No going back to life without latrines in Ethiopia
19 November 2007
A DFID-backed programme which provides safe water supplies and latrines has made a real difference to the life of an Ethiopian family.
Robeshu lives with her husband, Gemechu Feyessa, and their eight children in
the district of Mulo, about 70 km south of Addis Ababa. Mulo is home to about
40,000 people, almost all of whom are poor farmers eking out a living from the
land, tending cattle and growing teff, the grain used to make the flat pancakes
that are the foundation of Ethiopia’s national dish, injeera.
In September, the land is green, lush and fertile. Mulo’s rolling green hills
remind you sometimes of Wales, or perhaps Somerset. But looks can be deceiving.
During the rainy season (mid-June to mid-September) over 1000 mm of rain falls,
and this year has been especially wet, causing flooding and land erosion – more
evidence, if any were needed, of a changing climate in a fragile landscape.
But outside the wet season, it’s hot and dry. The land is parched, springs and
streams dry up and people have to work harder and walk further just to fetch
water. This job typically falls on women and children, diverting time from
school, family life and more productive activities.
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Protecting water at the source
For almost half of all rural Ethiopians, the nearest source of water is 1 to
4 km away. But thanks to the Ethiopian Government’s national water, sanitation
and hygiene (WASH) programme, Robeshu’s walk is shorter.
"I can now collect 20 litres of water seven times a day for my family," she says. "It’s a shorter journey than it used to be, as we have permanent source of water less than 20 minutes away from our house."
Robeshu takes her water from a protected spring tank, where the water is pure and safe, and free from contamination by human or animal waste.
Fighting a killer
Ethiopia has one of the lowest levels of water and sanitation access in Africa. Most Ethiopians consume less than 15 litres of water a day from nearby rivers or unprotected springs. Water-borne disease is one of the country’s biggest killers.
In Mulo, the District Administration had only managed to construct ten
water points in ten years. But through the national WASH programme, 15 new water
supply schemes - which have employed pumps, hand-dug wells and boreholes - have
been delivered in the past year.
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Building better hygiene
The
local Government's renewed commitment to public health has also resulted
in a wave of household latrine building, with 1,700 simple pit latrines
constructed in Mulo during 2005/06.
Explaining the effect this has had on his family, Robeshu’s husband Gemechu says:
"There is no more bad smell and no flies are coming to contaminate our
food. We are able to save the cash which we used
to spend on healthcare. My family is enjoying a clean environment and privacy."
The Mulo woreda council has worked closely with the local health bureau to bring
about these achievements. Each kebele (a community of around 5,000) deploys two
female health extension workers, part of whose job is to go from house to house
spreading the message about the importance of hygiene and latrines.
Latrines at last!
"We make house calls three times a week," explains Fantaye, a health extension
worker in Thero Boro kebele, Mulo district. "Sometimes we have to walk up to two
hours, but we are not discouraged by this."
Read our
case study for more on health extension workers
and the Ethiopian health extension programme.
By encouraging community members to carry out some easy-to-follow actions,
health extension workers have brought about a real change in behaviour. Now,
most people in Mulo are happy to agree with Gemechu when he says, unequivocally:
"No way of going back to open field defecation!"
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Key facts
- Ethiopia must spend £300 million a year between now and 2015 if it is to meet the MDGs on water and sanitation.
- The Ethiopian Government is struggling to secure a financing gap of £100 million a year, despite contributions from NGOs and communities.
- WASH, which is supported by external donors including the World Bank, African Development Bank, UNICEF and NGOs, is delivering encouraging results but does not cover all kebeles in the 300 districts where it operates.
- DFID has just approved a new water, sanitation and hygiene programme worth £75 million over five years to increase coverage of WASH and build on existing capacity,
- DFID’s support will bring water and sanitation to an additional 3.2 million people and pay for skills development and training to improve the way water services are run and deploy more technicians and health extension workers. It will also allow the construction of 37 addition small town water schemes and 7,200 rural water supplies.
