Bapak Mulyo Widodo, the Village Secretary of Sambirejo Village in Sragen district, Central Java, has expressed his dismay towards the community’s long-standing open defecation practices. As a village government official, he envisions a healthier environment where people refrain from open defecation: “I want to address the issue of open defecation because it has adverse health effects,” said Bapak Mulyo Widodo, known as Mulyo.
As of 2021, out of the 2,560 households in the village, 30 were still practicing open defecation. However, turning Mulyo’s vision for an open-defecation free (ODF) society in his village into reality is not an easy task. He believes that some families lack awareness about the importance of having toilets. Furthermore, sanitation has not been a priority in the village’s development budget.
He saw an opportunity to tackle these challenges when USAID IUWASH Tangguh began its work in Sambirejo village in 2022. Since then, Mulyo, along with other village officials and community members, have actively participated in the project’s activities, including a community-based participatory assessment and triggering—a process of identifying problems and finding ways to solve them, as well as promoting the importance of safely managed drinking water and sanitation. In addition to participating in these activities, he has shared his knowledge about safely managed drinking water and sanitation with other village leaders and the community during regular meetings and celebrations.
According to Mulyo, USAID IUWASH Tangguh has increased the village officials’ knowledge and commitment to building safely managed sanitation facilities. He emphasized, “Providing access to safely managed sanitation will improve people’s health. The Sambirejo village government’s departments will collaborate to fulfill the community’s expectations.”
As recently as June 2023, Mulyo participated in a training on how to build septic tanks that follows the Indonesia national construction standards. The event, conducted by USAID IUWASH Tangguh at a community member’s house will help him and the village build more septic tanks that are safe for the community to use.
Under Mulyo’s leadership, the Sambirejo village government has proposed utilizing IDR 25 million (US $1,600) from the 2023 Village Funds (Dana Desa) budget to construct 10 toilets with septic tanks in March. Once the district government disburse the funds, he can start the construction. Additionally, the village has also received corporate social responsibility funds provided by local business Nojorono Kudus to renovate 10 houses that are unsuitable for living in, with toilets with standardized septic tanks.
Thanks to his persistence in education the community, Mulyo observed that some families who used to practice open defecation have now shifted to using toilets even before any of the construction started. This demonstrates that by working together, local governments and communities can accelerate improvements where citizens benefit from having access to safely managed sanitation.
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