The CHISHPIN Project is using the participatory approach of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) with implementing partners and volunteers, rooted in communities.
The Community-led Health Improvement Through Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (CHISHPIN) project responds to identified needs in the sanitation and hygiene sector. The intervention runs from 2015 to 2018 and is funded by UK aid. CHISHPIN is being implemented in Biase, Ikom and Yala LGAs in Cross River State. United Purpose (UP), an award-winning international NGO, is the project’s grant holder and directs implementation in close collaboration with the Cross River State RUWATSSA, the WASH Units in the three benefiting LGAs, and six Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The intervention’s overall goal is to reduce diarrhoea prevalence. To achieve this, the project team and partners facilitate communities to collectively adopt improved sanitation and hygiene practices. The project design incorporates the Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, which is Nigeria’s national approach in the sanitation sector.
CHISHPIN is a sister project to the Global Sanitation Fund funded RUSHPIN programme, implemented by United Purpose in Benue and Cross River States. Modelled after RUSHPIN, the Programme Coordinating Mechanism (PCM) of this programme is also the formal advisory body of CHISHPIN. The project uses the important Task Groups on Sanitation bodies at national (NTGS), state (STGS) and local (LTGS) government levels.
United Purpose has set ambitious targets to end open defecation: by end of project, more than ¾ million (774,354) people will have benefited from increased sanitation coverage, and have increased knowledge and awareness of improved hygiene practices. Moreover, the Local Governments, CSO partners and communities will have stronger capacity to deliver sanitation and hygiene services. Cross-sector learning and sharing and government advocacy for WASH further reinforce CHISHPIN’s impact.