persons that may be impacted until it can be determined how many people would be willing to use the facilities.
2.1.2.7 Traditional Pit Privy Upgrade
The project is intends to upgrade the commonly used TPPs to IPPs by providing concrete squat plates. The use of such plates will improve cleanliness by providing a washable surface and be more structurally sound than the current timber and dirt floors. The project will as well promote start up of a number of micro businesses across the area in the manufacture of the plates. The number of units included in this initial project is 5,000.
2.1.2.8 Ceramic Pots and Candles
These devices are essentially filters with extremely small pore sizes. The pots can be set on top of the storage vessel or mounted above it. The user fills the pot with contaminated water and it is allowed to drip through over the course of the day. The candle is a small tubular device. The candle can be mounted inside of a vessel and operated in a similar manner as the ceramic pot with the water dripping through to a storage vessel or it can be used like a straw and water drawn through the device under a vacuum. The project will promote the manufacture ceramic pots as an opportunity for business in Bugiri or one of the other more urban centers.
2.2 Sanitation and Hygiene
To improve sanitation and hygiene the stance ratio the project will construct eight -stance toilets with changing rooms for girls in schools. In addition schools will be equipped with sanitation promotion tools (10 sets) like working tools (rakes, spades, and wheelbarrow. Micro enterprises will be established for the manufacture of liquid soap to enhance hygiene standards. Microenterprises for production of concrete slabs to upgrade traditional pit latrines and another to manufacture reusable sanitary towels will also be established to generate income for community members and to help achieve sustainability of project outcomes. Sanitary towels will be distributed to girls in the project area.
2.1 Implementation strategy for Objective Three:
Build the capacity of the community to set their own development agenda
In a bid to build the capacity of the communities to be in charge of their own future development the project will undertake the following activities:
3.1 Capacity Building for Communities:
This project is hinged on training and capacity building of the community both for self help WATSAN initiatives and also to demand services from other service providers. Communities and their leaders must take responsibility for management and operation and maintenance of the established services. Therefore, Community Based structures and systems will be established or strengthened under this project e.g. User committees of the facilities, Community Based health workers. Capacity building of community based management teams and systems which have been derived from the need to mobilise and mentor local communities with skills to develop the needed capacities to assess, choose, organise and take initiatives for sustaining their own developments after Rotary Club of Ntinda and cooperating organisations exit will be provided.
Activities for accomplishing community capacity building are detailed under the section of the application which describes the kind of training that this project will provide.
Training local artisans
This will focus on building the institutional capacity of partners to effectively provide water and sanitation services. On a technical perspective, the local artisans [masons] will be trained in the most appropriate and cost friendly construction approaches, routine maintenance of different water facilities and technologies by resource persons who will be identified by the partner organizations on basis of their specialty. A total 60 local artisans will be trained. 10 artisans from each sub county will be identified the assistance of local leaders who will base the selection on the commitment of the artisans in serving their communities. Trainings for local artisans will be conducted in 3 groups of 20 people per training to ensure that everybody gets sufficient hands on training. The training sessions while explaining the theory aspects will mostly be practical basing on the notion that adults mostly learn by doing.
Conduct networking and collaborative meetings with stakeholders, institutions namely, Bugiri Water Department, Schools, NGOs and CBOs, to enrich the project outputs.
Rotary Club of Ntinda needs to intensify her networking and collaborative initiatives and as such she is to conduct collaborative meetings with stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to promote sharing of experiences and lessons particularly relating to the water and sanitation sector. There will be 12 meetings in total (1 quarterly) with different partners and institutions working in the same WASH business from private sector, NGOs/CBOs, sub counties, government ministries and departments and other key players from the WASH sector for instance Bugiri District Water department,, NGOs and CBOs, UWASNET, WSWG among others to mention a few to enrich the project outputs. Rotary Club of Ntinda will develop at end of these meetings minutes of issues discussed.
Training of water and sanitation committees
Benefiting communities will elect water and sanitation management committees who will be tasked to oversee proper functioning and maintenance of the toilets, water points, water tanks and biosand filters. The user committee will monitor performance of the landlords who have the task of being caretakers of the facilities. These will be trained in O&M of water and sanitation facilities to ensure their long-term sustainability. The operation and maintenance training of the user committees cover topics in O&M of each respective project technology promoted, roles and responsibilities, record keeping and book keeping skills.
Train Village Health Teams in hygiene and sanitation as well as social marketing to be able to reach out to other community members.
Currently the health and hygienic living conditions in the target area is very poor partly because of people's diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Therefore the need for continued follow up and institution of community based training structures. Rotary Club of Ntinda proposes to re-enforce trainings in hygiene and sanitation as well as social marketing by giving basic skills to selected VHTs so that they can follow up these trainings in the communities through organised trainings and household visits. This training will be non- residential for at least 2 days. Facilitators will be invited from the District health department to backstop Rotary Club of Ntinda partners's pool of experts, for purposes of promoting participation of stakeholders as well as increasing project ownership and future sustainability. The VHTs will be provided with working tools e.g. wheel barrows, spades, gum boots, gloves among others to facilitate their sanitation promotion efforts in communities after this training. Participants will be facilitated with 2 teas/refreshments and lunch per day in addition to transport refund.
