Shovels in Hand
If you were to visit one of our partner villages on a day of reviewing key water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) lessons, you might be surprised at what you see. Likely, you will find villagers of every age combing the village – shovels in hand and smiles on their faces. Who are the fearless leaders of this group? Children with sashes that read “Clean Police.”
Our work in water, sanitation and hygiene includes both courses as well as infrastructure. As we do our work, we try to get the whole community involved.
The courses gather different groups of villagers together to discuss a variety of issues surrounding water, sanitation, and hygiene. These issues include clean water sources, personal hygiene, disease transmission, basic sanitation practices, and the reduction and eventual eradication of open defecation in our partner communities.
After the courses are given, we partner with workers in the communities to create the infrastructure necessary to put into practice the principles community members have been learning. That includes safe water sources and public and private latrines.
Challenges in behaviour change
The most difficult aspect of any work we do, however, is behaviour change. We have been working on changing behaviours surrounding sanitary practices for a number of years. This year, however, we noticed that a number of villages still had some open defecation throughout the community. When we chatted with villagers about why, many of them said that parents were busy working in the fields or at home; while they were working, their children would forget about the importance of using sanitary practices. As such, they would resort open defecation while playing outside.
While our team encouraged parents to go with their children to the latrines whenever they could until it became a habit, it was impossible to always be with them. At that point, we realised how important it was to include children! They needed to not only be in the WASH lessons, but also involved actively cleaning up the community. From this idea, the “Clean Police” was created.
The work of the Clean Police
Now, when we hold a review of key WASH lessons with the community, it doesn’t end at the review.
Our village team selects two children from each village to become ‘The Clean Police.’
These children help us to monitor open defecation in communities. Immediately after the review lessons, the community–led by the new Clean Police– sweep the village with shovels and sharp eyes, cleaning any open defecation and working together to make their village a clean place again.
After the time spent as a whole village, we work specifically with the children who have become Clean Police in their community. They keep an eye out for problem areas where they see more occurrences of open defecation. They then encourage their fellow community members–kids and all–to continue using sanitary latrines and other basic sanitation practices.
Equipped with a sash, a notebook, and a fly swatter to reduce disease transmission, these children have become an important part of a participatory effort to eradicate open defecation throughout our partner communities. Thanks to these children, we are now seeing a further reduction in open defection!
WASH is an important part of our development work, but not all of it. Find out more here.