By Richard Prosper, Wilbard Kombe, Tim Ndezi, Festo Dominick Makoba, Sheila Juma Salum, Pascale Hofmann, Mwanza Team Researchers, at Ardhi University, the Centre for Community Initiatives, and University College London, April 2021.
The main objective of the sanitation festival event was to launch the OVERDUE Research Project in Mwanza City through engagements with local stakeholders in the private & public sectors as well as civil society. At the centre of the festival lay also the need for awareness raising, especially to bring up the often overlooked issues that concern sanitation, gender, taboo and everyday life challenges in low income communities.
The festival was held through a public meeting involving local communities and their leaders, key public officials from agencies responsible for sanitation matters such as Mwanza Urban Water and Sanitation Authority (MWAUWASA), the Federation of the urban poor as well as other parties from within and outside Mwanza. Local artists were invited to prepare songs and publicise educative messages on sanitation in Mwanza. The idea was also to interrogate infrastructural trajectories and possible pathways to tackle the sanitation taboo and other challenges in Mwanza City, taking into account geographical specificities of the area, looming household poverty and limited public capacities.
Right: Mabatini Primary School children using ngonjera to underscore and appeal for action to improve sanitation
Representatives from the key sectors involved in sanitation issues were given an opportunity to present their view/ideas and proposals on how to address existing challenges. Presenters used graphics-with text- posters, poems, traditional dance & drumming ngoma[1], and verbally expressed their concerns on sanitation conditions in Mwanza and specifically in their localities.
Representatives from the key sectors involved in sanitation issues were given an opportunity to present their views/ideas and proposals on how to address existing challenges. Presenters used graphics-with text-posters, poems, traditional dance & drumming ngoma[1], and verbally expressed their concerns on sanitation conditions in Mwanza and specifically in their localities.
Presenters included residents of Mabatini (an informal settlement), MWAUWASA, Mwanza Federation of the urban poor, school children from Mabatini primary school and Ngoma group from Mwanza city. Ultimately the aim was to move sanitation up the agenda, discuss challenges at various levels and how to address them. Also, the idea was to bring local communities and officials involved in sanitation activities together to share concerns on sanitation.
Left: Federation representatives presenting their experiences on sanitation woes in Mwanza
Mabatini sub-ward is located in Nyamagana municipality and comprises largely low income informal housing. The bulk of it being on the steep hills. In 2020, it had an estimated population of about 35,000 people.
Ngoma group performing traditional dances with strong messages on sanitation challenges
Public discussion session: Questions and Answers
The presentations and messages from participants were followed by public discussions around the following key questions:
- Why have many residents in Mabatini not improved their toilets/latrines?
- What has to be done to get the residents and other people from surrounding communities to improve their toilets/latrines?
- What taboos surround sanitation issues in Mwanza?
- What comes first, when one thinks about having their own house: Toilet or building the house? Why?
- Who is affected most by poor sanitation? Why?
Concerns
A series of concerns were raised and publicly voiced during this celebration. These included:
- The geographical location of some housing areas including Mabatini Ward is rocky and hilly. This makes it difficult to excavate deep pits; most residents dig only shallow pits which do not last long. Moreover, most Mabatini residents are poor hence they cannot afford the cost of building decent toilets. The lack of piped water supply to the hilly areas further compounds the sanitation problem.
- There is scope for MWAUWASA and the Tanzanian Federation of the urban poor to assist in extending simplified sewer technology to Mabatini so that residents living in the hilly areas can connect their pits to the sewer network. However, modalities for reducing connection costs are necessary so as to make the simplified sewer system affordable.
- There are traditions (taboos) among some ethnic groups in Mwanza, which restrain fathers or mothers in-law from sharing toilets with their daughters/sons in-law. However, this tradition is slowly disappearing as communities find it difficult to provide more toilets to accommodate this. Also, with increasing immigration of people from other socio-cultural backgrounds and inter-tribal marriages, the tradition is likely to disappear.
- Normally girls and women shy away from discussing private hygiene matters in public (during menstruation). This is particularly in cases where discussions involve matters of sanitation such as menstruation, public hygiene, sanitation and so on.
- Lack of land where pit latrines and sewer pipes can be installed is a challenge especially in hilly areas, primarily because every square meter is owned by an individual and there are areas designated for future installation of basic community services. The rocky landform further complicates access to land.
School art exhibition & competition: Good & bad toilet facilities
Six students were invited to prepare sketches of toilets expressing what they would consider good or bad/inappropriate toilet facilities. Three drew poor and unhygienic toilets and the others sketched out preferred or good toilets. Each of them also demonstrated the effects of the poor upkeep of toilets, including flies contaminating food, bad odour and overall poor living environment.
Right: Student illustrating and explaining unhygienic and hygienic sanitation facilities
The key messages from the exhibition by the school pupils include:
- the need of hygiene education;
- collective efforts to improve sanitation by the community;
- challenges of poor sanitation facilities for schoolgirls and sanitation taboos related to menstruation and personal/public hygiene.
- They also noted that informed children (like them) could play an important role advocating for the need to improve toilets among their households and neighbours.
Right: The guest of honour awarding one of the pupils for their good art and illustrations
The sanitation festival confirmed a number findings & messages:
- Poor sanitation is a real problem and a threat to public health in Mwanza and beyond (i.e. Lake Victoria is likely to be contaminated) if the problem is left unattended;
- There are concerns and enthusiasm among the general public and private sector alike that action in sanitation challenges is long overdue;
- The Festival provided an open platform that can facilitate collaboration during field studies and subsequent collective action;
- An increased monthly water bill from MWAUWASA due to the service charge for sewer services is a concern which might discourage poorer households from connecting to the simplified sewer system;
- The cost of building a decent toilet that can be connected to the simplified sewer system or any other form of sewer system is generally high, and unaffordable by poorer households on the hills. This includes costs of building and materials required to improve latrines such as pipes and cement.
- Sanitation practices including cleaning and provision of water are largely undertaken by women. This is the situation even in the hills where there is no piped water supply. In public (open) discussions, women generally tend to hide this reality arguing that these activities are responsibilities which are equally shared between women and men.
- Due to the lack of facilities, women, schoolgirls and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by poor sanitation services. For instance, some schoolgirls do not go to school during menstrual periods.
- School children are critical stakeholders who can be instrumental in mobilisation and sanitation campaigns (they can bring to fire/ public notice sensitive issues which many adults shy away from
- There are high hopes/ expectations among the local community that MWAUWASA can and ought to take action to address sanitation challenges in Mabatini
[1] Ngoma refers to a performance expressed through dancing, drumming and singing, it is a presentation of thoughts, emotions and inner-feelings through bodily movement and verbal communication.
