Kabarole District has set targets to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene services to every person, leaving no one behind. Kabarole’s WASH vision commits that by 2030, the district will be 100% open defecation free (ODF), with 72% of the population enjoying basic and 28% safely managed sanitation services. But sanitation and hygiene are not the only service mandates that the district has. That means that the conditional grant from central government is not nearly enough to reach everyone at once. The district leadership has strategized to concentrate resources in selected underserved sub-counties, making sure that every village and home is served.
At Turi Kumwe Development Foundation, we believe that a WASH response is a health response. We are implementing a joint initiative in partnership with Water for People and with technical support from Kabarole District Health Department and Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) to improve WASH services in 2,000 community households in Mugusu, Kasenda, Rwengaju, Busoro, and Hakibale Subcounties. We have renovated latrines and installed sato pans, installed drinking water and handwashing stations in targeted households that were in dire need.
The core purpose of the project is to create awareness and inspire change from the grassroots up, by empowering households to install and maintain good sanitation and hygiene facilities, and gradually eliminate open defecation in the entire district. The targeted community households have been engaged in various activities including community engagement meetings, baseline surveys, home visits and education, piloting of the Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) tools, celebration of Sanitation Weeks annually and rewarding homes that depicted outstanding standards of sanitation and hygiene. Turi Kumwe Development Foundation remains committed to universal access, reaching everyone, everywhere with services.
