Photo Credit: Nile Sprague
This is the key to our success; through this program, the community learns how to reduce water and sanitation-related illnesses through good hygiene practices.
An El Porvenir Health Educator is the first contact with the village, ensuring the need for the project and that a Potable Water Committee has formed. The Educator then teaches the community about hygiene education and how to maintain the project; this teaching happens in community workshops and also household visits. Topics include the cycle of contamination, 12 rules for latrine use, and how to maintain and dispose of garbage.
Impact
- Educate community members about the connection between hygiene, water, sanitation, and disease.
- Reduce incidence of water and sanitation related diseases through demonstration of basic hygiene practices such as handwashing, bathing, latrine maintenance, treatment and handling of water.
- Train network of community-based hygiene promoters to reinforce hygiene concepts on an ongoing basis.
The Health Educator also identifies and trains local hygiene and health promoters from the community to reinforce hygiene trainings on an ongoing basis.
El Porvenir airs health and hygiene announcements on local radio stations to reinforce health learning and to reach a larger audience.
Health Educators also work with elementary schools to teach hygiene and environmental awareness to children, providing coloring books with topics such as forest conservation and proper hand washing.
