“Many people in RT12, 13, and 14 in Bedian hamlet used to do their business in a river or paddy field,” said Sri Utami—a village midwife in Bedian hamlet in Alas Kandang village in Probolinggo district.
What Sri said is reflected from the USAID IUWASH PLUS’ baseline data in early 2018. The data indicated that around 166HHs out of 216HHs in RT 12, 13, and 14 in Bedian hamlet did not have toilets.
A participatory monev team was established with support from USAID IUWASH PLUS to support safely managed water and sanitation promotion and improvements.
The team members, consisting of the community representatives, also received trainings from USAID IUWASH PLUS on the safely managed and sanitation knowledge and promotion, monitoring and evaluation, and advocacy skills to enable them to do their jobs.
“We always motivate the families who practice open defecation to stop their habit as it is dangerous for their health. Our promotion has successfully motivated some families in RT 12, 13, and 14 to build toilets with septic tanks,” said Sudirman, a member of the participatory monitoring and evaluation team.
“Yet, there are low income families who want to build toilets with septic tanks, but lack finances to build the facility on their own,” he added.
Therefore, the participatory monitoring and evaluation team, with support from USAID IUWASH PLUS, village midwife, and sanitarian of Puskesmas Besuk, advocated the village government to assist the low-income families in RT 12, 13, and 14 in Bedian hamlet to build toilets with septic tanks. This advocacy was conducted through a series of meetings from January to March 2019.
As a result of the advocacy, Alas Kandang village government used the village fund (DD) to build 50 healthy toilets (toilets with septic tanks) for 50 low income HHs in Bedian hamlet who did not have toilets and still practiced open defecation.
The DD allocation for the 50 toilets was supported with the Alas Kandang Village Regulation No 1/2019. The toilet construction took place from November to December 2019.
“Thank be to God, my family and I no longer do our business in the river because we have a toilet at home,” said Syaiful Bahri—one of the beneficiaries of the DD funded healthy toilet.
Besides allocating the DD for toilets, Alas Kandang village government also plans to renovate 3 uninhabitable houses, including building a toilet in each of those houses using DD in 2019. The village government also receives DAU from the national government to renovate 59 uninhabitable houses in Alas Kandang village.
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