Project Partner:         Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN), United Cities of Local Governance Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC)

Project Area:              Lahan Municipality- Siraha District, Province 2; Dhulikhel Municipality- Kavre District, Bagmati Province; Waling Municipality- Syangja District, Gandaki Province; Lamahi Municipality- Dang District, Lumbini Province; Lahan Municipality- Siraha District, Sudurpaschhim Province

Project Duration:       May 2018 – December 2020

Objectives:

• To strengthen capacity of MuAN in implementing national policy and strategy on sanitation, with a focus on Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) and Non-Sewered Sanitation (NSS) system in line with SDG 6.2.

• To contribute in improving the urban sanitation policy framework and guideline through collaboration with relevant ministries and stakeholders.

• To implement the sanitation and investment plans in pilot municipalities focusing on FSM policies, institutional, financial and regulatory framework.

• To develop and improve the accessibility on financial options through different funding mechanisms such as Public-Private Partnerships, cooperation with banks and development.

Project Description:

The “Municipalities Network Advocacy in Sanitation in South Asia (MuNASS)” project, focuses on Fecal Sludge Management policy advocacy at municipal level. The project emphasizes on strengthening capacity of local municipal association and municipalities in designing and implementing robust and developing effective policies on creating sustainable financing strategies on sanitation, particularly on FSM and NSS and improving sanitation policy framework in joint collaboration with associated sanitation level stakeholders. Furthermore, this project, among others, focuses on capacity building, implementing national policy and strategy on sanitation with focus on FSM and NSS system in line with SDG 6.2.

Project Outputs:

-Developed DPR of 5 pilot municipalities.

-Sensitized more than 500 Mayors, Deputy Mayors and elected officials on FSM and Institutional Regulatory Framework through Provincial level workshop in all 7 provinces.

-Capacitated 138 municipal representatives and technical human resources from 5 pilot municipalities on FSM.

-Enhanced capacity and commitments of Champion Mayors on municipal urban sanitation through exposure visits.

-Strengthened cooperation with Ministries and relevant stakeholders.

-Recognized MuAN as a member of NSHCC and a member of Urban Sanitation Promotion Committee (as a subcommittee).

-Published Sanitation Situation Report of 5 Pilot Municipalities.

-Regulated Fecal Sludge Management in 5 model cities/municipalities.

-More than 100 Mayors and Deputy Mayors were sensitized on proper septic tank.

-Developed and disseminated PSA on FSM at mass media utilizing expertise of renowned artist MAHA Jodi and former Miss Nepal.

Major Achievements:

Advocacy and Sensitization

-5 sub-national FSM policies for 5 pilot municipalities developed.

-The municipalities started understanding fecal sludge management as an integrated approach necessary to form a “more civilized” society in present scenario.

Increased Financial Commitment

All five pilot municipalities have planned to build their own Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP) and have allocated annual budget on FSM at their pilot municipalities.

Increased Political Commitment

-Pledge signed by former Prime Minister of Nepal Mr. K. P. Sharma Oli and Minister of Water Supply Ms. Bina Magar as a commitment to work on Fecal Sludge Management.

-Strong commitments developed by the Mayors of Pilot municipalities and members of Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN).

Capacity Enhancement

-Established Policy Advocacy Unit and 7 Provincial Learning Centres under MuAN.

-Technical capacity enhancement of leaders and staff members directly involved, from the pilot municipalities as well as other adjoining municipalities.

-Developed 5 DPR of FSTP for Pilot municipalities.

Other

-SFD report of all 5 pilot municipalities published by SuSANA

-Completed construction of FSTP as per DPR by Waling and initiated in other pilot municipalities.

 4,09,350 People Reached         2,37,893 Male             1,71,457 Femal

Project Partner: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mahalaxmi Municipality, Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board (KVWSMB), National Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM)
Project Area: Mahalaxmi Municipality and replication in two Municipalities (to be identified)
Project Duration: January 2019 – December 2021

Objectives:
• To test the application of ISO 24521 guidelines for the management of basic on-site domestic wastewater services and thereby help improve environmental sanitation conditions in Mahalaxmi Municipality, and;
• To draw lessons from this piloting experience and evidence to recommend adoption of the ISO 24521 guidelines at the national level through policy and practice changes.