Training of communities in Group formation, dynamics and savings as well as entrepreneurship skill development
The focus of this strategy is on entrepreneurship skills development and training in resource mobilisation mainly among the youths and women to increase their capital levels through savings education and financial management. It was noted during the needs assessment studies that most of the problems highlighted revolved around poverty and one way that was suggested to improve the situation was through promotion of entrepreneurial skills, resource mobilisation and savings. This would enable people to engage in micro enterprises for which there is great potential in the water and sanitation set up of the project. Community members will be trained in making the making of concrete slabs and biosand filters, how to make liquid soap and how in to manufacture reusable sanitary towels.
Group formation and group dynamics training will involve mobilizing communities on how to form groups. There is need to enhance the capacity of these groups so that they can continue to operate even with no support from the project. Rotary Club of Ntinda in collaboration with the partner organization will organize training workshop per sub county parish for groups and emphasis will be put on building cohesion and building more RCC's in the project area. The training workshop will cover the following topics group dynamics, conflict resolution, governance, administration and management, basic financial management skills (book keeping and record keeping), resource mobilization, instilling into them saving culture and entrepreneurial skills among others as a means to imparting skills and knowledge which will contribute to sustainability of these groups. Through this, the community will help in resource mobilization. This training will be spearheaded by a facilitator with a back ground and experience of doing social work, resource mobilization as well as entrepreneurship skill development.
Basing on this notion, Rotary Club of Ntinda is going to form 3 RCC's per sub county. The RCC's will be composed of 25-30 people each with clear constitutions and objectives with one of the principle objective being that of addressing their WASH needs in addition to solving their other poverty hard pressing and basic needs. Over 300 people will benefit from this activity with 10 new groups to be formed.
Village health teams and local artisans will be encouraged to form groups. The user committees will be trained in operation and maintenance to manage WASH facilities.
Organise an exchange visit on sanitation and hygiene promotion and water credit for VHTs, user committees, water credit group representatives on the basis of their dedication to the project activities.
Additionally Rotary Club of Ntinda will organize 1 exchange visit to Nairobi for the community WASH structure members such as VHTs, User committee representatives and project staff (totaling 20-25 participants) to learn how to operate and manage water and sanitation programs as an avenue for income generation. The study will also focus mainly on being exposed to water credit project initiatives in the selected organizations. Participants will be facilitated with transport, accommodation and meal expenses.
The exchange visit will be organised during the project period (in the last quarter of the first Year) to promote learning and sharing of experiences. The exchange visit will be in Nairobi Kenya specifically to Maji na Ufanisi and 1 more organization to share best practices in community empowerment in enterprise development, saving schemes using incomes generated from water and sanitation facilities to bring other developments within the community and credit management in the WASH sector. On return, the team leader and each of the participants will be expected to make a study visit report /presentation highlighting: - a) course of the journey, b) sites visited similarities with the project interventions c) differences, d) lessons learnt worth copying and why, e) challenges and how they have been overcome and f) overall challenges of the visits ,g) the way forward for future and further improvement of such visits h) Identification of 3 issues from the visit to be applied in the project and at community level. Efforts will be made to create an avenue for each of the participants to share their experiences, lessons and report with the community structures after which action plans shall be developed.
INVOLVEMENT OF HOST CLUB MEMBERS
For this project Club members will be responsible for:
• Mobilizing and sensitizing the communities about the project design since they have been an integral part of its formulation.
• Explaining to different stakeholders their roles and responsibilities to ensure active involvement, participation and project sustainability.
• contribute
• Fulfilling conditions for qualification /have the responsibility to qualify for the Global grant.
• Together with International Rotarians undertake to apply for a global grant from The Rotary Foundation.
• Raising/ contributing funds for matching to get the Global grant.
• Contribute technical skills (engineering, social work, etc.)
• Monitor Project progress and outcomes and share lessons and good practices.
• Prepare reports to TRF and to International Rotarians
The role of International Rotarians will be to:
• Provide technical oversight for project implementation, including technical assistance.
• Promote the project to International Clubs and international donor organizations in a bid to raise funds for project implementation and sharing lessons and best practices.
In order to do this they need to understand the project design, a responsibility which the Host Rotarians will take upon themselves.
• To supervise the project implementation. Effective supervision will require International Rotarians to be part of the setting of project targets. This means that International Rotarians will have the responsibility of contributing to the project planning process together with the host Rotarians. International Rotarians will be expected to visit project sites as the project is also their project. This will promote international understanding and friendship on the side of the Host Rotarians and International Rotarians.
• To qualify to apply for a global grant and together with Host Rotarians apply for the Global grant
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