NYUMBA NI CHOO ACTIVATIONS SURPASS TARGET IN THE LAKE ZONE

The DCC events were planned to reach 207 villages, the activations succeeded to reach 946 villages.

The Government of Tanzania through the National Sanitation Campaign (NSC) is committed to increasing households’ access to improved sanitation by 75% by June 2021. To hit that target the Government is conducting a behavioural change campaign famously known as ‘Usichukulie Poa Nyumba Ni Choo’ that aims to trigger head of households to construct and use improved toilets as well as practice handwashing at critical moments.

In May 2019, Nyumba ni Choo Ground-activations was launched and implemented in the lake zone covering all the six regions (Kagera, Geita, Mwanza, Mara, Simiyu & Shinyanga). The activations were conducted through Direct Consumer Contact events and were amplified through mass media (radio and TV) and digital media (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.  The DCC events were planned to reach 207 villages, which is 5% of all the villages in the zone but with good support from political leaders and government officials, the activations succeeded to reach 946 villages.

Delivery of campaign messages

Campaign messages were delivered through ground activations and mass/digital media to ensure that the head of households successfully change their behaviour and improve their toilets.

• Ground activation entailed implementation support and DCC activations. Implementation support was provided to all the 6 regions to strengthen institutional capacity from the regional to the ward level. It also included sanitation data verification by comparing village sanitation registers with the National Sanitation Management Information system (NSMIS) where the verified data was later used during DCC events that were conducted in all the 43 LGAs. The DCC events were conducted in the form of community meetings and roadshows to trigger behavioural change. Different collateral materials like t-shirts, bandana, reflectors vests were distributed to people to ensure the campaign message were delivered beyond the DCC ward.

• Mass and digital media were used to amplify the activities that were conducted on-ground. During the DCC events. Testimonials from the head of households, mentions from the campaign MC Mrisho Mpoto and commitments from political leaders were amplified through national and local TV and radio stations; and social media pages to ensure the higher reach of the campaign message.

Campaign reach

Campaign messages in all the regions and LGAs were well received with Regional Commissioners (RCs) and District Commissioners (DCs) who made commitments to have all households improve their toilets. By engaging the crowds in the selected 181 wards with 946 villages, the campaign was able to reach 249,593 people in the zone. Edutainment messages and music were used to ensure that crowds were pulled to meeting points and engaged in a discussion of the sanitation agenda in their areas. Division Officers and Ward Executive Officers were engaged to invite communities from neighbouring wards and villages to participate in the DCC events from the selected wards and hence increasing the number of villages that were planned to be reached by the ground activations.   Furthermore, by using mass media to amplify on-ground activities the campaign reached a total of 17,299,000 unique audiences nationwide.

The campaign in the lake zone was launched on 25^th May 2019 in Kagera by Brig. General Marco Gaguti the Kagera Regional Commissioner and was winded up on 22^nd September 2019 in Shinyanga by Hon. Zainab Telack, Shinyanga Regional Commissioner.