Project Description:
ENPHO is supporting pilot implementation of the ISO 24521 guidelines for the management of basic on-site domestic wastewater services in Mahalaxmi Municipality. To achieve this, ENPHO is collaborating with the Municipality, KVWSMB, NBSM and other relevant stakeholders. The project, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under grant assistance, is the first of its kind in Nepal and globally.

The Project has three interrelated expected outputs:
Output 1: National adoption of ISO 24521 guidelines by National Bureau of Standards and Metrology;
Output 2: Implementation of ISO 24521 guidelines in Mahalaxmi Municipality as a pilot initiative and, based on lessons learnt, replicate in an additional Municipalities; and
Output 3: Documentation of impact of implementation of ISO 24521 FSM guidelines and influence policy and practices on domestic wastewater management.

Project Outputs:
• Trained 29 municipal technical staff and 39 engineers in Mahalaxmi Municipality on the design of the standard septic tank and its necessity on FSM;
• Oriented 119 sanitation workers on occupational health and safety and the importance of personal protective equipment at work;
• PPE distributed to 119 sanitation workers which included desludging service providers, sewerage cleaners and solid waste collectors;
• Containment improvement in 4 households;
• Developed IEC materials;
• Installed RTI septic tanks in 1 public toilet in the municipality;
• Provided PPE, medicines and Piyush to the health division of Mahalaxmi Municipality during COVID response.

Major Achievements:
• Prepared City-wide Inclusive Sanitation report for Mahalaxmi Municipality;
• Prepared report on Licensing Mechanism for desludging service providers;
• Upgraded vulnerable containments with RTI septic tanks at household level.

FSM is growing issues in rapid growing cities and peri-urban areas of developing countries including Nepal. According to the National Census report 2011, about 53% of households in Nepal are using on-site sanitation systems. Lack of appropriate faecal sludge treatment systems, the untreated faecal sludge is being dumped haphazardly into the environment including water bodies. Lack of by-laws and policies in FSM has catalyzed the problem associated with FSM in Nepal. Therefore this project has been designed to identify pertinent FSM issues and possible strategies to overcome those issues in Panauti Municipality.

For the quantification of faecal sludge from the corresponding municipalities, household survey in eight municipalities using standard questionnaire was conducted. The local enumerators were involved for the household survey along with supervisors from ENPHO. The survey data from the corresponding municipalities were analyzed to determine the situational status of the municipalities.

Within this project, ENPHO is providing technical consulting support to governments and sanitation partners in designing, implementing and sustainable operation of high quality, end-to-end faecal sludge management systems that improve sanitation, public health, living conditions and the environment in cities in Nepal. The feasibility assessment and Detailed Project Report (DPR) of FSM services were prepared in three municipalities (Madhuban, Godawari and Dadeldhuru). Together with Madhuban municipality, a natural Faecal Sludge Treatment Systems has been established and preparation of viable business plan including O&M guidelines are in the process. Madhuban municipality contributed land and 50% construction cost for the establishment of FSTP. Similarly, the project organized trainings and workshops on FSM & NSS to build local capacity and to advocate for FSM services at the local level. Together with EcoConcern Pvt. Ltd., ENPHO has prepared a business model to operate and manage the FSTP at Lubhu.

With the increased number of on-site sanitation systems, the proper management of Faecal Sludge is becoming challenging issues in the urban areas. Over the last years, there is increasing acknowledgment of the importance of FSM in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, the construction of FSTPs are rapidly growing in the regions. However, there is a lack of information on operating FSTPs, upon which to base this scaling up. This BMGF supported project has been designed to evaluate and learn from the failures and successes of existing FSTPs, so that future designs and scaling up can be sustainably. ENPHO and 500B Solutions are responsible to perform evaluation of 10 FSTPs from Nepal, India and Bangladesh

The project was designed to perform intensive study on current FSM situation and practices in Panauti Municipality at Kavre district. A comprehensive study was conducted on status of faecal sludge and its management practices. This study further enable to conduct consultative meetings and review workshops with key stakeholders for the formulation of strategic plan and business plan.

The assessment was carried out in Gulariya municipality of Bardiya district with a focus on Urban Sanitation towards total sanitation including Fecal Sludge Management (FSM). This assignment was conducted to identify the current status, gaps, needs and opportunities of urban sanitation interventions in the municipality.