Universal access to sanitation a far cry
MAR 12 -
No matter how many Open Defecation Areas (ODFs) Nepal declared in recent years, the country is likely to miss the Millennium Development Goals and the ambitious goal to ensure universal sanitation and safe drinking water by 2017.
After the government in 2002 announced to declare all the VDCs open defecation free by 2017, only 300 of the total 3,915 units have been declared ODF in 75 districts. Moreover, how the declared ODF areas are faring has hitherto sunk into obscurity owing to lax monitoring and lack of follow-up by the government. This, in addition, has raised a serious question about sustainability of the much-talked-about campaign.
The Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan has laid emphasis on the post-ODF situation stressing the involvement of local communities. The plan, which incorporates ODF as a major component, is yet to be implemented as a majority of the districts have not made any strategy so far. As of now, 40 districts have come up with a strategic plan, believed to help speed up the campaign.
Open defecation, rampant particularly in the Tarai, has badly contaminated water sources, raising serious public health risks, according to a UNDP progress report on the Millennium Development Goals. Some 13,000 children below five die of diarrhoeal diseases annually in Nepal, which can be partly attributed to poor hygiene and sanitation, according to the report.
Another report states that every day around 15 million Nepalis openly defecate mainly due to the lack of toilet. Hence, the ODF campaign can ensure a toilet in every household and help them practise the behaviour all their life, only if it is implemented in a sustainable manner with community participation, say experts.
“ODF campaign still remains a challenge in the central Tarai. People are not motivated to adopt healthy living behaviours,” said Nanda Bahadur Khanal, senior divisional engineer at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works. “Also, lack of political commitment to own up the campaign makes it hard to push the drive in many places.”
For instance, Khanal said that the ODF campaign in Rautahat shuddered to a halt as there is no Local Development Officer. He said workforce crunch at the grassroots level had also affected the programme and monitoring process.
Legal Advisor to the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre Dipendra Oli sees three challenges surrounding the ODF campaign. “First is the economic challenge. The other is the utilisation of built resources and the last sustainability of the programme.”
Oli stressed that the programme should make a slow and steady progress. “A decade ago, the then GTZ had given us necessary resources and technical support in managing garbage in the Kathmandu valley. After they handed it over to us, we headed nowhere. These kinds of failure are plenty in Nepal. Therefore, the government has to bring the communities on board practically for its sustainable development.”
“What will a poor family in hilly region do if a toilet made by an organisation is washed away by a flood? Therefore, along with the sanitation programme, their economic sustainability should also be taken into consideration and infrastructure should be built according to the demand of the community and not through high-flown plans.” While a WaterAid report estimates that Nepal needs a whopping annual investment of Rs 7.5 billion to meet the sanitation and drinking water goal, experts say that not money, but working sincerely towards the goal, would put Nepal to the test.
Ashutosh Tiwari, country representative of WaterAid Nepal, said the government has spent around one-and-a-half years harmonising organisations working in the field of sanitation. “Coordination among the stakeholders has made our work much easier. Now the government has to wholeheartedly work to achieve the sanitation target.” He said the government should have a strong monitoring mechanism to create positive effects of the campaign in the society and also understand the status after ODFs are declared.
“For this, the government plan to hand over the responsibility of planning, implementation, monitoring and supervision of sanitation and hygiene activities to the VDC-level Village Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Coordination Committee is really commendable,” Tiwari said. Nepal is going to host the fifth South Asian Conference on Sanitation in 2013. “To show achievements gained so far in this conference, Nepal needs to accelerate work and it is the right time for the government to roll up its sleeves,” Tiwari said.
Posted on: 2012-03-13 08:57
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