Access to drinking water and sanitation for communities living in rural areas of Laos continues to pose a substantial challenge for the government, despite efforts already undertaken. Communities often have to manage water and sanitation in their villages alone, which leads to problems in terms of service quality and infrastructure sustainability.
The objective of the PERSEA project is to develop access to drinking water and sanitation, and to improve hygiene practices in households and schools in three districts in Luang Prabang province. GRET is supporting the Confluence association to improve water committees’ governance of water networks and facilitate the acquisition of latrines by households via “sanimarkets”. In addition, healthcare offices in each of the districts are being assisted and strengthened in their role providing support to villages to monitor the quality of drinking water services and campaigns for behavioural change around hygiene and sanitation.