The Global Community for the Northern Sector has organized a one day sensitization workshop for the Chiefs of the Bole Traditional Council on Friday, 17th February, 2023, on the need for Open Dedication Free (ODF) and good Sanitation.
Speaking at the programme, the Program’s Coordinator for the organization, Mr. Dominic Dapaah said the Global Community a non governmental organization has been working in the Bole Traditional Council for the past five(5) years especially in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district.
He added that their visit to the Bolewura’s palace is to register their presence in the Tradition Council and to brief the chiefs on the work that they have done so far.
He continued that they would like the chiefs to appreciate the work that they have done in making most of the communities attain an Open Defecation Free system and good Sanitation.
He said they will also like to solicit support from the Bolewura and his chiefs in order to improve the implementation of the project of an ODF and also to achieve the objectives of the project.
Mr Dapaah said the main issues of discussion with regards to the workshop is how the chiefs can support in setting up rules and regulations in their communities that will lead to the improvement of good hygiene and sanitation.
He said this can be done when the chiefs help them in letting households to construct latrines, use them and to stop the practice of open defecation and also the practice of hand washing in their communities.
Mr Dapaah again said the second issue has do to with the role of the District Assembly in supporting the entire project and the implementers to achieve the intended results.
According to Mr. Dapaah, there have been significant improvement in the implementation of the ODF in the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Districts.
He stated that in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district, they have been able to get over 80 percent of the communities (284 Communities) that have attained ODF status, just about a few communities of about 20 to 25 have not yet attain ODF.
He further said that all the communities that have attained ODF are doing well, except that they are faced with some challenges in some communities.
He explained that if individual communities are doing well and the entire area of target communities are not, they cannot say they have achieved their results except when all the communities attain the result they want.
Mr Dapahh said in the Bole District, the Mankumah Area Council is the only area with almost all the communities that have attained ODF, adding that they started the project in Mandari last year and have already benefited from the mechanized system.
The District Coordinating Director of Bole said the District Assembly has by-laws that they follow in order to prosecute persons at fault when issues come up.
He explained that before they enforce these by-laws to prosecute persons, they need to caution and educate the public on them and if it still persist, then they further prosecute the person.
He further stated that on the issue of support for the program, the assembly has always work closely with Global Community through the district environmental health unit and the district implementation committee.
He added that even in the district annual action plan, there are issues with respect to the environmental officers to visit communities to ensure that where there are nuance, they advice, caution and work with them saying that the assembly has to do more.
He lamented that unfortunately the district do not have enough workers at the environmental health unit, stating that the entire district has only eight(8) staffs which makes it difficult for them to work more effectively.
The Paramount Chief of the Bole Traditional Council, Bolewura Safo Kutuge Feso (I), in his speech expressed his happiness and gratitude to the Global Community and the stakeholders who were present at the workshop.
He said it is the first of its kind that has happen since he ascended the Bole throne as the paramount chief, stating that the NGO has come to help every household to construct a latrine, to improve good hygiene and sanitation in the community.
The Bolewura therefore admonished all his sub-chiefs to make sure that they construct latrines in their various homes in their communities and also help the Global Community to achieve their results by building the household toilets in these communities.
He also acknowledged the good work the Global Community has already done in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district in the past five years and encouraged them to do more in the Bole District as well.
Bolewura further called on the citizens and natives of the various communities who have the capability of constructing or building these toilet can also contribute to the improvement of good hygiene and sanitation.
Meanwhile the global community have been able to make some achievements for the past five years.
Some of the achievements made are; over 370 communities have been declared ODF, 7,317 household latrines have been constructed, 2,020 natural leaders have been identified and trained, 6 CLTS facilitators trained in bio digester latrine construction, 10 latrine artisans identified and trained, etc.
The plan for Bole and STK under the ENWASH is to facilitate the attainment of District -Wide ODF in STK in two years, facilitate ODF status in Bole and Mandari and facilitate the sustainability of WASH behaviors and facilities.
Some of the challenges of the Global Community in the implementation of the project are; difficulty in enforcing community rules and regulations, lack of ownership of the process by community leadership ( chiefs and assemblymen), and inability to lobby for infrastructure ( water and sanitation facilities) for communities due to poor response by some communities.
Source: nkilgifmonline.com
