Beneficiaries: 1,310 children
Completion date: July 2023
Country: Tanzania
Executive summary
People living in the villages of Ilunda, Kinampanda, Mitundu and Kintinku live in the dry plains of Tanzania, while families of Maruku live in a humid lake region. What these communities have in common is a need for better sanitation facilities for their children.
Most children registered at the Compassion centres in these communities are between age 3 and 11. Children at this age need close supervision when they go to the bathroom to wash their hands properly. Improper handwashing can transfer bacteria, viruses and parasites found in human waste to food, a major cause of diarrhea among children at the centres. Currently, handwashing facilities are a distance from the latrines. This increases the likelihood that children skip handwashing or put their hands in their mouths or on their faces before washing.
An insufficient number of toilets per person makes it hard to keep facilities clean and disease-free. This leads to increased cases of diarrhea and urinary tract infections among children, especially girls. The Tanzanian government stipulates that schools have one toilet for every 20 girls and one for every 25 boys. To accommodate the 1,310 children at these five centres, across these locations they need an average of 65 toilets; currently, the centres only have 30 toilets between them.
Without enough facilities, teachers can’t release all the children who need to go to the bathroom at once. This means young children sit in class distracted—or worse, they have an accident. Lines are long for the facilities and children don’t enjoy their program days when they’re worried about toileting. Teachers are also distracted from teaching when they must spend so much time ensuring cleanliness. The five church partners managed to raise local resources to construct some toilets, but they did not raise enough funds to complete the construction.
With your help, Compassion will collaborate with local church partners to finish building 10 toilets and construct 28 additional toilets and proper handwashing facilities at the five centres. Children will also learn proper handwashing techniques and receive instruction on personal hygiene. This simple project will reduce illness among children, help them concentrate during their lessons at the centre and contribute to their long-term health as they learn vital sanitation and hygiene practices.
Summary
Did you know
In 2016 in Tanzania, 46 per cent of girls and 43 per cent of boys age 0 to 5 were treated for diarrhea. Sadly, only 26 per cent of the country’s more than 65 million people use safely managed sanitation services.
Background
Compassion Tanzania spoke to children, teachers and child development workers from the five Compassion centres and discovered a desperate need for additional toilets. Church partners in each location did their best to raise funds, and they were able to build 30 toilets on their own. The five Compassion centres have good reputations in their communities. When the projects are underway, they will have additional support from local governments and businesspeople to implement this initiative. In addition, one of the local churches has members from the construction and health industries to help support this project.
The need
Compassion Tanzania is committed to ensuring children at the centres in Ilunda, Kinampanda, Mitundu, Kintinku and Maruku have the sanitation facilities they need for good hygiene. Right now, the situation is desperate. There are simply not enough sanitation facilities at each centre to accommodate the growing number of children Compassion serves. Children are becoming ill and the situation is disruptive to centre programming. Your gift will enable frontline church partners to complete and construct 38 toilets and proper handwashing facilities. It will also provide personal hygiene training for the children.
Church partners at Kinampanda’s centre have already built 10 latrines. This intervention will help them add doors, windows and floor tiles and connect them to water systems. An additional 28 toilet units and handwashing stations will be constructed in Illunda, Mitundu, Kintinku and Maruku to ensure that each centre has at least 12 toilets to serve the children and staff.
What your gift will do
Your gift will ensure 1,310 children at five Compassion centres in Tanzania have appropriate toilet and handwashing facilities:
- Construction of 38 toilets and proper handwashing facilities:
- Completion of 10 toilet facilities for TZ0152
- Construction of 28 toilet facilities for TZ0148, TZ0357, TZ0358 and TZ0910
- Hygiene training for 1,310 children
Logistics
- Local contribution: US$2,097.16
- Handling of funds: Compassion Tanzania will work with individual churches to ensure this project remains within budget. In the event of price increases for materials, the churches will mobilize local resources to fill the gap.
- Monitoring and follow-up: Church leadership and the ministry committee will appoint people to oversee the project activities, assessing for timeliness and quality of work. The partnership facilitator will provide guidance and will monitor the progress against implementation standards.