April 30, 2008

First Interim Report October 2007 – March 2008 „Safe Sanitation Health and Dignity“ Ecological sanitation and waste-(water) management in rural areas of , Bulgaria and Romania To

From BSWC Medium FVC & Garla Ukraine Sanitas Mare Romania

Project Overview 3 countries

Project Name Safe Sanitation Health and Dignity File nr. EA/2007/04 Convention signed on September 20, 2007 Project duration 3 years: October 2008 – September 2010 Regions of Ukraine : Kiev, Odessa, Sebastopol, Yaremche, Nyzhin, Implementation Ternopil, Nova-Kakhova, Artemisk, Feodosia Bulgaria : Sofia, Pleven and Stara Zagora Counties Romania : Teleorman, Mehedinti counties Population reached Small Rural Communities with very poor living conditions. Total number of beneficiaries: 70. 000 citizens Total Budget Euro 758.300 (300.000 from Fondation Ensemble) Payments made at Euro 50.000 date from F. Ensemble

Structure: Implementing organisation: Name organisation Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) Address Utrecht Telephone/ fax + 31 30 23 10 300 / +31 30 23 40 878 E-mail [email protected] Anne Barre, WECF France (Overall Coordinator) Name Contacts: Olga Plekhanova (National Coordinator Ukraine) Bistra Mihailkova (National Coordinator Bulgaria) Olivia Radu (National Coordinator Romania)

Local partner organisations:

Ukrainian project partners :

Ukrainian National Environmental NGO Mama-86 : Central Office Kyiv and 9 regional branches: MAMA-86 Kyiv, MAMA-86-Artemivsk, MAMA-86-Feodosia, MAMA-86-Mykolajv, MAMA-86-Nizhyn, MAMA- 86-Nova-Kahovka, MAMA-86- , MAMA-86-Ternopil and MAMA-86-Yaremche.

Black See Women’s Club : Odessa region

Bulgarian partner : Earth Forever Foundation (Stara Zagora and Pleven + supported by WECF Coordinator Bistra Mihailova for Pravets municipality)

Romanian project partners : Euro Teleorman: Teleorman County Medium & Sanitas: Ialomita County Femei FVC + local authorities

More details on Country-specific Project Overviews

Executive Summary:

The project Safe Sanitation Health and Dignity (SSHD) started “full speed” in Ukraine in October 2007:

Start up meetings were organised by the partners and the preparation for the construction of 4 school toilets and 8 household toilets were immediately started, so that constructions are now underway in all regions and should be completed by the fall of 2008. In parallel, capacity building activities: training local builders are being conducted. Local authorities are actively involved in the project at different levels.

In Bulgaria and Romania, however, the cancellation of the expected co- funding for the project resulted in important delays, as WECF and partner resources were used for fundraising. Thanks to the success of the fundraising activities, project start up could finally be organised in both countries from March 2008 onwards. A very strong cooperation with municipalities in Bulgaria, where official press conferences with public signing of MoUs helped bring much publicity for the project (local and national coverage)

A field trip of our water expert Margriet Samwell, together with WECF coordinator for Romania, Olivia Radu, enabled the effective start of activities with the partners: trainings and workshops are in planning for the month of July, whereby pilot household toilets will be constructed. Preparations are also underway in Romania for building one of the 5 planned school toilets in the fall.

All planned activities for the next period are detailed under the individual country reports. Project Overview Ukraine

Safe Sanitation, Health and Dignity Project Name File nr. EA/2005/12

Project duration 3 years: October 2008 – September 2010

Population reached Small Rural Communities with very poor living conditions: total number reached: 50 000 citizens

Total Budget Euro 250.000 (100.000 from FE) Payments made at date Euro 50.000 From Fondation Ensemble

Name organisation Mama86 Kiev Address 4 Yangel Academician Str., apt.126, 11th floor Kyiv 03057, Ukraine Phone/ Fax + 38 044 456 1338; + 38 044 453 4796 (fax) e-mail [email protected] Convention signed on 30 November 2007 Region of implementation 9 regions: city Kyiv and Kyivska oblast, Artemivskyi rayon of Donetska oblast, cite Feodosia of Crimea, Mykolajvska oblast, Nizhynskyi rayon of Chernigivska oblast, Nova-Kahovskyi rayon Khersonska oblast, city Sebastopol, Ternopilska oblast and Yaremchanskyi rayon Ivano- Frankivska oblast Beneficiary population (list 200 pupils + 60 households the villages) Instalments paid to date 10 965,- Euro Name of coordinator Anna Tsvetkova

Name organisation Black Sea Women’s Club Odessa 20, Ekateryninskaya str., 65102, Odessa Address Phone/ Fax +380 67 4411736; +380 48 7584123 e-mail [email protected] Convention signed on 16 th of October Region of implementation County Odessa Beneficiary population (list Stepanovka, Sherbanka, Limanskoe the villages) Instalments paid to date 29035,- euro Name of coordinator Svitlana Slesarenok

Give details on contributing local authorities

The support of local authorities in Ukraine is mostly needed for school toilet construction.

