Moen Kas, a hilly remote Afghan village absent of latrines or even a functioning water well, became an Open Defecation-Free (ODF) community within 24 days of arduous commitment from its leaders and people.

Moen Kas’ remarkable milestone makes it the first village in Afghanistan to reach ODF status in less than one month--inspired entirely from personal stories that are spreading across the country regarding the benefits of living in ODF communities.

The quick transformation was the direct result of a man from Moen Kas who had attended an ODF certification ceremony in the nearby, yet secluded, village of Ghalani.

As he watched the ceremony and learned of ODF’s benefits, he asked to speak on behalf of his village. During his speech, he praised Ghalani’s achievements within the past two months and publicly vowed that his own village would achieve ODF status in under a month.

Recognizing that this ambitious goal could not be achieved through him alone, he urged the other Moen Kas’ villagers who were also present at the ceremony to stand with him and work together.

So determined was the man in his vision to transform his village, that he invited the audience to visit Moen Kas in one week to verify it as an ODF community.

Afghanistan has yet another village which has successfully become an Open Defecation Free (ODF) zone. Baghalak is a village in Nahrin district with 630 inhabitants dispersed among 90 households --- each with unused latrines in poor condition. For this reason, Baghalak was selected by the USAID [9]-funded project, Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation (SWSS) and the Organization for Health Promotion & Management to partake in community-led total sanitation (CLTS) training.

Prior to CLTS’ involvement in the village of Baghalak, the traditional latrines also lacked hand washing facilities, which is crucial to proper sanitation. In addition, significant amounts of human waste could be seen on farms, gardens, and sidewalks. As is a common problem in communities without CLTS instruction, latrines tend to go unused due to the lack of communal education regarding their importance. While the hygienic and sanitation status of the community were in severe need of improvement, there also existed a strong desire within the community to reduce their high incidences of infectious illnesses, particularly diarrheal diseases.

In the small Afghan village of Toghak, where open defecation affected the sanitation and health of the community, two women took the initiative to mobilize themselves and others into transforming Toghak.

Ms. Fatima and Ms. Rukhsar attended a community-led total sanitation (CLTS) workshop in the neighboring village of Gheyas Said Abd and learned life-saving lessons they wanted to take back to their village. They learned that flies tend to breed in bacteria infested places, particularly human feces, and then transport the fecal matter to food meant for human consumption.

Knowing that this knowledge would motivate their community to improve their sanitation efforts, the women did not waste any time.

When the women returned from the workshop, they recruited twenty women from Toghak willing to help them improve the latrines. They also requested the assistance of CLTS facilitators to come to Toghak and map the high frequency defecation areas in order to identify the best locations for new latrines.

Within a week the women made improvements to 20 latrines. Within three months 50 new latrines were built.

The USAID-funded Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project, Afghanistan (SWSS) project increases access to potable water and sanitation services in Afghan communities and decreases the prevalence of water borne diseases through household hygiene interventions. Led by the Association for Rural Development, in partnership with Management Sciences for Health, SWSS has led nearly 400 communities in Afghanistan to become Open Defecation Free. The MSH components of the project have succeeded under the astute leadership of Dr. Abdul Hatifie, the team leader for Sustainable Health Outcomes, and Dr. Logarwal, the BCC Material and Media Specialist. Together they have led the successful implementation of innovative approaches in all aspects of the SWSS project. To learn more about SWSS’s accomplishments, please see the cover article in this month’s USAID Global Waters magazine [16].