400 Benue Communities,Open Defecation-Free -UNICEF

UNICEF, in collaboration with the Network for Civil Society on Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN), has declared more than 400 communities in Benue Open Defecation-Free (ODF).
Programme Manager of NEWSAN,  Mr Shem Adah said this in Abuja recently in an interview with newsmen.
Adah said the UNICEF and NEWSAN made the declaration after the agencies had carried out a verification exercise in the communities.
He explained that the exercise, which was tagged: Third party verification on Open Defecation-Free certification, was carried out in collaboration with the States Task Group on Sanitation and Local Government Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Department.
He said the exercise was carried out to certify communities that were open defecation-free in Benue, adding that four local governments were selected for the exercise.
Adah said the councils are Takar, Ogbadigbo, Oju and Kanshisha local government areas.
“Society for Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN), in collaboration with UNIICEF and States Task Group on Sanitation and local government -WASH department, carried out a third party verification on ODF certification.
“That is, certified communities that are open defecation-free in Benue State; and out of these communities, four LGAs were selected and these are Takar, Ogbadigbo, Oju and Kanshisha local governments were selected for the verification exercise.
“Now in Benue State, 755 communities were reported to be open-defecation free. Out of these 750 that were reported, verification was carried out and out of this verification, 55 per cent were actually open defecation-free.
“And then the others were also trying; out of it, we were able to go ahead to sensitise on those communities and build more awareness in these communities that are not open defecation free that their sanitation practices have not measured up to expectations.“
Adah also told newsmen that the project which took place in Benue started with a debriefing in Otukpo to enlighten the stakeholders on the guidelines and objectives of the exercise.
According to him, the Community-led Total Sanitation approach is the method used to achieve the ODF status, which enables a community to take ownership of the sanitation facilities provided.
He added that the facilities that were provided included both sanitation hardware and software.
“The community-led total sanitation approach has to do with communities taking ownership of sanitation facilities and sanitation in their communities.
“And these also include both hardware and software, hardware in the area of borehole and software in the area of sensitisation.
“Behavioural change, practices in the area of sanitation and how has it replicated in their health; how has it also increased their yields in time of farming and in terms of commercial life of the community.