Tanzania
WASH Coalition building
The Tanzania WASH coalition, formally led by the Ministry of Health, incorporates partners from a number of Ministries (Health, Water , Community Development, Education, Local Government), national and international NGOs, and community groups. In urban areas the coalition also has some private sector members.
Activities, milestones and major achievements
Activities include:
- Coalition building (state & non state actors)
- Launching of national level stakeholder coalition
- Production of IEC materials: Focus on empowerment of communities by gender, local realities )
- Annual Maji Week awards
The core group of partners has put together a programme of action aimed at influencing local government authorities to allocate sufficient resources to the water and sanitation sector. One of the strategies used to get the attention of the local councilors is to set up ‘Child-to-Child’ programmes.
Through the use of various communication methods such as role play, songs, drama, and poetry, children teach each other and their Councilors about the need for improved sanitation and hygiene in their respective districts. Such events are supported with campaign materials all geared at influencing Councilors to increase budget allocations for water, sanitation and hygiene into their plans.
Achievements of the WASH Coalition include:
- Rapid scaling up of school-based child to child awareness by CSOs.
- The National Health, Environmental Health, Hygiene and Sanitation Strategy has been developed, but draft since February 2005.
- Participating districts have grown from 6 in 2004 to over 20 in 2006
