Introduction
Afro Edge is a project established in 2012 to mobilize international volunteers to support community development initiatives. Our aim is to promote new insights of the world and collective social responsibility, cultivate leadership and organizational skills, improve communication and problem solving skills, and improve the capability to work efficiently with different cultures. We seek to increase volunteers’ spheres of knowledge of cultural diversity and respect for others. We believe that every human being has to do their part in the bid to make the world a better place by encouraging international volunteering.
The organization’s idea is based on the notion that sharing experiences, volunteering expertise and building leadership skills could be more beneficial and sustainable now and in the future. We seek to provide volunteer adventure activities that do not only make lasting impressions but significant changes to the communities we serve. We are different from other volunteer organizations because of a strong emphasis to our two-way linkage of volunteerism and development.
Our obligation is to collectively working with local and international communities to support and empower children and youth through volunteer activities and sustainable development initiatives for the benefit of present and future generations. We believe that the world’s inequalities between the world’s rich and the poor are perpetrated by lack of understanding and appreciation of human diversity, the power of sharing knowledge and helping one another.
Our Mission
To collectively work with local and international communities to support and empower children and youth through volunteer activities and sustainable development initiatives for the benefit of present and future generations.
Our Vision
A world in which all people despite age, race, sex or religion champion volunteerism to promote equality towards ending global challenges.
Our Objectives
- To create intercultural cooperation between people in the North and the South
- To promote volunteerism as a tool for sustainable community development.
- To create a better understanding of the African culture and value system amongst people from the North and the South.
- To promote a culture of volunteerism and contribute to a more cohesive society by building trust and reciprocity.
- To build up knowledge networks locally and internationally.
- To offer affordable and exciting volunteer projects in one of the magnificent world heritage sites, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Our Values
Afro Edge is committed to best business practices and fundamental principles of transparency, integrity and accountability. We nurture our own management style, typified by an open culture of trust, innovation and creativity.
CHIDOBE WARD COMMUNITY LED TOTAL SANITATION PROJECT
PROJECT AREA AT A GLANCE
Chidobe Ward is one of the 20 wards in Hwange District and the closest ward to Victoria Falls town, the first village under this ward Monde is just 10km from Victoria Falls town. The Ward has a population of approximately 5000 people. The Ward is composed of six villages namely Monde, Sizinda, Chisuma, Chidobe, Jabulani and is a kilometer from Victoria Falls Airport and Hlanganani Village. Highly prevalent diseases/conditions in this area include Diarrhea, Malaria, Sexually Transmitted Infections and skin conditions. The ward has 1461 houses. Of these, only 461 houses have toilets and 1000 households are without toilets. This suggests that approximately 5000 people are practicing open defecation. Although access to clean water and basic sanitation is considered to be a fundamental right according to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6), Chidobe ward is yet to realize that fundamental right as the ward has 32% sanitation coverage suggesting that 68% of the population still lack sanitary facilities and are practicing open defecation which might have a negative impact the tourism industry if any Cholera related diseases strikes considering its proximity to the tourist resort town.
Project Overview
Community Led Total Sanitation is an integral approach to achieve and sustain community status as free of open defecation. Community Led Sanitation is a process that will lead to an analysis of its community sanitation profile, its defecation practice and the consequences, leading to collective action to eliminate open defecation. In order to eliminate open defecation the project seeks to promote sanitation through the formation of sanitation clubs, hygiene education, partnership with the tourism industry and Victoria Falls business community. The project seeks to construct 1000 toilets by the end of 2020. The project through the community will provide locally available materials such as river sand, quarry stone, pit sand, bricks and labour. The project will request assistance in the form of cement and such materials that are required but c. The project will seek to construct Blair Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine which needs 5 bags of cannot be acquired from the local community. Our strategic vision is for every household in the Mvuthu Chiefdom to have sustainable clean water, dignified sanitation and to practice healthy hygiene behaviors by 2020. Meeting this goal will ensure that communities are able to realize a fundamental human right, decrease their likelihood of illness and disease and increase their ability to live full and productive lives. Apart from poor health outcomes, consequences of inadequate Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) reverberate in every aspect of people’s lives including being a threat to the country’s economy and tourism industry in case of an outbreak of Cholera in villages closer to Victoria Falls. It is against this background that the organization wishes to initiate this project with an aim of eliminating open defecation following a theme: CHIDOBE COMMUNITY ENDING OPEN DEFECATION BY 2020, LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND.
The Need for the Project
The need for this project emanated from a base line survey conducted by the area Environmental Health Technician from a local clinic which targeted communities to assess their sanitation needs. The assessment results were as follows:
Sanitation coverage per village
| VILLAGE | NO. OF HOUSE HOLDS | NO. OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH TOILETS | NO. WITHOUT TOILETS |
| MONDE | 426 | 101 | 325 |
| SIZINDA | 196 | 41 | 155 |
| CHISUMA | 252 | 105 | 147 |
| CHIDOBE | 266 | 121 | 145 |
| VUKUZENZELE | 220 | 88 | 132 |
| KACHECHETI | 101 | 5 | 96 |
Calculation of the estimated amount of faeces that deposited outside the toilet
From the sanitation baseline survey conducted the results revealed that Chidobe Ward has 1030 households without toilets. This problem translates to the following calculations:
- Total Households in the project area = 1461
- Households with toilets = 461
- Household without toilets = 1000 [PRACTISING OPEN DEFECATION]
- Average Household has got = 5 people
- Total number of people practising open defecation = average number of people x number of households without toilets i.e 1000 x 5 people = 5000 people
- NB: 5000 people practise open defecation per day.
