A three day training for twenty-five Volunteer Hygiene Promoters, VHP, is underway in Odo nla community in Ikorodu North Local Council Development Area of Lagos.
The training facilitated by WaterAid Nigeria under the Advanced Inclusive Water Sanitation and Hygiene, AI WASH, funded by DP World aims to educate people at the core hard to reach rural communities on hygiene behavioral changes on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, to end open defecation by the year 2030.
WaterAid Nigeria WASH Manager, Mr Dare Oduluyi, said the objective of the training was to educate the volunteers to propagate and promote hygiene in their locality to create sustainable, community-led change to achieve Open Defecation Free, ODF, status and improve public health.
Mr Oduluyi noted that the efforts are part of a broader strategy to empower community members to act as agents of change in hygiene education which will indirectly reach over one hundred thousand people.
“WaterAid Nigeria has trained numerous volunteer hygiene promoters, VHPs, in Lagos State specifically in Ikorodu North LCDA to drive behavioral change, improve sanitation, and prevent disease”
“These volunteers are trained to educate households on hand washing, safe water handling, menstrual hygiene, and ending open defecation. The training covers hygiene practices, including hand-washing, maintaining clean toilets, and safe water storage”.
On his part, WaterAid Programme Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Manager, Mr Eta Eteta, reaffirmed that his organization’s stance on cleanliness and Hygiene promotion using volunteers to reach numerous households in their communities.
“So it is a hygiene behavioral change campaign training to help community members begin to practice good hygiene in terms of menstrual hygiene, water management, safe excreta management, proper use of toilets, and hand washing especially”.
“The VHPs who have been trained will be supporting the community members to begin to practice and educate their community members.
And then as such, it is expected that this engagement with the community members will help them change their behaviors and help them to live a better life as good hygiene and be free from diseases.
Appreciating WaterAid Nigeria for building human capacity, representative of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources from the office of the Drainage Services, Mr Sodiq Olisa, said the numerous interventions of WaterAid Nigeria across Lagos is life saving.
“We are really grateful to WaterAid Nigeria as a state, because their activities help to support some places that the state might not be able to reach.
And we have seen their positive impacts and we hope that they will continue to work with the state and improve hygiene behavior”
Mr Olisa advised residents to prioritize their hygiene to safe them from going to the hospitals, noting that money spent on sicknesses would reduce drastically if personal and environmental hygiene are practiced.
The training will end tomorrow as the VHPs will be practicing the skills gained from the training by reaching out to households and preaching the message of hygiene behavioral changes using the Slogan Clean Family! Happy Family!
Written by Yemisi Dada