Promoting good hygiene practices in communities across Sierra Leone

Nyadehun Kpanguima - At least by West African standards, it’s a chilly morning in the small town of Nyandehun Kpanguima, Bonthe district.  One thing that catches the eye upon arrival in the town, is the cleanliness of the environment - the driveway and footpaths are clean and there are no garbage piles in sight.

At the back of one of the houses, Musa Mansaray, a resident of the community, emerges from a small latrine constructed with locally sourced materials.

The first thing that Musa does after leaving the toilet is to thoroughly wash his hands with soap and clean water, a practice that was previously out of the question.

“The hygiene and sanitation situation here was bad before. We didn’t have enough toilets, so the majority of the community members practiced open defecation,” says Murray Musa, a Hygiene Promoter in the community. “We also didn’t know the importance of handwashing with soap and clean water. We therefore, had frequent incidences of diarrhea that affected mainly children.”

In Sierra Leone, only 17 percent of the population has access to basic sanitation, with 10 percent in rural areas and 26 percent in urban areas (JMP 2021, Report), and 16 percent defecating in the open. Most people, both in rural and urban areas use shared latrines (limited) and unimproved latrines while 6 percent in urban and 26 percent in rural areas still practice open defecation. Until only last year, Nyandehun Kpanguima, which is home to over 500 people, had just three toilets.

In March 2022, UNICEF implementing partner, Community Organisation for Development and Empowerment- Sierra Leone (CODE-SL), with support from the Government of Netherlands, through the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), started working in our chiefdom using a chiefdom-wide approach to ending open defecation through Community-Led Total Sanitation, targeting all the villages in Bum Chiefdom.

“Thanks to this partnership, we are working with communities to help ensure that more people, especially the most vulnerable children, women, adolescent girls, and their families in rural and urban areas, have access to and use affordable, sustainable, and basic water and sanitation services and practice safe hygiene behaviors,” says John Coker, Manager of CODE’s sub-office in Bonthe district.

“Good hygiene is critical for preventing the spread of infectious diseases and helping children live long healthy lives,” says Bishnu Timilsina, UNICEF Chief of WASH. “The support we are providing communities will go a long way in encouraging and sustaining good hygiene behaviours in communities.”

Through the CLTS initiative, these communities were triggered to construct latrines, cloth lines to dry their clothes, place racks to dry plates, dishes, and other kitchen utensils, and fenced garbage disposal sites. As of November 2022, each of the 71 houses in Nyandehun town has at least one latrine, a drying rack, lines to dry clothes, and a demarcated garbage site.

According to Mustapha Lahai, Chief of Nyandehun Kpanguima Town, they embraced the initiative because they wanted a change in their situation. “Our town was not very clean. We also realised that we were consuming our own poop as flies transferring it from the bush to our food and household utensils,” he says.

Thirteen-year-old Yeawa Musa, a resident of the town, is happy that she has a private and safe space to attend to nature’s calls. She is also pleased that the toilet is close to her home and that she no longer walks long distances to find a secluded place in the bush. “I always felt uncomfortable when I had to go to the bush to ease myself because I was worried about animals hurting me or people seeing my body,” she says.

To help drive sustainable hygiene promotion and social change, key actors including Natural Leaders and Community Hygiene Volunteers have been mobilised and trained to promote and monitor household sanitation and hygiene practices. UNICEF further supported the training of WASH committees set up in the communities for the management and sustainability of WASH services. These committees have been trained in financial management, governance, and bookkeeping practices. Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) have also been established, to help community members access soft loans to support the improvement and maintenance of WASH facilities in their communities.

As a result, Nyandehun community has been verified as Open Defecation Free, with a total of 440 people (120 households) that are now living in an open-defecation-free community.

Thanks to the sense of community ownership and accountability, the community has also instituted byelaws and penalties for defaulters including levying of fines, to help ensure compliance and keep themselves and their community safe and healthy.