The influence of a Transformational Community Development (TCD) model village has led to multiplication in the village cluster in Rakhine state regardless of the current political turmoil. In a very challenging situation and economic hardship, the community has initiated a sanitation project and have built five latrines this month. Their inspiration came from the successful sanitation project they saw in Myat Hlae, a model village.

Htong-bu village is situated a few kilometers from Myat Hlae. It is another Mro ethnic village with a total household of 56. The community is in terrain where public transport is difficult to access. Including the pastor, there were four villagers who got TCD training from the local GHNI training team before the situation changed. This community is also known as the first community that imitated the trashcan model that they saw in Myat Hlae. The community has identified that not having a toilet is the cause of many health problems they suffer. Moreover, they believe that building toilets is the first important step to develop their community. The community’s common desire has led them to start building toilets for five households who were ready to start the project. GHNI works together with the Champion and those dedicated families to help them achieve their goal. GHNI provided additional fund contributions to each household to complete their toilets. This month, the champion reported that they have completed five latrines, and they are proud of what they have achieved. Further, he reported that there are more families that want to build latrines after seeing the achievements.

Now, because of the completion of the first milestone of building five latrines, the community has gained confidence to achieve more. In addition, the champion and team are eager to teach TCD health lessons to the rest of the community so that they all will understand the importance of using latrines for promoting community health.

Thank you,

Written by Solomon, GHNI National Field Leader