A better future – ending open defecation in Sumba

- By Nick Baker, Communications and Knowledge Management Officer - 

One year old Juan with his new toilet. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker

SUMBA BARAT DAYA, March 2015 – Juan Ngongo, currently just one year old, will be the first person in his family to grow up with a toilet.

Juan lives in the village of Watu Kaula on the island of Sumba (NTT). For generations, his family would defecate in or around a small river that runs just beside their house.

But not anymore. Juan’s family recently attended a triggering session in their village that was facilitated by UNICEF. During these events, health workers demonstrate how easily bacteria from faeces can enter the food chain and cause a raft of health problems.

These health problems include diarrhoea and pneumonia – which are chief contributors to more than 370 under-five deaths per day in Indonesia.

UNICEF Indonesia launches Tinju Tinja Campaign to knock out open defecation

Melanie Subono and Aidan Cronin launches the Tinju Tinja campaign in Jakarta during World Toilet Day (19/11/2014)

JAKARTA 24 November 2014 – UNICEF Indonesia, and local rock star and humanitarian activist Melanie Subono are taking the fight against open defecation to the boxing ring through a multi-media campaign called Tinju Tinja (“Punch the Poo”), launched on World Toilet Day.

Largely conducted on social media, this campaign aims to inform and raise awareness about the health implications of such practice, as well as creating a sense of urgency to end open defecation in Indonesia in a new, innovative way. 

During the launch UNICEF revealed that, based on the Joint Monitoring Program report (2014), published by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), 55 million people in Indonesia practice open defecation, making it the second highest number in the world after India.

Sanitation in Alor – spreading the message, tracking its progress

By Sarah Grainger

7-year-old Novianti with her mother Amelia above the beach near their house

© UNICEF Indonesia/2014/Sarah Grainger

FUNGAFENG, NTT province, Indonesia, April 2014 - Novianti Atafan, 7, was one of the last children in her village to get a latrine at home. She lives in the seaside village of Fungafeng on Alor island in Nusa Tenggara Timur province (NTT). The family has a traditional lopo house made of bamboo and wood with a steep, thatched roof where the family sleeps.

Novianti and her mother, father, grandfather and 5 older siblings used to get up each morning and scramble down the slope behind the wooden structure to the beach below to defecate.

All that changed when a sanitarian – a local health worker who specialises in sanitation and hygiene – visited the village.

Unilever extends support to cut down on open defecation

JAKARTA, 4th July 2014 – The Unilever Indonesia Foundation and UNICEF are further strengthening their collaboration in addressing the country’s challenges in terms of safe water and sanitation.

After a first contribution of €100,000 in 2013, the Foundation has now donated €200,000 to the UNICEF WASH programme which aims at ending open defecation and improving hygienic practices in Indonesia.

A visionary, a farmer - and a healthy village: how Galung put an end to open defecation

Despite is location just 17 kilometres from the district capital, Galung is an under-developed village in Kecamatan Barru, in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. 

Simple family latrine built in Galung Village
© UNICEF Indonesia / Gerber

140 families out of a total 484 households in the village haven’t had access to proper latrines for some time, although efforts have been made to promote better hygiene in the village. However, demand for proper sanitation has been high, frustrated mainly by low incomes prevention the construction of latrines. Despite that challenge, Galung has just been declared the first village in the district to be “open-defecation free” – meaning no families go to the toilet in the open.

This success has been determined by the fact that the village head has great interest in sanitation, and there is a creative local entrepreneur/village artisan who has been able to build cheap latrines.