Key Facts

• Poor sanitation and unsafe water is a major problem in slums around the world, claiming the lives of many slum dwellers each year.
• Women are particularly affected by poor water and sanitation in slums. They often walk long distances to fetch water, leaving them little time to earn a living.
• Homeless International's year-long project has helped over 10,000 people to improve water and sanitation in their communities.
• As a result of the project, more than 1,800 people now have access to a clean and reliable water supply and over 1,000 families have their own or shared toilet.

Over the last year, Homeless International has been working with its long-term partner organisations in Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to help groups of urban poor people – comprising mainly women – to plan improvements to water and sanitation in their communities and to build toilets, dig trenches and lay water and sewer pipes. 

In Zimbabwe and Tanzania, half of the builders trained through the project are women, who can now use their skills to work on other projects nearby to help them earn a living.

Through the project, more than 1,800 people now have access to a clean water supply, helping to improve their health and quality of life. Over 1,000 families also have their own or shared toilet.

Many of the families who have built toilets have opted for 'ecosan' toilets. Ecosan toilets are a permanent alternative to pit latrines, which many families used to use. Pit latrines can pollute groundwater and are often unreliable. They are not permanent and need re-digging each time they are full.

Unlike pit latrines, ecosan toilets are permanent structures designed to turn waste into safe and usable compost. As well as improving health, comfort and privacy for families, ecosan toilets bring other benefits: in Malawi, women sell the compost produced, giving them an additional annual income of around MK 5,100 (approximately £20) – the equivalent of one month’s rent.

Hygiene promotion and education has also been an important part of the project, with teams of community members working to spread messages about basic hygiene practices to over 48,000 people through local group meetings and home visits to the sick and elderly.

Although the project has ended, the number of people benefiting from improvements will continue to increase.  Those who took out small loans to construct toilets during the project are paying them back, allowing the money to be used to provide further loans to other families to construct toilets.  In Malawi, another 29 toilets have already been built thanks to this ‘recycling’ process.