Myanmar

Background
UNICEF and Save the Children introduced the concept of CLTS to the WASH Thematic Group in Myanmar in 2010, and invited Dr. Kamal Kar and Dr. Brigitta Bode to conduct the first CLTS training in Pyay district of Bago region in July 2011. Eleven local and international NGOs and three government departments participated and nine villages were triggered during the training itself. UNICEF conducted a second training in September 2011, and convinced one of its donors, Danida, to adopt the CLTS approach in their current sanitation programme.

In late 2011 Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee and Partners International all piloted CLTS in villages in three different regions of Myanmar. In 2012 the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar began to introduce CLTS in fifteen townships across the country with UNICEF support. UNICEF is also supporting Myanmar Health Assistance Association, a local NGO to introduce CLTS in two more townships with funding from Danida and in the first training township, where 15 villages are now triggered and approaching ODF status.

Current Plan
In April 2012 the Ministry of Health will advocate for CLTS through the launching of the new National Sanitation Campaign, a drive which will replace the National Sanitation Week traditionally used to advocate for subsided latrine construction. By the end of 2012 it is anticipated that over 300 villages will have been triggered in almost 20 townships, and the first ODF villages will be recognized during the 2012 National Sanitation Campaign ceremony.