Mrs. Halima Sulman, 70, lives with her husband in Adama (Ethiopia, Africa). The clay-built toilet they use was a source of instability. She explained that “the toilet used to shake when there was heavy rain as it was built using clay and wood. Because my husband is blind, I used to get scared that the toilet would collapse, as it was not sturdy, and cause my husband to have an accidental injury.” Mrs. Halima used to sell vegetables in a small market locally. But as she gets older, she “stopped going to the market because I was unable to carry the vegetables to the market. This resulted in me depending on the donations of my neighborhoods for our daily food consumptions, let alone renovating the toilet.”
Mrs. Yeshi Dadi, one of the mason trainees from Adama, shared “the practical training delivered by Urban WASH enabled me to engage in sanitation business.” She added that the SATO sanitation products introduced by Urban WASH are cost-effective and compatible to be installed in limited space that enhances better sanitation service access for the low-income communities. “We chose SATO Stool to enable the elders and people with disability to use the toilet comfortably,” Yeshi added.
Urban WASH product Quality Service Engineer, Mesfin Habtemariam, indicated the masons will contribute to the sanitation market value chain connecting low-income communities with affordable sanitation products and services that improve sanitation access in unserved areas. Urban WASH continues to support masons by linking them with sanitation product manufacturers and retailers to improve safely managed sanitation services across low-income and underserved communities.
The USAID Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Urban WASH) project is funded by the American people through USAID. The purpose or goal of Urban WASH is to procure technical assistance and construction services to strengthen WASH service delivery in Ethiopia.
Urban WASH will support accelerated access to safe, adequate, inclusive, and resilient WASH services targeting urban and peri-urban areas. The project has four objective components: Enable and professionalize WASH service providers; foster markets for pro-poor and inclusive WASH services; strengthen WASH planning, budgeting, and service delivery oversight; and strengthen accountability among urban WASH sector actors.
Photo credit: Danial Zemchal, Urban WASH
