Heart to Heart Foundation staff interviewing a household selected for toilet support
With support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA),
Heart to Heart Foundation is carrying out WASH improvement projects in both Tanzania and Malawi.
These projects are based on the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) method,
which focuses on helping local residents to recognize and address their own sanitation challenges.
Rather than simply “building facilities for them,” the aim is to inspire a sense of ownership so that community members voluntarily build
and maintain their own toilets and handwashing devices, ensuring lasting, sustainable change.
The changes are most evident in the children’s everyday lives.
A child using a familiy-built toilet and handwashing device
In a village in Zomba District, Malawi, a young girl stands in front of the toilet which is built by her family themselves,
happily using a tippy-tap handwashing station made from a recycled plastic bottle.
Her bright smile expresses her pride: “Now I can protect my own health.”
Behind her, her mother watches with a warm smile.
Together they decorated the toilet’s exterior with drawings
and posters about hygiene practices—vivid evidence of a growing culture of self-driven cleanliness.
A child decorating the toilet’s outer wall with clay
Another child crushes baked bricks and mixes them with water to create colorful mud for decorating the walls of the toilet.
By lovingly maintaining the facility,
the children see the toilet not merely as a “place to use,” but as a space they own and care for.
A change has taken place in the village,
where there used to be no toilets and people practiced open defecation without recognizing its necessity.
These small acts reveal how voluntary behavior change for better sanitation is taking root across African villages.
Heart to Heart Foundation also provides toilets for vulnerable households to ensure no one is left behind.
Families who are unable to build toilets on their own—those most in need—are identified and supported.
To date, more than 100 households have received assistance.
The Previously used toilet in the village
This effort guarantees a dignified and safe sanitation environment for all family members,
including persons with disabilities, the elderly, and children.
Improved toilet through support of HtHF’s project
With these new toilets, vulnerable families are no longer left in sanitation blind spots,
and the entire village shares a healthier and cleaner environment.
Residents in front of supported the improved toilet
A single toilet can spark children’s laughter, protect a family’s dignity, and gradually transform the culture of the whole community.
Most importantly, because these changes are initiated by the residents themselves, their impact is far more sustainable.
Heart to Heart Foundation’s WASH initiatives are steadily taking root as a culture that transforms lives.
If you were a member of this village, how would you make your community even cleaner?
Heart to Heart Foundation will continue working hand-in-hand with local communities to secure safe water and sanitation for all.
<Heart to Heart Foundation, with funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA),
is implementing a Community-Participatory Integrated WASH Improvement Project in Mtama District, Tanzania, and Zomba District, Malawi.>
