www.rspn.org Text:
Ayesha Amina Askari & Mohammad Faisal Khalil
Project Management and Editing: Mohammad Faisal Khalil Design:
Bilal Safdar (DOT advertising)
Printing:
DOT advertising
Photography:
Ayesha Amina Askari
Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this study. All the information was deemed to be correct as of July 2012. Nevertheless, the Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of its use for other purposes or in other contexts. Š 2012 Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN). All Rights Reserved.
OVERVIEW
PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY ENVIORNMENT AND HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE THROUGH LOCAL SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS
- PROJECT OBJECTIVE
THE DETAILS THE CONTEXT An indispensible, yet often unrecognised, way of improving community health is through ensuring better community environment. Environmental degradation and the arbitrary disposal of waste have adversely impacted health in Pakistan, particularly in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where deforestation has been rapid, a system of solid waste management in rural areas absent, and half the population without access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation. This crisis has majorly affected women and children in the province. RSPN accordingly deployed this VITOL funded environmental and hygiene action project in the province's Swabi district, which over the course of its seven-month duration promoted community level environmental practices, and personal and family level hygiene practices. THE INSTITUTIONS It did so by institutionalising participatory environmental and hygiene management into the district's communities. Through the system of specialised committees, the local communities deployed both asset-based and behaviour change actions. This programme of change was carried out through the
CHILDREN AT A GIRL'S SCHOOL THAT BENEFITTED FROM THE PROJECT
Fostering LSOs or Local Support Organisations in rural Pakistan is central to the 'Social Mobilisation' approach of the Rural Support Programmes (RSPs), which centres on the belief that poor people have an innate potential to help themselves, that they can better manage their limited resources if they organise and are provided technical and financial
platform of the Local Support Organizations Network (LSON) in district Swabi.
support. The RSPs mobilise rural communities into three levels of organisations, which are Community Organisations (COs) neighbourhood level community groups, Village Organisations (VOs) village level associations of COs, and LSOs - union council level associations of VOs. LSOs are able to carry out community-led
THE ACTIVITIES
development at a much greater level due to the advantage they gain
The LSON of Swabi identifed 28 model villages, 2 each from 14 LSOs, in which project interventions were implemented with an understanding that based on success of the project in these villages, the methodology will thereafter be replicated and thus sustained through the LSON.
from numbers. As the tertiary tier, LSOs are also uniquely able to develop linkages with government and non-government organisations, donor agencies and the private sector. A recent, fourth level of organised social units that has naturally emerged in various regions, including in Swabi, where some LSOs are associating with each other at the tehsil and district levels to form larger community-driven organisations.
THE VALUE OF SOCIAL MOBILISATION
The project had two specialised components of activities: 1.
Environment - Promoting community environment friendly practices
2.
Hygiene - Promoting personal and family level hygiene practices.
COMMUNITY HEALTH CAMPAIGNER CONDUCTING A HYGIENE AWARENESS SESSION IN UNION COUNCIL ASOTA OF SWABI
Beneficiaries
215,029 Duration
Months
from January to July 2012
Assistance Area
Swabi District, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
Assistance Amount
$100,000
DURING A GATHERING OF HPC REPRESENTATIVES
INSTITUTIONALISATION + ACTIVITES The second component of the project promoted hygiene related positive practices. In this regard, village-level Hygiene Promotion Committees (HPCs) were formed in each target village. Each HPC underwent an orientation on the concepts of hygiene, desired positive behaviours for personal, household and family level hygiene, and management of hygiene related activities. Each HPC was responsible for and implemented the following set of activities: a. Nominated and had trained by the project one Community Lady Health Campaigner (CLHC) and one Community Male Health Campaigner (CMHC). b. Dispatched the CLHC and CMHC in their target village to conducted awareness sessions. Each CLHC and CMHC conducted 8 sessions in a month, for a period of 3 months, with both women and men. Each CLHC and CMHC conducted 24 sessions with 480 participants. CMHCs and CLHCs were paid a compensation of their time and effort. c. Disseminated adapted and translated IEC material developed by RSPN. These included counselling cards on the importance of hygiene for use by the CLHCs and CMHCs during their awareness sessions and leaflets on positive hygienic practices for a broader dissemination among the target communities.
