East Meets West (EMW), Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) and otherstakeholders in water supply, sanitation and public health met at aconference on December 5 to evaluate two years of implementation of theCommunity Hygiene Output-Based Aid (CHOBA) Programme in 10 provinces.
As many as 74,000 households have benefited from improved sanitation, speakers at the meeting revealed.
Localgovernment partners attending the conference included national,provincial, and district-level representatives from VWU, Vietnam HealthEnvironment Management Agency (VIHEMA), Vietnam Bank for SocialPolicies, the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply andSanitation Phase III, Centre for Preventive Health, and staff frominternational non-governmental organisations.
The programme aimsto help disadvantaged households in rural areas gain access to improvedsanitation and promoting hygiene behaviour change.
It iscurrently implemented in 496 communes of 10 provinces: Ninh Binh, HaiDuong, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Dong Thap,Hoa Binh and Soc Trang.
The programme was designed in line withthe goals of the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply andSanitation Phase III.
Tran Thi Huong, vice president of theVietnam Women's Union, said: "This project has deep social meaningbecause it brings practical benefits to the community, helping the poorto improve hygiene. Additionally, it has helped build local capacity inskills such as hygiene promotion, project management, communication, andIT.
She said the project, if successful, would contribute toachieving 10 percent of the targets for the National Target Programmefor Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Phase III.
Key to the success of the CHOBA programme is its Output-Based Aid (OBA) approach.
OBAis a type of results-based financing well-known for improving thedelivery of basic services when users are not able to pay the full costof access to services and where performance-based rebates to complementor replace user fees are justified.
EMW has successfully pioneered the OBA approach in clean water, sanitation, and education since 2007.
EMW's OBA approach in rural sanitation works rewards independently verified results with cash.
Poorhouseholds that purchase latrines and demonstrate usage receive arebate, and rural communes that reach milestones in sanitation coveragereceive a financial award.
Grassroots promoters also receive acash payment for successfully promoting latrine construction and arrangefinancing for poor beneficiaries.
"We greatly appreciate theOBA approach. It has demonstrated its impact and effectiveness.Consequently, VIHEMA is collaborating with EMW to expand this model forthe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Output-Based Aid (WASHOBA) programme,currently being carried out in Binh Dinh, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen and BenTre provinces," said Nguyen Huy Nga, the director of VIHEMA.
At the conference, delegates shared their experience and lessons learned from the programme.
Morespecifically, delegates discussed the engagement of local authorities,regulations on grassroots democracy, transparency in public financialmanagement, socialisation, effective monitoring and evaluation systems,innovative methodology and dedication of volunteers and programme staff.
VoThi Hien, director of EMW's Sanitation Programme, said: "We want toshare these valuable lessons in order to strengthen our work to fulfillan objective of the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply andSanitation Phase III – which is to see that 65 percent rural families,especially poor families, build hygienic latrines."-VNA
As many as 74,000 households have benefited from improved sanitation, speakers at the meeting revealed.
Localgovernment partners attending the conference included national,provincial, and district-level representatives from VWU, Vietnam HealthEnvironment Management Agency (VIHEMA), Vietnam Bank for SocialPolicies, the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply andSanitation Phase III, Centre for Preventive Health, and staff frominternational non-governmental organisations.
The programme aimsto help disadvantaged households in rural areas gain access to improvedsanitation and promoting hygiene behaviour change.
It iscurrently implemented in 496 communes of 10 provinces: Ninh Binh, HaiDuong, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Dong Thap,Hoa Binh and Soc Trang.
The programme was designed in line withthe goals of the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply andSanitation Phase III.
Tran Thi Huong, vice president of theVietnam Women's Union, said: "This project has deep social meaningbecause it brings practical benefits to the community, helping the poorto improve hygiene. Additionally, it has helped build local capacity inskills such as hygiene promotion, project management, communication, andIT.
She said the project, if successful, would contribute toachieving 10 percent of the targets for the National Target Programmefor Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Phase III.
Key to the success of the CHOBA programme is its Output-Based Aid (OBA) approach.
OBAis a type of results-based financing well-known for improving thedelivery of basic services when users are not able to pay the full costof access to services and where performance-based rebates to complementor replace user fees are justified.
EMW has successfully pioneered the OBA approach in clean water, sanitation, and education since 2007.
EMW's OBA approach in rural sanitation works rewards independently verified results with cash.
Poorhouseholds that purchase latrines and demonstrate usage receive arebate, and rural communes that reach milestones in sanitation coveragereceive a financial award.
Grassroots promoters also receive acash payment for successfully promoting latrine construction and arrangefinancing for poor beneficiaries.
"We greatly appreciate theOBA approach. It has demonstrated its impact and effectiveness.Consequently, VIHEMA is collaborating with EMW to expand this model forthe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Output-Based Aid (WASHOBA) programme,currently being carried out in Binh Dinh, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen and BenTre provinces," said Nguyen Huy Nga, the director of VIHEMA.
At the conference, delegates shared their experience and lessons learned from the programme.
Morespecifically, delegates discussed the engagement of local authorities,regulations on grassroots democracy, transparency in public financialmanagement, socialisation, effective monitoring and evaluation systems,innovative methodology and dedication of volunteers and programme staff.
VoThi Hien, director of EMW's Sanitation Programme, said: "We want toshare these valuable lessons in order to strengthen our work to fulfillan objective of the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply andSanitation Phase III – which is to see that 65 percent rural families,especially poor families, build hygienic latrines."-VNA
