Angola

The CLTS approach is mainly being used in rural areas (16 municipalities) in the 5 provinces of Bié, Cunene, Huila and Moxico, and it is planned to expand into the peri-urban areas of Luanda. The project, which works at provincial, municipal and community levels, started in 2008 as a pilot project in the Province of Huila. The plans for Phase 1 (period 2010-2011) include expansion to five other provinces. During Phase 2 (period 2012 and 2013), the project will then expand into the remaining 13 provinces of the country.

Key actors and supporters of CLTS in Angola
CLTS activities (as part of differnt projects) are being funded by the Spanish Government, the European Union and USAID. In the Province of Moxico, CLTS project is being supported by Oxfam. In Bie’ and Cunene, UNICEF is in contact respectively with the NGO PIN (People in Need) and ADPP (Development Aid from People to People—Angola) in order to prepare the Programme Cooperation Agreement for the implementation of the CLTS approach. In Huila, CLTS is being supported by Social Support Fund (FAS), and the Huila Committee “Provincia Sin Defecación al Aire Libre” (ODF-free Community). The Private Open University UPRA implemented the KAP study and the INGO Care International has participated in some of communities’ training.

Government participation
The Government of Angola, through the Ministry of Environment, through Ministerial Committees and through the Government of the Province, in partnership with UNICEF, is promoting the CLTS approach designated to achieve and maintain status of ODF in the communities. In September 2008, the new Ministry of Environment (MINAMB) was created, which provided an opportunity to renew the Government’s commitment to environmental sanitation and making the official the creation of the Technical Unit National Environmental Sanitation (UTNSA). Along with the establishment of the Technical Unit of Environmental Sanitation (UTNSA), it is essential to consolidate and to achieve its mandate, in coordination with other ministries with shared responsibilities in environmental sanitation, through the Inter-Sectoral Technical Group (MOH, MED, MINEA, SDR, MAT) and other coordination mechanisms.

Health-worker involvement
In Huila, Community Health Agents have been trained in CLTS in order to facilitate the process at community level. A total of 106 health nurses, 180 community health agents have been trained. The structure of the Provincial Commission, envisages the direct involvement of divisions linked with social sector such as the Provincial Directorate of Water, MINARS (Social Welfare Ministry), Health and Education. The Health Sector, within this organizational structure, is in charge of social mobilization, utilizing the community health workers under the supervision of the nurses in each area.

The provincial Governments work with the community health workers and volunteers, in order to reduce most of their costs. The practice is to provide them with some incentive such as bicycles that were given by UNICEF, backpacks that can also be used in schools, t-shirts and caps as and material for identification. At this moment, a method of payment of community workers by the Government is under consideration. They are already being partially paid by the Government, eg when there are no funds available, the government pays for the travel of the community health workers. All the community agents are volunteers.

It is important to emphasize that there are not only health professionals, but also professionals from the Water Section, which have been cooperating at the same level.

Challenges to implementation
The main challenge identified is the strengthening of the coordination and communication between central level UTNSA (Unidade Tecnica Nacional de Saneamento Ambiental) and the provincial/municipal level in order to make activities more effective and accelerate the process. UNICEF is aware of this and actions are being taken in order to enhance the support to UTNSA and other Government partners, for example through:

  • increasing the appointment of technical staff,
  • organizing technical workshops on CLTS in country and abroad,
  • continuing training and regular meeting with the technical committee in order to reviewed the achievements and elaborate the lessons learned to find the way forward.

Lessons learned
From the pilot project implemented in Huila, the following lessons have been learned:

  • For sustainability and institutional support, greater involvement of provincial sub-committees responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation and Training of Trainers is needed.
  • The level of community support in the training of leaders and health workers in the work of social mobilization should continue as a motivating element for sustainable progress.
  • Program integration with health and education interventions with a focus on family competencies had a good impact on the mobilization and should be reinforced in the future as well.
  • The results obtained in some communities in the municipality of Matala in Huila, where ODF coverage is close to achieve 100%, should be analysed and replicated in other target municipalities.
  • Reducing rates of diarrhoea and cholera diseases particularly in the town of Lubango in Huila is a catalyst that will help the on-going scale-up of the program to other municipalities and provinces of Angola.

Program results

Most of the project results achieved until now are related to Huila Provinces:

  • In Huila Provinces about 1,800 people from the following groups were mobilized through direct participation in seminars in four municipalities: municipal advisory councils, municipal authorities, community and traditional community leaders, church leaders, nurses, principals and school teachers, community agents, business owners.
  • In Huila Provinces, 12 locations in Matala and Caconda Municipalities are close to achieving ODF status. The total number of latrines built is around 8.000, achieving coverage ranging between 95% and 85%.
  • The achievement in the above communities was taken as an example during the advocacy work; as a result the municipal and communal administrators of the province of Huila, have made it possible for the project to expand to the municipalities of Caluquembe, Jamba, Lubango, Kuvango, Matala, Caconda, Chibia, Humpata and Quilengues.
  • Awareness on the issue of sanitation has been strengthened among the relevant political authorities (provincial, municipal and community) and various civil society actors, especially with the support of 106 health nurses, 180 community health agents, 39 DPEA mobilizers, community leaders and 4 staff from CARE International, who played an important role in the process of mobilizing communities at the sector level, districts and villages.
  • In Moxico 112 people (40 women) in rural communities of Luau and Kamanongue were trained in CLTS