Children learn about CLTS through a giant board game.

19 October 2011: Plan Indonesia has scooped the top prize in a prestigious global competition that recognizes innovation in water engineering.

A judging panel singled out Plan Indonesia’s Grobogan-based Scaling-Up Project for the honour in the "Sanitation and Wastewater – Software” category of this year’s International Water Association (IWA) Project Innovation Awards (PIA), to be held in Malaysia 21-24 November.

The panel praised the project for its innovative approach to sanitation based on community participation and led by the community itself. Yohanna Pakpahan, Plan Indonesia’s Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) project manager in Grobogan district, will represent Plan Indonesia to receive the award.

An open problem

Grobogan is home to 1.4 million people and the Scaling-Up Project began in June 2010, focusing on behavioral change to work towards the area being “open defecation free” (ODF). The AusAid-funded project, which will be completed in December, supports 153 villages to reach ODF status by June 2012.

The approach saw the community supported to build its own latrines without subsidies as part of a drive to improve hygiene behavior. The project also reached out to local government to ensure sustainability and secure a commitment to reducing diarrhea prevalence in the area.

Diarrhea has been a major issue in Grobogan as a result of open defecation and so a CLTS approach was urgently needed.

The project kicked off by introducing the concept to members of local government and the first milestone was reached in June 2010 when local government officially announced its intentions to make Grobogan an ODF district.

The way forward

The local government has now committed to ensuring the people of Grobogan have safe and proper access to toilet facilities, which will decrease diarrhea prevalence. 

Through this project, 49 villages -- home to 169,000 people -- have been declared ODF thanks to the construction of more than 3,200 toilets.

The PIA are organized by the International Water Association, a global network of 10,000 water professionals. The awards recognize and celebrate innovation and excellence in water-engineering projects around the world in six different project categories: applied research, planning, design, operations/management, small projects and marketing, and communications. 

Read more about the work Plan does in Asia.