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Fiji

Hub Achievement Report


February 2015
Objective: WASH

Composting toilet solutions completed at Navunisea


District School
GVI has constructed new hygiene and sanitation facilities at Navunisea
District School to ensure that all children have access to safe, clean and
functioning toilets throughout the school year.
The state of the sanitation facilities
has been a continuing issue at
Navunisea Primary school with a lack
of water pressure preventing toilets
from flushing. Furthermore, a lack of
toilet paper was causing students to
use their text books as an alternative
paper source resulting in the pipe
blockage. This has resulted in a
closure of the toilets throughout the
year with no viable alternative. To
ensure that the students have a safe
and reliable sanitation facility, GVI
designed and built a composting
toilet; providing a sustainable,
environmentally friendly alternative.
One of the main benefits of using the
composting toilets at Navunisea is that they do not rely on any water to
function and therefore can be used throughout the year with very little
maintenance required. This makes the project even more cost effective as no
plumbing services are required. Once waste matter created by the new toilet is
composted down it will be used on local crops surrounding the school, helping
to improve soil nutrition.


Streamlining the Design
GVI staff worked to design a composting toilet after researching different
designs and after trialling a composting toilet system successfully using a basic
design in the Yasawas. The final design, utilizes materials easily available in Fiji
that are low cost, construction only requires basic carpentry and construction
skills, the building is solid and durable, and is safe and simple to use for both
children and adults.


Construction of the new facilities
Construction of the toilets was completed by GVI community volunteers over
several weeks to ensure the facilities were ready for the start of the new
school year. The toilet consists of two chambers. Once the first chamber has
been filled, the seat is switched over to use the empty chamber whilst the first
chamber is composting down. Dried grass which has been cut from the school
fields is used as the composting ingredient which is placed down the chamber
before and after each school day by the head boy and girl. This is monitored by
the teachers who have been trained on the maintenance and benefits of the
new toilet.


An essential part of the improvement of facilities and to improve hygiene
awareness was to provide an area for students to wash their hands next to the
new toilet. Consequently two hand washing stations called tippy taps were
created to reinforce hand washing practices. These simple structures use
materials which can be found around the village to produce a tipping container
controlled by a foot lever. This has created a 40 litre hands-free washing area
which can be easily used by students of all ages.








Figure 1 Tippy Taps in Action

Awareness workshops
Awareness raising workshops on how to use the compost toilet and hand
washing facilities were delivered to each class within the school. This is part of
the integrated approach used by GVIs community construction team which
aims to increase sustainability of projects by delivering awareness on all
projects within schools. Lessons were practical, highlighting how to use the
toilet and what should and shouldnt go into it, ensuring that the toilets are
used correctly and the waste becomes compostable. Compost captains were
selected to ensure that dried grass is put in the toilet every day and that the


tippy taps are filled with water. As all stakeholders have the knowledge to
maintain and use the facilities correctly, it gives the students and teachers
ownership over this project therefore extending its lifespan and sustainability.


Figure 2 Students are shown how the new toilets work


GVI Fiji
For more information on GVIs projects in Fiji please visit www.gvi.co.uk
For more information on our global impact visit www.gviworld.com
To make a donation to our projects in Fiji please visit www.gvi.org for more details.

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