CLTS- Community Led Total Sanitation supported by Unicef
DSK has taken steps to strengthen citizens’ engagement and awareness to achieve opendefecation-free settlements. The DSK is progressing towards the above through raising public awareness and mobilization to achieve a fixed place of defecation for the target HHs in a given settlement. In this process, DSK mobilized communities to install and/or repair their Toilets and train them to use safe Toilets to improve their public health. Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) project was implemented in Jamalpur, Netrokona, and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar districts. The main objectives of the project were to engage target poor communities to get mobilized and to end open defecation in four unions of Atpara Upazila of Netrokona, four in Sadar upazila of Jamalpur district and five unions of Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district. The project process through its staff mobilized target poor community and improved the status of their toilets and stoped open defecation practice in their settlements. As soon as the project is ready then project team reported to the TNO office to validate the above. In the by-gone period in eight unions in Jamalpur and Atpara districts, four hundred seventy-four (474) open-defecation-free villages have been validated by the local authority. In addition, one hundred sixty (160) communities have achieved safe water certifications. In Cox’s Bazar district, two hundred two (202) communities, including seven government settlements, have been declared open defecation free (ODF), and one hundred five (105) communities have been declared water-safe.