Plan Netherlands Two water, Sanitation and Hygiene projects in Mzuzu, Malawi

Plan Netherlands Two water, Sanitation and Hygiene projects in Mzuzu, Malawi

Plan Netherlands Plan Netherlands is a Dutch NGO (established in 1975) and is member of Plan International, one of the oldest children s development organisations in the world. Plan works with children, their families, communities, local grass roots organisations and local governments to improve basic services like water and sanitation. Plan puts emphasis on the rights of and opportunities for girls because discrimination and inequality based on sex is common practice in many developing countries. Girls, for example, suffer more than boys if water is not available. Often they are the main duty bearers responsible for fetching drinking water and are the ones that need to take care of the sick when family members fall ill due to waterborne diseases. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is one of the 8 impact areas of Plan. Plan s overall WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) objective is to improve the survival, protection, dignity and development of children and girls in particular. The strategy is to enhance the self-reliance mechanisms of people, and to realizing the full benefits of WASH services (including socio-economic development) through promotion of behavioural changes. In this leaflet we would like to inform you about two WASH projects (Peri-Urban Sanitation/ hygiene Project and Water Demand Management) that Plan is currently implementing in Mzuzu, a city in the north of Malawi. Both projects focus on improving the living conditions of low- income households living in this urban town. In both projects Plan partners with public partners Mzuzu City Council and involved private partners. Plan believes that Public Private Partnerships (PPP) are an important tool to ensure sustainability of its project activities. 3

Tale of two WASH projects in Mzuzu, Malawi. Peri-Urban Sanitation and Hygiene Project In this EU financed project Plan works together with Plan Malawi, a local NGO and the Mzuzu City Council to improve access to sanitation and hygiene in Mzuzu city. The project has a budget of 1,5 Million Euro and will run from the first of March 2013 until the end of February 2017. The overall objective is to improve the sanitation infrastructure and to promote hygiene in the city. Concretely, this means the project wants to improve the living conditions of 98,300 people (target group) of which 17,800 school children in 6 low income areas in Mzuzu City. To achieve this the following activities will be implemented: Construction of affordable privately run public toilets in market places and schools; Construction of safe private latrines; Set up cooperation with micro finance institutions to provide soft loans to target groups to construct a household latrine; Sanitation and hygiene promotion through 4

school and community based campaigns and training of community based organisations to provide sanitation like cleaning services; Promotion of re-use, recycle and reduce of solid waste (like plastic bottles) through campaigns; Training on operation and maintenance of waste skips to ensure collection and transportation; Construction of sanitation centres to offer sanitary facilities and build capacity of micro-entrepreneurs; Training of private operators and local authorities on cooperation and involvement; Development of a system which Plan can use to monitor the progress of project activities (Management Information System). Expected results: Improved access to sustainable sanitation infrastructure services; Improved good hygiene and sanitation practices; Improved sustainable waste management, using the 3Rs of Re-use, Recycle and Reduce; Developed and strengthened capacity of micro entrepreneurs and local authorities to respectively deliver and manage improved sanitation services; Strengthened participatory monitoring and evaluation systems. Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) CLTS is an innovative methodology for mobilising communities to completely eliminate open defecation (OD). Communities are facilitated to conduct their own appraisal and analysis of open defecation and take their own action to become ODF (open defecation free). At the heart of CLTS lies the recognition that merely providing toilets does not guarantee their use, nor result in improved sanitation and hygiene. Earlier approaches to sanitation prescribed high initial standards and offered subsidies as an incentive. But this often led to uneven adoption, problems with long-term sustainability and only partial use. It also created a culture of dependence on subsidies. In contrast, CLTS focuses on the behavioural change needed to ensure real and sustainable improvements investing in community mobilisation instead of hardware, and shifting the focus from toilet construction for individual households to the creation of open defecationfree villages. By raising awareness that as long as even a minority continues to defecate in the open everyone is at risk of disease, CLTS triggers the community s desire for collective change, propels people into action and encourages innovation, mutual support and appropriate local solutions, thus leading to greater ownership and sustainability (www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/page/ clts-approach).

Water Demand Management to Mitigate Water shortages In this Public Private Partnership (PPP), co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Plan works together with Vitens Evides International (VEI) a Dutch drinking water company, the Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) and the Mzuzu City Council (MCC). The objective of this PPP is to increase the financial, technical and managerial capacity of the NRWB and the MCC to: (1) increase water efficiency, (2) reduce water pollution, (3) increase coverage of WASH services to low income households. Currently NRWB is facing an exponential increase in water demand due to rapid population growth of Mzuzu. The present coverage of 68% of households is expected to lower in the coming years due to lack of water resources. Both NRWB and MCC acknowledge the urgency to find innovative instruments to mitigate the gap between demand and supply of safe water. With Plan and VEI they found qualified partners to meet current and future water demands. The project has an overall budget of 2,6 million and will be implemented in the period 2013-2018. Increase water-use efficiency of consumers; by developing a Strategic Water Demand Management Plan, by laws and intensive awareness raising campaigns, water-use of consumers in Mzuzu will decrease. Increase water coverage, especially for low-income households; by construction of 30 new and rehabilitation of 150 water kiosks and training of water operators, an additional 45,000 people (especially in lowincome areas) gain access to safe water and drinking water. Improve access to appropriate sanitation; by constructing 8 communal toilet blocks and by triggering 2000 households and 500 landlords, at least 4,900 people have gained access to improved sanitation. Increase capacity and coordination of NRWB and the MCC; through training of the NRWB and the MCC on prevention To achieve this, the PPP project will implement the following activities: Reduce the level of water losses (nonrevenue water); Water pipes will be fixed and water billing will be improved to reduce water losses and improve income for the drinking water company.

of non-revenue water, Water Demand Management and Urban Community Led Total Sanitation (UCLTS), the capacity of the NRWB and the MCC increases, and by the establishment of a joint Water Demand Management Plan, water kiosks and a sanitation task force, cooperation between NRWB and MCC has improved by the end of the project. Expected Results: Reduced water loss by half from 40-45 % in 2012 to 20% in 2018; Supply increased with at least a 100,000 m3 per month for another 50,000 people of Mzuzu, by 2016; Per capita water demand is reduced by 10% by raising water efficiency in households through awareness raising activities; Revenues of the NRWB increased to cover 150% of the operational cost by 2018; At least 500 new households use a waterless toilet named Ecosan Coverage rates for water services will increase from 68% to 80% of the households; At least 10 new public water points (water kiosk or standpipes) and 4 communal toilet blocks at market places; Already existing water kiosks are functioning effectively and efficiently; Capacity of NRWB and MCC is strengthened, resulting in improved efficient service delivery and more households will get access to water and sanitation services. 7

Plan Stadhouderskade 60, Amsterdam, T +31 (0)20-549 55 75, @ info@plannederland.nl, I www.plannederland.nl B ING 3452100, Rabobank 39.35.86.766, KvK Amsterdam 41198890