Community Awareness of Water and Sanitation Sample Clauses

Community Awareness of Water and Sanitation. This quarter, our efforts to increase community awareness of water and sanitation practices focused on user education of institutional and household latrines. Our strategy aimed to combat past experiences where facilities were unusable or in poor condition due to lack of community knowledge on facility use and maintenance. The Field staff intensified user education during this quarter through house to house visits of HHL beneficiaries as institutional facilities in all GWASH communities.

Community Awareness of Water and Sanitation. During this period, XXXXX worked steadily to increase community awareness of water and sanitation practices continued with user education of institutional and household latrines. Our strategy aimed to combat past experiences where facilities were unusable or in poor condition due to lack of community knowledge on facility use and maintenance. The field staff intensified user education during this quarter through house‐to‐house visits of HHL beneficiaries and institutional facilities in all GWASH communities. With the aid of visual tools the field staff explained the proper use of the latrines. For example, the need to shut doors at all times, drop all used anal cleansing material into pit, and hand washing with soap under running water were presented as important practices. GWASH recognizes the power of peer pressure, and when possible some user education sessions were done in clusters to enable the beneficiaries to learn from the good practices of their neighboring households and communities. The field team posed various questions and scenarios which sparked a discussion to elicit answers from the community members. This approach to user education was found to be effective as the beneficiaries perceived it as a safe space to share their beliefs and experiences with some admitting that they had previously contravened some of the appropriate practices, especially the act of dropping used anal cleansing materials into the pit. GWASH efforts to increase community awareness of water and sanitation practices continued with user education of institutional and household latrines during this reporting period. Our strategy aimed to combat past experiences where facilities were unusable or in poor condition due to lack of community knowledge on facility use and maintenance. The field staff intensified user education through house‐to‐house visits of HHL beneficiaries and institutional facilities in all GWASH communities. The use of video shows by GWASH in the hybrid CLTS communities as part of triggering the communities to stop open defecation has yielded positive results and GWASH is continuing to employ this strategy to support its user education efforts. During this reporting period video shows were held in communities to encourage adherence to proper facility user‐practices and the operation and maintenance of the household latrines and xxxxx to encourage good hygiene and sanitation practices. Both photos and videos were used to generate discussions on bad practi...

Community Awareness of Water and Sanitation. The Ghana WASH project baseline study and the community profiles developed during the initial community entry activities served as a basis to assess WASH related issues in each of the communities. The community profile illustrates social, economic and cultural situations in the community, education, water supply and sanitation, including behavior/practices with respect to water and sanitation and factors which influence the behaviors. The information was analyzed, compiled and used to facilitate the design and implementation of water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities at the community level. This helps in creating messages with the assistance of the community members. Although this activity was organized in almost all communities during the first quarter of the year, the team saw the need to revisit the profiles of the communities and use that as a reference material in terms of how best to manage these communities. In sensitizing communities, a great deal of emphasis was made on the need to stop open defecation. Hand washing with soap was stressed through practical demonstrations with focus group meetings and community durbars. In cases where there is no soap, the groups were encouraged to use ash. An experience sharing workshop was held at the Municipal Assembly Hall in Kibi in East Akim, Eastern Region for all the WatSan Committees from the communities and institutions within the East – Akim Municipality. Forty eight participants, made up of 44 men and 4 women, attended the experience sharing workshop. Notable attendees included the Municipal Chief Executive, Municipal Coordinating Director and the Ghana WASH Project Regional Field Officer. Communities and stakeholders exchanged information and best practices on water and sanitation during the workshop, including the development and dissemination of behavior change messages through channels such as mass media broadcasting (radio and television), group channels (meetings, festivals, performances, natural meeting places), individual discussions between sanitation facilitators and a mother, father, teacher, school children, and public address systems available in most communities. In terms of the integration of CLTS efforts as a means of achieving ODF status and increasing the number of latrines built via the Ghana WASH Project interventions, progress towards achieving these goals will be reported in the Year 3 annual report in October 2013.