At Huni valley, community members, NGOs/CBOs, consultants officials from District Assembly gathered for the district learning Alliance on 6th /05/2011 to review the progress on the assignments of the previous two months on the Tripartite partnership project.
The learning alliance aimed at briefing the community on the major engineering works and the progress of the hygiene promotion activities in the community. The community also pledged their support to the project activities as evidenced from the remarks of the District Chief Executive when he called upon the various departments to work on their assignment on an agreed time frame. He also registered the communities’ voice “that the construction works are taking long to commence”
Feedback from the consultants n the thematic areas.
Engineering.
Edem Adiko presented for Afrowood Consult on the engineering component, he focused on sanitation since the water aspect of the assignment had been presented in the previous meeting. The engineering feasibility study indentified that the existing public latrines had seepage problems with the septic tanks. To manage solid waste, transfer sites would be introduced where households can dump their waste temporary and the District Assembly will organize for the final disposal
Proposed way forward.
- Mr Adiko proposed that Ecosan bio-digesters would be a better technological options for the public latrines in the water logged areas.
- Six transfer sites were proposed each with two skips
Hygiene promotion.
Mr. Evans Nkrumah presented on behalf of Phibeta consult. In his account of the software component, he said the consultants held community forum on the 13th of March to educate the community on the approach, methodology and deliverables of the Tripartite partnership project. At the forum a Water and sanitation board was constituted. Community Sanitation volunteers and Artisans were also selected. They also organized a community clean up exercise.
Phibeta consult proposed in next month, they would be carrying out training for Water and Sanitation Development Board, Sanitation Volunteers, artisans, household latrine promotion and Hygiene education. He also showed six proposed household latrines options and their estimated cost.
Main area for discussion.
In the discussion session, the community discussed issues of Land ownership over the proposed transfer sites and final disposal of waste and committed to collaborate with District Assembly to ensure the documentation of release of those lands. The participants of learning Alliance noted that Community contribution towards latrine construction was high especially for the Water closets that people preferred. This prompted the consultant to intervene, and he explained that what had been captured under community contribution is the part of the cost that the householder can mobilize in the form of materials and not necessarily cash. The proposed loan scheme raised questions of loan recovery and what mechanism would be suited for the community. The concept of Sanitation Volunteers was highly patronized. As proactive community sanitation champions they are had organized more clean ups in the community after they were enrolled. The DCE recommended that CWSA guidelines for community mobilization and animation should be followed during the training of WSDB for uniformity in approaches. Consultant’s reaction was in affirmative
The district learning alliance is facilitated by the TPP. It engages the community, NGOs/CBOs, media and consultants the Municipal and district Assemblies in a participatory planning, review of progress and decision making on interventions, choice of technologies fostering a strong community ownership and involvement.