RT01/RW02 in Holtekkamp Kampong (sub-village) is one of the neighborhoods with a high rate of open defecation practice in Muara Tami sub-district, Jayapura city.
Although the city health office, together with the participatory M&E team in RT01/RW02 and USAID IUWASH PLUS, have promoted safely managed sanitation since 2018, many households still find it hard to stop their open defecation habits.
Based on the participatory M&E data as of July 2019, of 22 households in RT02/RW02, only 1 HH had a toilet with septic tank, while 20 households had toilets without fecal containment, and 1 household practiced open defecation.
“I believe many people understand that disposing of untreated human waste to the environment will make their neighborhood dirty and may cause diseases,” said Husein, the Head of Holtekkamp Kampong.
Husein often participates in the safely managed sanitation promotion run by the city health office and the participatory M&E teams.
“The problem is money. Many families here are not able to afford to build a toilet with septic tank, which could reach Rp5 to Rp 7 million per unit,” Husein explained.
Therefore, the Head of Holtekkamp Kampong and the participatory M&E team discussed alternative funding in August 2019 to help the people in RT02/RW02 build household toilets with septic tanks.
From the discussion, the Head of Holtekkam Kampong agreed to allocate the 2019 Village Fund amounting to Rp630 million to build 27 toilets (seven of them were built in RT02/RW02), and Rp1.4 billion to build 10 houses with toilets and septic tanks for the low-income community.
The Head of Holtekkamp Kampong, Husein said, “the Kampong government has to abide fair and justice principle when it comes to policy. That is the reason I use the village fund to build toilets with septic tanks not only for the people in RT02/RW02 but also for families in other RTs who are not able to build such facilities on their own.”
In addition, one of the households that practiced direct discharge received assistance from Cendrawasih University to build a toilet with septic tank in 2019.
All 27 toilets with septic tanks funded by the 2019 Village Fund were built in December 2019 to February 2020 with support from community members. USAID IUWASH PLUS used the toilet with septic tank construction in RT 01 to train masons on how to properly build safe toilets. With this knowledge, the masons helped the toilet with septic tank construction in other RTs, including RT02.
The Head of Holtekkamp Kampung plans to allocate budget in the 2020 Village Fund to build safe toilets for the remaining 14 households in RT02/RW02 and other RTs.