Sumitra Pariyar, 35, resident of Ugrachandi Nala Village Development Committee (VDC) has now her own toilet constructed at the intervention of Community led Urban Environmental Sanitation (CLUES) programme for the past six months. It was the awareness programs that led this Pariyar family to divert from open defecation to using toilet which is connected to septic tank at present as the construction of sewer systems with the treatment plant is yet to complete. She feels that this has improved her lifestyle in terms of ease of addressing nature’s call and health of her entire family.
Sumitra Pariyar, 35, resident of Ugrachandi Nala Village Development Committee (VDC) has now her own toilet constructed at the intervention of Community led Urban Environmental Sanitation (CLUES) programme for the past six months. It was the awareness programs that led this Pariyar family to divert from open defecation to using toilet which is connected to septic tank at present as the construction of sewer systems with the treatment plant is yet to complete. She feels that this has improved her lifestyle in terms of ease of addressing nature’s call and health of her entire family.During a recent field trip in Nala, Ashutosh Tiwari, the Country Representative at WaterAid in Nepal felt that it’s a good start to bring about positive change in the community and he was pleased to see the unity of the community people in delivering project works. He said, “Now it seems that everyone has understood the value of waste as a resource, and that it can be used as a nutrient in the agricultural field. I see this as a good step in right direction.” However, he pointed out that the program design should be prepared properly in the initial phase so that the design issue does not appear time and again. “But the partnership of technical teams like Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD) and EAWAG will surely help in making the system technically sound”, added Tiwari.
The community people are quite positive about this environmental sanitation programme. Shyam Sundar Shrestha, president of Nala Integrated Development Committee (NIDC) shared, “This project has brought about positive changes in the community and increased excitement and courage of the people. Community participation and unity of community people were also largely visible. Awareness has also helped in changing attitude of the people. For instance, people now don’t throw their waste outside; rather, they try to manage waste it composting it in their backyard.” He suggested that it’s a high time bringing every community members together in a single platform and making aware them about the project, on-going activities and the benefits they will receive from the project so that people know about positive impacts of the project which can ultimately contribute in bringing about momentum in declaring open defecation free zone.
Water Aid is envisaging having 100 percent WASH coverage in the small towns by mobilizing local resources and bringing the small towns like Nala into their working portfolio so that the interventions can be replicated in other small towns as well, explained Tiwari.
Mingma Sherpa, representative of EAWAG pointed that the integration of other components of environmental sanitation such as addressing storm water drainage, grey water into the treatment system besides black water would be the next step of intervention to achieve a fully sanitized Nala.
Report by Shreya Bajimaya