Hygiene & Sanitation Partnership Commences at Kokoda College
2019 has been off to a busy start! The first two weeks has seen us partner with our friends at Sago Network to install seven new Sago Dry Toilets at our Kokoda College facility in remote Kou Kou village. The project included Sago Dry Toilet facility construction, building training, workshop facilitation and the distribution of female hygiene kits and workshop resource materials by our partners at Sago Network and team at the Kokoda College.
In order to combat the current decline of safe sanitation facilities in rural areas and coastal villages throughout PNG, Sago Network designed the Dry Toilet as a specialised, long term, solution for communities effected by flooding and high-water table environments.
After many years working in rural and coastal communities, it was clear that there were limited long term sanitation options for communities in high-water table environments. Sago Network brought together its network of academics, researchers and designers to test and develop possible solutions. After 5 years of hard work and ongoing testing, the Sago Dry Toilet is being distributed to communities across Papua New Guinea!
The benefits of the Dry Toilet include: it does not require water to operate, it is located above ground making it ideal for flood prone and high-water table environments, it is fully sealed and protected from flies, insects and disease transfer, it has an in-built high-tech ventilation system which results in little to no smell, and it is lightweight and transportable.
In addition to installing the seven new systems at the Kokoda College, the Sago teams also undertook Train the Trainer workshops in health, hygiene and sanitation and provided female hygiene kits for our staff and students and adjacent community members. The workshops were attended by 60 community members.
Tenkyu tru to our partners at Sago Network! To find out more about the new ‘Sago Dry Toilet' and the rural community sanitation programs delivered by Sago Network in PNG go to their website.