The Program for Improving Access to Sanitation and Hygienic Practices in Rural Areas (Programme d'Amelioration de l'Acces a l'Assainissement et des Pratiques d'Hygiene en milieu Rural (PAPHyR)), funded by the Global Sanitation Fund, supported the Government of Benin in achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and to end open defecation by 2030.
PAPHyR contributed to the formulation of, and progress toward, the government's National Strategy for the Promotion of Hygiene and Basic Sanitation. This strategy encourages communities to eliminate open defecation and increase sustainable and equitable access to improved sanitation and hygiene services, with a focus on poor rural populations, especially women and girls.
By the end of the program in December 2020, more than 1.1 million people in 5,547 target communities lived in open defecation free (ODF) environments, and more than 970,000 people gained access to improved sanitation and hygiene facilities. School and community hygiene promotion was expanded from hand-washing to include menstrual hygiene management. PAPHyR also actively emphasized equity in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) access for those with disabilities, supporting people who are disabled as they developed facilities that better suit their needs and means.
To achieve this, the program:
- Supported 14 local nongovernmental organizations by training, supervising, coaching, and monitoring them as they implemented continuum community-led total sanitation (CLTS) to eliminate open defecation;
- Promoted improved sanitation and hygiene; and
- Built a ‘strong base' of community leaders to sustain and build on those improvements.
