DWN nears countrywide sanitation target
Namibia has one of the world’s worst open defecation rates
To date, DWN outreach workers have visited informal settlement households in Karibib, Katima Mulilo, Ondangwa, Oniipa, Oshakati, Otjiwarongo, Swakopmund and Windhoek.
Development Workshop Namibia (DWN) has reached roughly 13 000 households as part of its mass communication campaign on sanitation, which aims to reach 25 000 households by August.The campaign forms part of DWN’s efforts to prevent the growth of informal settlements and improve the lives of residents.
In total, 13 671 households across eight towns - Karibib, Katima Mulilo, Ondangwa, Oniipa, Oshakati, Otjiwarongo, Swakopmund and Windhoek- - have been reached.
Launched on 24 May this year, the mass communication campaign is spearheaded by DWN’s community outreach workers, who go house to house across the country to talk about water and sanitation with target communities.
Community-led
National sanitation programme coordinator Sheya Timo Gotlieb said DWN works to address issues related to rapid informal urbanisation, including land and housing, sanitation and solid waste, as well as early childhood development.
Last year's United Nations Children's Fund’s (Unicef) progress report on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene revealed that Namibia has one of the world’s worst open defecation rates, estimated at 57%. It noted that this is a particular challenge in urban informal areas, where unsafely managed faecal matter contaminates the environment and leads to sickness, especially among children.
DWN thus works through a community-led total sanitation (CLTS) approach to achieve behaviour change on sanitation and tackle open defecation. “We have roughly 60 community workers who are busy going house to house talking about handwashing, toilet construction, waste management and recycling,” said Gotlieb.
Gotlieb said their activities focus on the needs of communities and utilise close collaboration with community members, including local leaders, counsellors and local authorities, as well as ministries. “Since our inception in 2019, a total of 16 areas have been declared open defecation free, including six in Windhoek,” Gotlieb stated.
DWN recently included information on menstrual health management, where they talk to women, girls, men and boys about the safe management of periods. “We have come across incidents where people are openly discussing these topics for the first time. Such topics are not openly discussed in most Namibian households,” Gotlieb noted.
DWN's work has received support from the European Union (EU), Unicef, the United Nations Development Programme, Debmarine-Namdeb Foundation, Namibian Chamber of Environment, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, B2Gold and the German Development Bank.