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[Mtama District Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) - Institutional triggering for local government and community leaders]
Mtama District, in Lindi Region located in the Southeastern Tanzania, approximately 170,000 people are living relying on agriculture and fishing. In 2021, Mtama was ranked 131 out of 137 villages in Tanzania according to the result of National Sanitation Campaign. Additionally, two out of three villagers (65.9%) in Mtama live without toilets and sanitation facilities, with most of them practicing open defecation. None of the 93 villages in Mtama have yet received Open Defecation Free (ODF) certification, which the government certified when every villager eliminates open defecation by constructing toilet facilities in each household.
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The Heart to Heart Foundation collaborated with local government officials and Community leaders to address the poor sanitation conditions. Throughout the discussion with them, we decided to introduce a community-led total sanitation(CLTS) program integrated with the sanitation market and Community Micro-finance Groups to improve the sanitation condition. We expect this approach moves away from one-time support of basic facilities and encourages the local residents to aware the need and to construct sanitation and hygiene facilities independently. In April 2023, the Heart-to-Heart Foundation held a briefing session for local government and community leaders to emphasize the importance of improving sanitation facilities and hygiene practice. This meeting empowered villagers to plan and set goals of the village by themselves.
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To make durable latrine slabs, training on how to make “Sanplat” was conducted for the artisans(masons) who can make and provide it to the villagers in the community. There are two main problems with latrine floor solely made with soil. Latrine can collapse due to natural disasters like strong wind and rain. Also, there are concerns on hygiene because it is hard to clean soil-made latrine floor. To solve these main problems, we introduced the ‘SanPlat’ slab model, which is easy to make using a mold.
Through this project, trained artisans will produce SanPlat with reasonable prices that villagers can afford in the villages. Additionally, the Heart to Heart Foundation is helping villagers to access funds for building sanitation facilities through the Community Micro-finance Group(CMG).
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