Stakeholders in sanitation in the Volta Region, have expressed concern about the construction of community-based toilets in\u00a0the area.<\/p>\n
According to them,\u00a0the project will in the long-run lead to\u00a0open defecation in the region hence the need for it to be\u00a0reviewed.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”fd4fNkNumi2aMMJBEqpV0BrR5t7t44ny”]The stakeholders, drawn from districts in the region expressed the concerns on the sidelines of a sanitation workshop in Ho.<\/p>\n
Africa Toilette Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, is said to have launched a project to construct 20,000 community-based toilet across the country.<\/p>\n
Unconfirmed reports say the five thousand of the community toilets have been earmarked for the Volta Region.<\/p>\n
The project comprises 12-seater toilet each for men and women, a public shower, a biogas project, and a bore-hole.<\/p>\n
The stakeholders however said the initiative is undermining ongoing Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) campaign, Government and UNICEF project aimed at triggering households to own toilets.<\/p>\n
CLTS focuses on individual and community behavioural change towards sustained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.<\/p>\n
The stakeholders described the community-based toilets as unsustainable \u201ctop-down\u201d approach and that field reports indicated that public latrines do not enhance sanitation coverage.<\/p>\n
They said the community-based toilets could be constructed in schools, markets, beaches, churches, shrines and lorry parks but not residential areas.<\/p>\n
They also expressed the fear that after few years of operation, those toilets would become \u201cstatic open defecation\u201d with community members going back to defecate in bushes and at beaches due to the bad odour from the facilities.<\/p>\n
The stakeholders further indicated that the community toilets pose dangers at night such as rape and assault.<\/p>\n
Community-based toilets\u00a0unhygienic<\/strong><\/p>\n The stakeholders maintained that the toilets would be\u00a0highly unhygienic and encouraged feaco-oral transmission of diseases, non-compliance to hand washing standards and a great recipe for cholera.<\/p>\n The stakeholders said the construction and existence of community toilets are the reasons for which people put up houses without toilets and that even in communities where communal latrines existed, residents practiced open defecation and cited reasons for not wanting to use the communal latrines.<\/p>\n The stakeholders therefore called on policy makers, central government and local assemblies to repackage the project and support households to own toilets.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: GNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stakeholders in sanitation in the Volta Region, have expressed concern about the construction of community-based toilets in\u00a0the area. According to them,\u00a0the project will in the long-run lead to\u00a0open defecation in the region hence the need for it to be\u00a0reviewed. [contextly_sidebar id=”fd4fNkNumi2aMMJBEqpV0BrR5t7t44ny”]The stakeholders, drawn from districts in the region expressed the concerns on the sidelines of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":211987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n