Last September, we carried out the visit to the second phase of the project “Improving access to sanitation for the most disadvantaged, through applied research on appropriate solutions for Tanzania” in Kongwa district in collaboration with School of Environmental Science and Technology (SEST) of Ardhi University (ARU) and Ongawa.
The project, funded by UPM, is a complement of UMATA program, integrated into ‘Sanitation Marketing’ line, that Ongawa is taking into place in the region of Dodoma and that belongs to UMATA program.
UMATA was designed for strengthening the National Sanitation Campaign funded by Global Sanitation Fund (GSF), a program of Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) which through the Total Sanitation and Sanitation Marketing (TSSM) aims to eradicate open defecation, changing sanitation and hygiene behaviors and also optimizing the access and use to the improved sanitation.
The project main objectives include the development of two new prototypes: low cost slab for improved latrines with possibility of hydraulic seal, UPIMI and another slab for disabled people, UPIMIDI. Both innovations, together with information collected in the field and new business models focused on sanitation developed in this second phase will be included in the publication of a manual on sanitation products adapted to the reality of Kongwa district to supplement the information in the catalog ‘Affordable Sanitation Products’ in the first phase.
Therefore, as part of the planned activities, a series of visits to the area of intervention were made, in which the suitability of model UPIMI was verified, especially the drainage capabilty into the well, a feature that other slabs don’t have. In addition, this meeting served to make clear the need to formulate a third phase to consolidate and expand the previous phases results.