- Average frequency of defecating per day = 2 times per person per day.
- 5000 people go to the bush, behind their houses 10 000 times per day
- Average weight of the faeces deposited per squat = 100 grams of faeces
- Average weight of the faeces deposited in the bush and behind the houses = the frequency of 5000 people x average weight of the faeces deposited per squat per day
- Which is 10 000 x 100 = 1 000 000g per day / 1000kgs of faeces per day
- Per week = 1000kgs x 7 = 7000kg of faeces
- Per Month = 7000kgs x 4 = 28000kg of faeces
- Per Year = 28000kg x 12 = 336000 kg of faeces
NB: THE ABOVE KILOGRAMS OF FAECES ARE defecated just behind their houses and bushes where by domestic animals such as dogs, ducks and fowls feed on this defecation and at the same time drink in the same water causing water pollution. The provision of toilets, boreholes and hygiene education to the six affected villages will help reduce diarrhea related illness and chances of Cholera outbreaks that may have a negative bearing on the tourism industry.
The above results revealed serious sanitation needs as this was evidenced by the rise in the incidence of diarrheal diseases in the health institutions which is caused by the amount of faeces that are deposited in the bushes and behind the houses. This situation requires urgent intervention by organizations, business community, tourism industry and the community at large in addressing this looming sanitation problem. The sanitation situation might have a negative impact on tourism if ever there be an outbreak of Cholera or any diarrheal disease around the Victoria Falls community. It is against this background that the project calls for multi-sectorial approach to solving the above problem.
Project Description
Lack of good toilets, water and hygiene education is a big problem in rural communities in Hwange District and might have a negative bearing on the tourism industry if an outbreak of Cholera or any diarrheal disease strikes in the villages closer to Victoria Falls. This challenge will not only affect Victoria Falls but will also have an effect on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). It will affect the number of tourists visiting the town and also affect the livelihoods of many who are employed by the tourism industry. This project intends to install Blair ventilated improved pit latrines, drill 8 boreholes and provide hygiene education to the targeted communities to reduce diarrhea related illnesses by 50%. Making sanitation accessible is not only critical to saving lives, but also the precious time and money the victims spend in trying to recover from such illness. The project proposes to construct 1000 Blair Ventilated Pit latrines that will serve over 5,000 people for over 15 years.
Community Participation
The organization has already started setting up sanitation clubs who will work together towards the construction of Blair Ventilated Pit Latrines. Due to unavailability of the resources the community through these clubs is contributing US$1.00 per month per member for procurement of one bag of cement that is given to one member so that they construct the pit to the bottom slab level, install the vent pipe for trapping flies and then use any material such as plastics and grass for the superstructure as they are trying to look for cement for the construction of the super structures. The community through these clubs is going to mold farm bricks, provide the locally available materials such as pit sand, river sand, water and labor during the construction of these toilets.
Budget Analysis
Budget a: Donors
| No | Items | Specification | Qty | Unit Cost | Total Cost | ||
| RTGS $ | US $ | RTGS$ | US $ | ||||
| 1 | Cement | Portland Cement | 5000 bags | 35 | 11 | 175000 | 55000 |
| 2 | Reinforcement wire for slabs | 12 metres barbed wire per toilet | 25 roles of barbed wire | 472 | 120 | 7080 | 3000 |
| 3 | Transportation | All materials | 3000 bags and 15 roles of wire | 3000 | 1000 | 3000 | 1200 |
| 4. | Community Sanitation Club competitions | 1 Ward competition per quarter | 8 per year 24 months | 500 | 200 | 4000 | 1600 |
| 5. | Health Homes Hygiene Competitions | 2 per year | 4 in 24 months | 500 | 200 | 2000 | 800 |
| 6. | Water quality Testing, fuel for bike | 10 litres per month | fuel for 24 months | 35 | 14 | 840 | 336 |
| 7. | Monthly allowance for Field Officer | Allowance | 24 | 350 | 8400 | ||
| 8. | Office rentals | Rentals | 24 | 100 | 2400 | ||
| Total | 191,920 | 90766 |
Budget of cement per village
| VILLAGE | NO. OF HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT TOILETS | NO. OF BAGS OF CEMENT REQUIRED | ESTIMATED COST IN US$ |
| MONDE | 325 | 1625 | 16250 |
| SIZINDA | 155 | 775 | 7750 |
| CHISUMA | 147 | 735 | 7350 |
| CHIDOBE | 145 | 725 | 7250 |
| VUKUZENZELE | 132 | 660 | 6600 |
| KACHECHETI | 96 | 480 | 4800 |
| TOTAL | 1000 | 5000 | 55000 |
Project Sustainability
Sustainability will be obtained through sensitization of the beneficiaries on the wise utilization of the structures to be constructed. Hygiene education and community laws will be enforced against misusers.