In Odessa region, our partner BSWC is working very intensive to lobby for ecosan solutions and involve official authorities into the project. (See also Results Overview for Capacity Building below). More than 20 high level officials, including the Head of executive body (the Razdelnaya district State Administration) and Head of legislative body (the Razdelnaya district Council) of Razdelnaya district are involved in the project implementation. The Village Councils in Stepovoe and Scherbanka (Odessa regions) took important decisions about land allocation for toilets. The authorities of Nyzhyn are also supporting the project. It is not a financial contribution, but mostly administrative support for getting documents and permits needed for legalization of school toilet construction, what is very complicated procedure. In Nova-Kahovka, the school administration is intending to help with some in-kind labour at the building stage. Narrative Report Ukraine

1. Project Objectives for the reporting period

Implementation: • Building materials market research at local level • Preparation activities for building of 12 household toilets (signing contracts with local stakeholders, purchasing building materials) • Design of 2 school toilets in Nyzhyn and Nova Kakhovka: organising of visits of the WECF’s ecosan expert to Nizhyn and Nova-Kahovka. Developing of technical documentation by Ukrainian engineers • Start of construction of 2 school toilets in Stepovoe and Shcherbanka (Odessa Region) • Creating the Contacts with all stakeholders and responsible authorities for school toilets

Capacity building: • National and several local trainings on ecosan toilet building • Lobbying of Ecosan solutions specially on regional and national level Up-Scaling: • Collecting information for baseline studies

Coordination: • Project set up coordination meetings, WECF/MAMA-86 and MAMA-86 Central office/regions • Regional and local start up meetings, inc. project presentation to stakeholders

2. Results achieved compared to objectives

Coordination: 3 project setup meetings took place:

Two set up meetings were organized by Mama-86 Kyiv:

The first startup meeting took place November 7, 2007 in Kyiv. 3 members of WECF and 11 members of MAMA-86 took part in the meeting. The most important topics of the discussion were: recall of project objectives / project detail planning and project management set-up.

Start Up Meetings in Kyiv (November, February 2008)

The second coordination meeting took place February 7-8, 2008 in Kyiv (11 participants). Resources and options for project management and implementation were discussed by MAMA- 86 staff. The plans on implementation of the pilots were confirmed by 8 regions. The ninth regional coordinator - Ternopil – could not attend both coordination meetings but confirmed participation at the project and planning to build 3 households toilets (the construction will start after October 2008). Contracts were signed between Kyiv central office and MAMA-86 local offices.

It was decided that in the first period 6 regions would start preparing for the construction of household dry toilets: in Kyiv, Artemivsk, Nizhyn, Feodosia, Mykolaiiv and Yaremche. Nizhyn and Nova Kahovka will work on construction of school toilets.

One set-up meeting was organized by BSWC in Odessa

The start up meeting conducted by BSWC took place in the main hall of Razdelnaya district authority on the 22 nd of October and was lead together by the head of Razdelnaya district state administration (main executive body) Felix Segal and leader of BSWC Svitlana Slesarenok

• Regional / local setup meetings and project presentation to stakeholders

The set up meetings with involvement of local authorities, stakeholders and communities took place in 9 regions in the period from October 2007 till March 2008. In some regions (Yaremche, Artemivsk, Kiyv) follow-up meetings were organized with individual families and householders in the project villages

• Presentation of the SSHD Project at International Conferences

The SSHD Project was presented by Mama-86 at the Water Conference organized by Ukrainian State Committee on Water Management on 20 th of March 2008 with participation of the representatives of all ministries/departments, responsible of water sector development, river basins bodies, science, NGOs and other stakeholders

Capacity building:

• National/local training on individual outdoor ecosan toilet building

In the first period of SSHD project Mama-86 organized 1 national seminar and 4 local seminars- trainings on eco sanitation and individual outdoor ecosan toilet building. The national seminar In Kyiv was organized for 12 regional coordinators, Kyiv staff and 8 local potential trainers. It was hold on the 9 th February 2008 in hotel “Kazatskiy” in Kyiv. In 3 regions - Nizhyn, Mykolaiiv, Feodosia - the first seminars trainings were carried out in January and March 2008. In total 56 participants from 3 project areas took part in these seminars at local level.

• Lobbying of ecosan solutions on regional and national level

BSWC informed all high level officials of Odessa region about the project, including two Governors (former Governor Ivan Plachkov, who became an adviser of Ukrainian President Viktor Yuscchenko and was transferred to Kyiv) and a new Head of Odessa region Council Leonid Skoryk. BSWC presented the idea of Ecosan to many other officials of Odessa region such as State Administration and Council. A lot of them visited the Ecosan school toilet in Stepanovka. The former Governor Ivan Plachkov signed a special decree ordering all Heads of Education departments of all districts in Odessa region to visit the ecosan school toilet in Stepanovka . As a result the Head of Education department of Odessa region is planning in investing in Ecosan toilets for 30 schools in Odessa region in the coming years.

