News note
UNICEF Djibouti organize a five days hands-on training workshop on
Community-Led Total Sanitation in rural areas
DJIBOUTI CITY, 5 april 2012 – A five days ‘hands-on’ training workshop on CommunityLed Total Sanitation supported by UNICEF started on 29th March. The workshop was
organized by the Ministry of Water and gathered forty five participants from the Djibouti
government ministries (Ministry of Water, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and
Secretary state in charge of National Solidarity), international and national NGO (ACF,
Care International, ADIM, ADPSE and Djibouti Red Crescent Society) and community
leaders from nine villages.
During the workshop two days were spent on classroom learning on CLTS techniques,
facilitation skills, sharing of global experience on CLTS and two days on field practice on
triggering CLTS.
On 04 April, UNICEF organized an high level meeting to present CLTS approach. The
meeting was attended by four ministers (Ministry of water, the Ministry of Interior, the
Ministry of High Education and the Ministry of Health) and others high official
personalities. It was agreed that the national sanitation strategy will be updated in order
to take into account the CLTS approach(community empowerment, and moving away
from supply driven approach) to deal with the situation existing in rural areas of the
country.
Water and sanitation are not a new problematic for the Republic of Djibouti in general
and in the rural areas in particular. Many children, particularly girls drop out school and
are denied their right to education because they are deterred by the lack of separated
and decent facilities in schools. Women often suffer from the lack of privacy and need to
walk large distances to find suitable place for defecation in the absence of the household
appropriate neighborhood toilet. The practice of open defecation in Djibouti comes from
the lack of awareness of the people about the associated health hazards. As per latest
survey up, only 8% has latrines within / attached to their house.
Despite these challenges, Djibouti made significant efforts to introduce Community Lead
Total Sanitation since 2009.
A total of nine villages have been triggered by the workshop participants as a result of
which at least five village communities have decided to stop open defecation
immediately and construct their own latrines without any external help or support. In
Gallamo, the community dug fifty toilet pits within 24 hours of triggering. In Bondara
village eleven (25) pits have already been dug, in Kontali village the number is more
than twenty (20). This is a clear indication that if empowered, Djiboutian rural
communities could move immediately and start local collective actions to stop open
defecation and enjoy the benefits of good health from clean and sanitized environment.
In Chabelley village the empowered community has totally stopped open defecation
within three to four days after triggering by the main facilitators just before the
workshop began. They went to Chabelley to field test the applicability of CLTS approach
in Djiboutian context, which proved to be absolutely effective.
On the last day of the workshop selected members from ten communities including
Chabelley were invited to present their plans of action to achieve Open Defecation Free
status.
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About UNICEF:
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive
and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of
vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good
water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of
children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the
voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For
more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org
For further information, please contact:
Yahaya Issaka Balima, UNICEF Djibouti, +253-21-31-41-14, yissakabalima@unicef.org
Najwa Mekki, UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, +962-6-5502425, nmekki@unicef.org