Canadian agency takes K64m sanitation project to Nkhata Bay
The Canadian Physician for Aid and Relief (Cpar) Malawi has embarked on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) project estimated at K64 million in Nkhata Bay to curb open defaecation said to be rampant in the lakeshore district.
Speaking during a district coordinating team meeting where Cpar Malawi introduced the project, district water officer Alex Mwanjasi Mwakikunga said 90 percent of villages in Nkhata Bay District defaecate openly, leading to water and food contamination.
He said: “We have had Community Led Total Sanitation projects before, but we have never declared the district open defaecation-free.”
Mwakikunga bemoaned that although non-governmental organisations have been coming up with sanitation projects in the district, nothing tangible has come out of the projects.
Cpar Nkhata Bay district water and sanitation hygiene (wash) coordinator Rodney Rajab said the CLTS project will now run according to its timeframe.
He said some of the activities will be verification of whether the communities have stopped open defaecation, constructed toilets and have hand washing facilities.
“We are also going to construct 10 toilets at community-based child-care centres, provide 10 buckets to 10 primary schools and train 30 frontline workers on CLTS,” said Rajab.
The one-year project is being funded by United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) and will be implemented in Traditional Authority Malenga Mzoma. n
