Improving district level leadership on sanitation and hygiene in Uganda

Updated - Tuesday 02 June 2009

Improved water supply and sanitation services are key priorities of Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan. Statistics show there is a lot of work to be done. Latrine coverage stands at 62% nationally, and 79% of these latrines lack hand-washing facilities. In schools, there is an average of 69 students per latrine.

Sanitation and hygiene are not priorities at district level. Limited funding (budgets for sanitation lag far behind those for water supply), the low profile and priority of sanitation and hygiene and the division of responsibilities and funding among departments that have other key priorities hamper progress.

Since 2001, responsibilities for hygiene and sanitation have been divided between district-level water, health and education departments. This has resulted in the fragmentation of activities and budgets. The Primary Health Care Grant (PHCG) and the Water and Sanitation Conditional Grant (WSCG) are the main funding sources for sanitation and hygiene, but neither have clear earmarks for these issues. Because of this, some districts have largely ignored sanitation and hygiene problems. After distribution of earmarked funds for medication, all other public health interventions, administrative and other recurrent costs, on average as little as 2% of the PHCG is allotted to sanitation and hygiene. WSCG funds are limited to water source protection rather than excreta management.

An additional constraint is the lack of manpower at district and subdistrict level to effectively implement and monitor sanitation and hygiene programmes. As a result, outreach to households, sanitation awareness raising and hygiene monitoring – vital for achieving the MDGs – are neglected.

Learning at the district level

Conditions vary substantially across Uganda’s 80 districts, and official coverage statistics do not reflect the condition or use of latrines. Outbreaks of faecal-related diseases such as cholera continue to occur. To address these issues in districts with particularly poor sanitation, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the Network for Water and Sanitation (Netwas Uganda) launched the Learning for Policy and Practice in Sanitation and Hygiene (LeaPPS) programme. The programme has been implemented in the districts of Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Arua and Koboko. LeaPPS brings together groups of people who work in hygiene and sanitation improvement, which includes politicians, local government staff, community members, donors, researchers and private sector providers. Many of these groups have operated in an uncoordinated way, in isolation from each other. Many lacked access to information and guidelines developed in Kampala or practical lessons learned elsewhere. LeaPPS aims to foster stronger coordination and information sharing for improved hygiene and sanitation at the household and community level and in primary schools.

In 2007 and 2008, six multi-stakeholder learning sessions were attended by local politicians, district level staff, NGOs and CBOs, the private sector and representatives from two subcounties in each district. These sessions provided an opportunity for joint analysis of challenges and learning needs, which were then addressed through capacity building activities such as training, action research and case studies. Participants’ interests and capacity building needs determined the learning agenda and were addressed through presentations, group work, discussions and field visits.

Multi-stakeholder meeting in Koboko, Photo: IRC

Subjects included social marketing and participatory methods, effective by-laws and enforcement, low-cost innovative technologies such as Ecological Sanitation (EcoSan), the links between HIV/AIDS and water, and raising the profile of sanitation and hygiene.

Local urine diversion toilet in Kyenjo, Photo: IRC

Lessons learned

LeaPPS participants have developed their capacity to set performance targets, monitor and analyse their achievements and be innovative in their approaches. Although some progress has been made improving coordination and information sharing between local governments and civil society organisations, this remains a challenge. Participants in the LeaPPS sessions learned the following conclusions:

The LeaPPs model helps stakeholders identify their capacity needs.
Learning is most effective when it builds on existing needs and programmes.
Information needs to trickle down better to subcounty level.

Authors: Carmen da Silva Wells, dasilvawells@irc.nl, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, the Netherlands; Patience Turyareeba., pturyareeba@snvworld.org, Brecht Mommen, bmommen@snvworld.org, SNV Uganda

Courtesy Capacity.org Issue 36 | April 2009, see for their special issue with eight articles on Capacity development for water and sanitation, freely accessible online.

Links: Learning for Policy and Practice in Sanitation and Hygiene http://www.irc.nl/page/38717

Water and Sanitation Resource Centre, Uganda: www.watsanuganda.watsan.net

SNV: www.snvworld.org