CLTS progress in Kilifi DA – Update #2
A report on SPSM’ field visit to Jaribuni to see progress made on CLTS (“Usafi wa Mdzini” as expressed by the local community)
Friday, August 9, 2007
The Water and sanitation technical team in Kilifi DA was at it again. Having introduced the concept on CLTS in Jaribuni community on the 17th July 2007 (see update #1), so much progress has been made within a time span of 3 weeks. The team led by Winfred Ireri, the Community Based facilitator (CBF) has been making a keen follow up on progress made by the community members in constructing pit latrines. The first CLTS introduction session was received extremely well and the community members made a vow to take it forward and ensure that the village has total pit latrine coverage and are ODF. On 9th August 2007, Kilifi DA was graced by the presence of the SPSM, Mr. Samuel Musyoki. The DA also wanted to share experiences and lessons learnt so far and at the same time, benefit from his wealth of experience in CLTS. A visit was scheduled to the Jaribuni village where communities have “gotten tired of eating their own shit”. Here, the staff from Kilifi DA together with SPSM saw the progress made so far in CLTS. It was amazing to see how the community members themselves were able to monitor and document each and every progress being made in the village. Accompanying Mr. Musyoki were Jacqueline Jumbe (Area Manager, Kilifi DA), Martin Hinga (Water and Sanitation Technical Advisor, Coast region), Samuel Kombe (Monitoring and Evaluation Facilitator, Kilifi DA), Kenneth Chege (Program Facilitator, Kilifi DA), Wilfred Ireri (Community Based Facilitator, Kilifi DA), Mwazala Maghanga (Program Facilitator, Kilifi DA) and Japhet Kashuru (Program driver).
The team arrived at Jaribuni Polytechnic at around 11 a.m.
The SPSM being welcomed by the area assistant chief Mr. Kulumba
Meeting with the Jaribuni CLTS steering team
After the first awareness creating meeting on 17th July, the community made a resolve of no turning back. The community formed a task force comprising of 8 community members (3 women, 5 men) to follow up and monitor CLTS in Jaribuni village. The team has a chairperson and a secretary. The Plan Kenya team had the opportunity of meeting and having discussions with the Jaribuni community CLTS steering group. Present also were Jaribuni community members who were working together with the team. The meeting commenced with an introduction session for all participants present.
The community CLTS steering team had prepared a short presentation. This was to show the progress as per homestead. The Area Assistant Chief Mr. Kulumba welcomed the visitors. He made a small presentation on how the CLTS concept was introduced and received by the Jaribuni community members. The Assistant Chief spoke of how the community felt that the cleanliness of the home was an individual as well as a collective responsibility. A female community member spoke passionately about the concept and how they have been happy with how this will change “usafi wa Mdzini – Cleanliness of the home” which is in local language. He then called upon the chairperson of the CLTS team Mr. Chondo who also gave a short overview on the concept. He noted that by end of August all proposed toilets will be completed. The secretary took over to give a statistical presentation. He began by emphasizing how important it was for every homestead to have a pit latrine. He also added that one person had not taken positively the CLTS concept and was not willing to build a pit latrine and stop open defecation. How ever the team agreed to deal with that case on an individual basis. This would entail the Area Assistant Chief holding discussions with him on what it means to be left out by the rest of the community and why he needed to join in the efforts of ensuring that Jaribuni is open-defecation free. The Chief was further to share the public health act with the young man.
The secretary for the community CLTS steering team gave feed back on the progress as per homestead. He read the names of each homestead and gave the status. This is as below:
NUMBER OF HOMESTEADS / STATUS10 homesteads / Completed and pit latrines are already in use
22 homesteads / Still continuing with the constructions
8 homesteads / Have not started
The SPSM making an observation Mr. Charo (the secretary) making a presentation
Quote from the secretary: “I was talking to a community member who was very disgusted with open defecation. He said it’s very sad when we learn that we’ve been consuming our own shit. He could not hold it any more and he started crying as a way of expressing his disgust and shame”.