SCHOOL GIRLS LEARNING AND SIMULATING SAFE HYGIENE PRACTICES
28 Hygiene Promotion Committees
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
600 Committee Members Trained
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
60 Community Health Campaigners
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
A GROUP HYGIENE SESSION BEING CONDUCTED BY A CMHC
14,400
14,400
28,800
14,400
Hygiene Awareness Sessions
Men Trained
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
Total Number of People Trained
Women Trained
DURING A COMMUNITY RESOURCE PERSON TRAINING
60 School Sensitization Sessions
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
Number of School Children Trained
16,818 Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
SCHOOL CHILDREN AT A LOCALLY ARRANGE HYGIENE RAISING EVENT
"FUTURE TREES" SUCCESS STORY
Nearly 12,000 trees have been planted in two villages of union council Saleem Khan in the space of a few months. Their LSO, SRDO, was given a made-to-order stock of 6,999 trees to plant under the project: 3,214 eucalyptus, 3,214 poplar and 571 guava trees. A further 4,987 trees were planted by the LSO on its own initiative. These trees, planted in areas such as graveyards and communal land, were distributed under a resolutely participatory way, with the LSO delivering the trees to their neighborhood COs. To care for the poplar and eucalyptus trees, the LSO has also hired a caretaker on a pay of Rs. 4,000 a month. He spends 3 days every week caring for the trees in each of the villages. Taking care of the trees is important to two villages, important to their future. Mr. Iftikhar, a retired army officer from village Saleem Khan, says “there is a stream that runs by our village and every monsoon it floods, destroying property and livelihood. We hope that by next year, when the trees we have planted along its banks have grown, it will provide the village with a measure of protection.�
HYGIENE SENSITIZATION SESSION AT A GIRL’S PRIMARY SCHOOL
ENDLINE PERCENTAGE
73.13% 13.65%
BASELINE PERCENTAGE
5.97% 94.03%
Remembered all the techniques
Remembered all the techniques
Remembered two or more of the techniques taught.
Remembered two or more of the techniques taught.
A GIRL LOOKING ON A HYGIENE SESSION BEING CONDUCTED BY A CMHC
Baseline
46.13 40.87
Endline
40.87
28.48
47.01 36.84 41.79
Wearing Clean Clothes
58.2
Endline
35.29 Cover food containers
39.18 Bathing frequently
88.8
Wash fruits and vegetables
88.43
Brushing teeth before going to sleep
75.54
Clean animal shelters
Baseline
Brushing teeth after waking up
Nail Cutting
55.42
Cover water containers
Dusting
Wash Utensils
94.4 92.16
68.66
57.59
PERSONAL HYGIENE
92.16
52.99 47.01
36.53
DOMESTIC HYGIENE
INSTITUTIONALISATION + ACTIVITES As a part of first component, 28 environmental management committees (EMC), one in each village, were formed. Two members from each committee underwent two days training in environmental friendly practices. These trained members in turn oriented other members in the committees based on the learning they had gained. Each EMC was responsible for and implemented the following set of activities: a. Established a collection point for solid waste in two schools in each target village to promote clean environment practices; b. Motivated students and teachers of these schools to adopt environment friendly practices by organizing one event on positive practices in each target school; c. Organized a clean village campaign in their respective village. During these campaigns, the communities provided information on the consequences of environmental degradation on human beings and on the proper management of solid waste and water conservation; d. Planted 3,500 forest plans in their respective village to maintain biodiversity and provide catchment for soil and water conservation.
PLANTING TREES IN MARCH
28
Environmental Management Committees
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
600 Committee Members Trained
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
STREETS AND DRAINS BEING CLEANED BY THE COMMUNITY DURING A CLEAN VILLAGE CAMPAIGN
Trees
30
Beneficiaries of Afforestation
Beneficiaries of Campaigns
Afforestation
105,000
215,029
Clean Village Campaigns
215,029
SCHOOL CHILDREN ALSO MOBILISED THE CLEAN VILLAGE CAMPAIGNS
Solid Waste Management Points
60
30
In Schools
In Villages
Beneficiaries in Schools
Beneficiaries in Villages
16,818
28,800
A SOLID WASTE COLLECTION POINT BEING CONSTRUCTED
"NEWLY CONSIDERED THINGS" SUCCESS STORY
"Before attending the session, I did not particularly care about personal and household hygiene, but now, I realize its importance and pay special attention to things that I did not consider before,” says Tajmeena, a 62 year old woman from village Kernal Sher Kilay and its namesake LSO. She attended a hygiene awareness session in March of this year, and since then, she has reexamined her understanding of what counted as wholesome in her in daily life, "Our household’s water source was from a hand pump installed inside the house, and I felt it was clean and drank it without purification." Now Tajmeena ensures that the water that her family drinks is boiled. “I also ensure that the members of my family wash their hands as often as possible, but most importantly, before meals." Members of her family who would often fall sick, apparently for no clear reason, no longer are. And this shift to prevention now saves her family valuable money previously spent on treatment: "If we can prevent people from getting sick in the family we will be more financially secure.” Tajmeena has taken this new cause up with such conviction that she now encourages other members of her community who haven’t attended the hygiene session to improve their daily practicies.