Hygiene and Culture

ISSUE:
We are working to address the issue of lack of hygiene in our community. Because collecting water takes a lot of time, community members are delayed in accomplishing their chores in a timely manner. Domestic violence is one consequence. In some cases women face violence and choose to break their relationships. There is a fear of using birth control, which contributes to large families and a large burden of work for the mother. There is a lack of understanding of the importance of sharing home tasks between couples. And poor families can’t afford to be hygienic. This results in hygiene-related diseases and illness. There are other many effects caused by lack of hygiene including children who don’t go to school, family conflicts, prostitution (because husbands seek out a perceived hygienic partner), and diseases from poor hygiene and limited access to health care.

MISSION:
To educate our community members to eradicate poor hygiene as a result of a new, safe source of water.

THEORY OF CHANGE:
We believe that:

• We believe that by providing a standpipe combined with sensitizations on hygiene, water treatment, gender balance, family planning and income generating activities, we can alleviate the challenges that prevent women from leading healthy, productive lives.
• We believe that by providing gender balance sensitizations to men they will see the value of helping their wives, who could then be saving time and also helping generate income for the family. This in turn will help increase good relationships between couples who can live in harmony and respect one another.
• We believe that by providing water treatment skills to community members this will help reduce water borne diseases among children and help mothers save time by not being in health clinics, and instead they can focus on income generating opportunities.

SOLUTION:
Our venture will supply water to approximately 3600 people, or between 120-178 households. We will provide a public workshop on water sanitation and will provide a 3-day training on gender balance to 40 couples who will be trained as trainers and have them go back to train 40 more households with a 2- day workshop that lasts for 7 months. With these workshops, we want to reach at least a total of 1600 households. We will also organize monthly workshops on hygiene and water treatment to reduce waterborne diseases that affect young children. We will organize village visits as a team to check on behavior changes and work with our focal points. A workshop on generating income will be given 4 times a month in two installments for 100 women. After gender balance training, we will follow up with each household to record and offer a follow-up workshop to the targeted homes, as to help change their mindsets for long term impact.

12-MONTH GOALS:

• After 1 year, 90% of people will have access to clean water.
• After 1 year, 65% of women and girls will have knowledge about income generating activities.
• After 1 year, 70% of couples will be sharing domestic responsibilities.
• After 1 year, 80% of couples will be using birth control.
• After 1 year, 70% of community members will know how to purify water.