BRAC WASH diary, October entry:BRAC WASH diary, October entry:Celebrations and Reflections on Celebrations and Reflections on

National Sanitation monthNational Sanitation month

WASH Programme is implemented in 248 upazilas under 53 districts. Rallies and seminars were held where participants marched together to celebrate and spread awareness on the National Sanitation Month in each WASH upazila. In addition, district advocacy workshops were organized in 29 districts

As a member of the National Sanitation taskforce, BRAC WASH organizes various events every year during the National Sanitation month of October to spread mass awareness on sanitation and hygiene.Here, District Commissioner, Mr. Mezbauddin is speaking at the National Sanitation month workshop held at Khulna on the 17th. He spoke on the relationship of a healthy lifestyle and safe hygiene practices, adding that awareness and education were key tools to bring behavioral changes and build a safer and healthier Bangladesh.

Participants that included schools students, community members, government officials and members from over 40,000 Village WASH Committees participated at the Global Handwashing Day on October 15th by washing their hands at the same time all over Bangladesh.

To stimulate a bottom-up approach in planning and participation, Village WASH Committees whose members represent their entire communities, were made in every village where the programme is being implemented. Members gather on a regular basis year-round to ensure proper implementation and maintenance of the programme by identifying needs; allocating loans/grants/subsidies; selecting sites and collecting money from clients; and overall monitoring facilities and the practice of villagers

Area maps such as these allow VWCs to keep a record of and monitor sanitation facilities such as latrines and safe water sources in village households

Members of the Village WASH Committee (VWC) in Dhamrai, Dhaka discuss important updates at their meeting. VWCs have an all-inclusive membership, that particularly focus on poor women who are increasingly becoming instruments of social change in their communities

Salma Ali works to promote safe hygiene practices and to encourage households to install proper latrines. When she first started, men from even her own family used to tell her to mind her own business and go back to her kitchen. “But things are changing now,” she says.“The village has moved to an 83% sanitation coverage from 40% before,” says Salma, adding, “A few years ago, adults would not wear sandals before going to the toilet, but now every five year old in the village knows to wear sandals before going to the latrine. They know how to wash their hands and as a result, diseases like diarrhea have gone down.”

Another member, Moazzem Hossain, is trying to arrange for a latrine to be installed at a house nearby the masjid. “People used to think that the VWC was all talk and no action, but now they know that is not true because everybody has seen the results. People’s thoughts are changing and so are their behaviors,” he says. Moazzem gives an example of how before, the belief in villages was that people should stop drinking water if someone had diarrhea. “Now they know better because they try to hydrate as much as possible by drinking salt water, molasses and oral saline, and practice safe hygiene practices” he adds.

Shomik Ahmed and Dolly Akhtar, both in class nine, represent the faces of many student brigades all over the country who are advocating for sanitation facilities and proper hygiene practices among their peers. “After separate toilet facilities for girls were installed in our school with BRAC WASH’s support, girls feel more comfortable to come to school. In today’s age, we cannot allow girls to fall behind,” say the two classmates.

Their Principal, Tofazzal Hossain, stresses on the importance of addressing sanitation issues. Heading his school proudly, he says that even though it is a tough obstacle, proper facilities need to be introduced to all schools in the country. Speaking fondly of his student WASH brigade, he realizes how ambassadors like them are very important, saying, “Kids talk more freely with other kids. The best way for information to be received is when they are given by somebody you can connect to.”

Women regularly sit down at meetings to discuss and learn about sanitation and hygiene issues that are conducted by Programme Assistants. Rural women play the very important roles of care givers in their families and have become valued agents of the BRAC WASH programme.

Fatema Akhtar, a Programme Assistant, teaches a young mother and her son the proper way to wash their hands.

Special session for adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene, which is a key issue affecting girls’ dropout rates in schools

The women of the village who attend WASH meetings help each other by monitoring proper sanitation and hygiene practices. The meetings have also become an outlet for them to socialize and make good friends.

WASH teaches households to share the task of maintaining and installing their facilities, which used to be perceived as a “woman’s job”.

Handwashing for every member of the family, is particularly important in reducing the burden of infectious and parasitic diseases. The hands are the last line of defense against exposure to pathogens which can occur either directly from the hand to the mouth, eye, nose, or other area of the skin, or indirectly by “handling” of food or water. Villages where the programme has been implemented all note a great reduction in the number of water-borne diseases.

The Programme’s bottom-up approach ensures that there is an open communication of ideas and practices at all levels of the organization. Trainings have become a very important channel where management level staff are able to take inputs from field level staff and vice versa.

From the ultra-poor to the well off, every household that is covered by the programme is monitored by WASH staff in order to ensure their facilities are maintained and their knowledge is retained

Research is being conducted to make bio fertilizer out of fecal sludge in order to make the WASH programme even more sustainable in the near future