MARTIN MAWAYA
LOWER GWERU— Phillip Village in Lower Gweru has been declared open-defecation free (ODF) after 47 households met the required sanitation standards under a community health programme implemented by Multi-AID Support Organisation (MASO) in partnership with Africa Ahead.
The Ward 2 village recently attained ODF status after households installed functional toilets and hand-washing facilities as part of the Community Health Club Methodology project.
The achievement comes as Midlands Province continues to face significant sanitation challenges, with 33% of rural households practising open defecation in 2025, according to the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC).
Nationally, the proportion of rural households practising open defecation declined from 29% in 2020 to 24% last year.
Under the MASO programme, the 47 households formed community health clubs that provided health and hygiene education while promoting better sanitation practices.
MASO national executive director Tadiwa Kaisa said the programme was designed to empower communities to take responsibility for improving sanitation and hygiene.
“The project was a social project where MASO trained communities on health issues. It was the community members who then cascaded the information through the clubs that we established,” Kaisa said.
The approach supports the Government’s target of ending open defecation by 2030 through interventions such as Sanitation Focused Participatory Health and Hygiene Education (SafPHHE), which combines behaviour change with efforts to improve access to household sanitation facilities.
Kaisa said seven elderly households that could not afford to construct toilets were assisted by other community members, who helped source the required materials.
Director of Environmental Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Victor Nyamandi, said the achievement demonstrated the importance of community participation in improving sanitation.
He said households, community leaders, village health workers, environmental health technicians, traditional leaders and teachers all had a role to play in sustaining sanitation improvements.
“ODF is not the end of our sanitation journey. It is the beginning of a new commitment,” Nyamandi said.
He warned that maintaining the status would be as important as securing the declaration, as ablution facilities could collapse during the rainy season or deteriorate because of poor maintenance.
Nyamandi urged villagers to keep the sanitation structures functional, clean and safe, maintain hand-washing facilities and ensure that no household reverted to open defecation.
Village health worker Tendeukai Sibanda said sanitation conditions in the community had improved since the intervention began.
“Before the implementation of the project, the area was filthy because people were practising open defecation and using the bush to relieve themselves. This contributed to diarrhoeal diseases in the community,” Sibanda said.
She said health education provided through the community clubs had helped residents understand the need to change their sanitation practices.
“Knowledge is power. When you empower the community with information, people begin to understand why they need to change their behaviour and improve their sanitation practices,” she said.
MASO plans to replicate the project to other villages in Ward 2, with two villages close to achieving ODF status. One requires four additional toilets, while the other needs six.
The organisation is targeting 14 community health clubs for ODF status by the end of the year.