The walk to the village to see the different stages and progress made was interesting as the steering group did it with a lot of passion, determination and confidence. (see the power point presentation for more captivating photos) The chief finally concluded the session by informing the team that the community CLTS steering team was scaling up the concept to all the villages with in Nagoni CBO (Vinagoni sub location), something that caught Plan staff by surprise. The Steering group had scheduled the scale up meetings on their own as they felt, the information they gathered the first day from the Plan staff was good enough. Having jaribuni village Defecation-free while their neighboring villages are still going to the bush was not of much help. They expressed concern that they share the same water resources, farming fields, community centres and therefore, it was important that they also took Usafi wa Mdzini very seriously. The schedule was shared, see below:
VILLAGE / DATE FOR VISIT, RESOURCE MAPPING AND TRANSECT WALKMWANDA / MIKULUNI / 14/08/2007
MAJENGO / 21/08/2007
MTUNGA / VIKWATANI / 24/08/2007
Visit to the homesteads
The group proceeding to the homesteads as they chat
Homestead with a complete pit latrine (Note the use of locally available resources such as palm leaves, sticks and metal sheets made from old metal drums)
The first homestead the team visited had a complete pit latrine that was already in use. The house occupants had used locally available materials which were of very low cost and no doubt of high impact. One of the greatest challenges that they have faced so far is sinking soils. This particular pit latrine had started sinking on one side.
Second homestead that has began putting up a latrine the area assistant chief assisting the owner of (Note the improvised pit hole made from a plastic can) latrine to measure the depth of the pit hole
As the community members proceed on with digging the pits they kept on improvising them to ensure that they last long and the soils don’t sink )see the round shaped pit hole
The team on a third homestead whose pit latrine is almost completed (Note the slanting roof top and distance of sticks from the pit hole. This is an improvised latrine that ensures that the side soils don’t sink)
A woman explaining to the team her progress in putting up a localized pit slab (Note the use of strong sticks and logs. This are used as a slab to ensure that the pit latrine is stable)
The team having a look at a homestead whose latrine is on the final stage of being completed. (Note the use of the palm leaves as roofing)
Plan Kenya team having a look at a natural rope made from locally available trees. (The rope is very strong and is used to tie the logs and sticks together during construction)
The community CLTS steering team has come up with a way to monitor the process. The team’s secretary Mr. Charo has made a list of all homesteads and updates are made based on individual progress. Two area maps for the village are in the process of being drawn. One will be put up on the Nagoni CBO’s office notice board whereas the other one will be put up on the Jaribuni dispensary’s notice boards (The area dispensary). The team will use colored mark pins showing different homesteads and the progress they are making.
Community CLTS monitoring tool. (Note that each household name is put down and depth of pit in FT indicated)
Conclusion
The area assistant chief thanked the entire team both from the community and Plan Kenya for the well done job. Jacqueline then welcomed Mr. Musyoki (SPSM) who thanked the community members for embracing change and taking it forward. He urged them to carry on with the same spirit in declaring Jaribuni an open defecation free village. A volunteer was then called upon to close with a word of prayer. The community session ended at 3.40pm.
The team having a debriefing
Plan of Action for Plan Kilifi DA as a facilitator of change
· Engage the TAs (DATA and COTAs) in support to the communities to adopt different ways to resolve the collapsing pits. Without this, a lot of community members will give up in the fight. (request already sought awaiting feedback)
· The M&E facilitator to strengthen the already existing Participatory Monitoring and evaluation in the community as seen from the report
· The Pfs and CBFs to participate in the awareness creation in the scheduled meetings in the other villages as “observers” as the community steering group takes the active role
· The WATSAN technical team (WATSAN TT) to meet at the DA and discuss scale up to other villages/CBOS and hopefully beyond the DAs
· WATSAN TT to document all the processes including a photo bank
· WATSAN TT and TAs (DA and CO) to support the DA in looking at integration of CLTS with other approaches like c-IMCI, SIP, VS&LA, Circle of Hope etc
· The DA to bring on Board more Government representatives (DO, Chiefs, MoA, MoE, MoH etc) to participate in these community initiatives as CLTS is cutting across all sectors
· The DA to reinforce issues of CP to the CORPS in the digging of pits up to utilization
Report compiled by Kenneth Chege reviewed by: Jacqueline Jumbe, AM
PF, Kilifi DA, 16th August 2007
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