With European Union Humanitarian Aid and United Nations support, IOM Uganda has built and, this week, handed over several sanitation and hygiene facilities in Palorinya refugee settlement, Moyo district.
The facilities include latrines, bathing shelters, incinerators and pits for both the South Sudanese refugees and host communities; they were formally handed over on 28 November to the Office of the Prime Minister, UNHCR and the district local government and will benefit more than 90,000 people.
Their construction was financed by the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department (DG ECHO) and the United Nations’ Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
The IOM Uganda Chief of Mission, Ali Abdi, said: “The reason why the donors are supporting you with these facilities is so that you and your children are healthy enough to work, grow and prosper; our hope and prayer is that you will make good use and take proper care of these facilities.”
The EU Humanitarian Aid representative in Uganda, Isabelle D’Haudt, said:  “We are confident that this EU investment in safe water and better sanitation and hygiene for the refugees and their hosts will greatly improve living conditions and keep people free from preventable diseases. As one of the major humanitarian donors of water and sanitation assistance worldwide, the EU will continue to support the communities in West Nile.”

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RESPONSIVE PARTNERSHIP

Speaking at the formal handover ceremony at Lefori primary school, the Moyo district Chairperson, Hon Williams Anyama, praised the donors for their flexibility in addressing the needs of both refugees and host communities. He appealed to the school management committee to work with teachers and parents to ensure the facility is well maintained.
“Our school children,” the chairman turned to the pupils, “this is your facility; use it well. After use, wash your hands. And don’t just wash your hands, but wash with…”
Before he could finish, the pupils chorused: “soap”.
In Moyo, besides the construction of the new facilities and large-scale hygiene and sanitation awareness creation, the European Union’s funding will be used to build a motorized piped water system. This is a major investment which should help reduce overreliance on water trucking, an extremely expensive and unsustainable approach.
EU humanitarian support to IOM totals EUR 2 million for the period between April 2017 and July 2018.
The newly built facilities include:
• 12 blocks of Institutional Latrines of five stances each: the males’ latrines have urinals while the females’ have incinerators for menstrual hygiene management. The latrines are located in Luru health centre (1 block); Luru Primary school (2 blocks); Idiwa health centre (1 ); Morobi P/Sch (2); OPM Base camp  (1 ); Belle P/Sch (2); Lefori P/Sch (1); Nyawa P/Sch (2)
• 4 blocks of Bathing shelters, located in Reception centre;  Luru Health centre; Idiwa health centre and  Palorinya Police post
• 2 Incinerators at Idiwa health centre and Luru Health centre
• 2 Placenta pits at Idiwa health centre and  Luru Health centre

IMMENSE NEED
Since April, IOM Uganda has been implementing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects in the West Nile region, funded by EU Humanitarian Aid and CERF. The actions are targeting more than 90,000 people in zone 4 of Bidibidi settlement in Yumbe district and Palorinya settlement in Moyo district.
The project’s sanitation and hygiene sensitization component in Palorinya is implemented in partnership with Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
The Settlement Commandant for Moyo and Adjumani districts, Mr Godfrey Byaruhanga, also praised the donors for supporting the Office of the Prime Minister to cater for refugees and their host communities. But he pointed out that the needs are still immense. For instance, one of the schools that received a girls’ latrine is Belle primary school in Palorinya settlement; it has 4,267 pupils, forcing it to teach in shifts.