Up scaling:

Base-line studies were started in 8 regions coordinated by local Mama-86 coordinators

Implementation:

• Building materials market research at local level In 7 regions the building materials market research was done. The results of the research confirmed a rapid price increase on building materials, especially cement. Costs for labour and transport services increased too. In January the cost of toilet building materials for 1 out door toilet (size:1,50x1,50m) raised up to 546 - 624 Euros.

This rapid raising of prices for building materials, labour and transportation services is causing difficulties for project implementation. Additional co-funding planned had to be up dated.

Prices for 1 household toilet in January-February 2008 (size:1,50x1,50m) in comparison to the planned costs: Originally planned on the basis 1 household toilet/ wooden 1household toilet /breaks of previous prices construction construction 350-400 EUR 546 EUR 624 EUR

• 12 household toilets building preparation

For the first period was planned to sign the Contracts with stakeholders, supply building materials and start construction of household toilets. In March the building of 6 household toilets was started in Kyiv ( 1 out door toilet), Feodosia (2 out door toilets), Nizhyn (1 indoor household toilet + waste water filter) and Mykolaiiv (2 out door household toilet). The Contracts with stakeholders were signed and building materials supplied for 5 household toilets Yaremche and Artemivsk and Nova. In total 11 toilets are in building process at different stages in 7 regions.(see picture report)

• Design of 2 school toilets in Nova Kahovka and Nyzhyn (Mama-86)

MAMA-86 made arrangements at local level for a visit of WECF’s ecosan expert Stefan Degeener’s to Nizhyn on 7 th of November 2007 and to Nova-Kahovka on 19 th of March 2008. As the results in Nizhyn and Nova Kahovka the engineering companies already selected. The work on design as well as development of contacts with key stakeholders and responsible authorities on school toilets project implementation was started.

• Start of construction of 2 school toilets in Stepovoe and in Shcherbanka (BSWC, Odessa)

In Stepovoe the builder started with construction of school toilet.

For the school in Scherbanka the designers are finishing the design. It is expected to get all necessary permits from the Head of the Uniting Centres for Permissions in the nearest future. So BSWC can start the building work in Shcherbanka school asap.

3. Tracking indicators

No of No of No of No of No of school No. of No. of No. of No. of participants: regions: schools: household toilets under participants: villages: regions: Mass start-up start-up- educational toilets u/ constcuction trainings for trainings for baseline media meetings meetings programs construction local builders local studies articles builders 50 10 8 in 5 11 in 7 2 56 4 8 10* regions regions

* 10 mass media reflections: articles in local newspapers (Nova Kahovka, Artemivsk, Yaremche and Mykolaiiv) and one TV news in Kyiv at “1+1” channel on nitrates contamination of wells water in Ukraine.

4. Difficulties encountered and solutions implemented or elaborated • The unexpected rapid price increase on building materials and labor cost in 2008 made the original budget for implementation and coordination unrealistic. The total budget for the project is being updated.

Solutions : 1) Optimization of building construction (reducing the building size, number of rooms) 2) Using local low cost materials 3) Arranging additional contribution from householders 4) Allocation of additional co-financing for the implementation budget: MFS Co-funding will be increased for both partners.

• Difficulties in Odessa region 1) Active lobbying work of BSWC to get additional local co-funding, was hindered by the change of official authorities (elections in Odessa region), and necessitated more start up meetings in the villages, which increased the capacity building costs appeared in the budget of BSWC, that were not originally planned Solutions: Continue to lobby with the new nominated authorities, update the budget 2) The construction of school toilet in the village Scherbanka started latter than planned due to very complicated procedure of getting permits for construction. Because of these circumstances the construction is delayed to the second period (and costs will be transferred accordingly) Solutions: Minimize the coordination costs, plan additional activities for capacity building, plan more time for getting permits for toilet construction.

• Differences in experience and skill level among regional organizations and MAMA-86 Kyiv office

Solutions: Adaptation of the budget planning formats to reporting needs of regional partners, including translation formats in Ukrainian, consultation for regional partners on reporting according to SSHD rules and formats: this has consequences on the budget.

5. Planned activities for next period

Implementation: • Continue with construction of 11 household toilets and preparation activities for further 12 household toilets (contracts signing, building materials purchasing) by Mama-86. Start of construction of household toilets in Odessa region. • Continue to work on design of 2 school toilets in Nyzhyn, Nova Kahovka and Scherbanka according to the recommendation of WECF ecosan expert, work out the technical documentation for school toilets by Ukrainian engineers, developing of the contacts with all stakeholders and responsible authorities on school toilets project legalization. • Finish the building of Stepovoe school toilet • Finish the building of Scherbanka school toilet • Start with work on toilet slabs production

Capacity building: • Local training on ecosan toilet building • Base line study • Set up of children water monitoring • Solid Waste /case study

Up-Scaling: • Market research for building materials at local level • Publication of info materials on ecosan , waste water management, composting and other issues • Start developing regional guidelines for EcoSan toilet operation and re-use of composted excreta, to be adopted by the Sanitary Epidemiological Station of Odessa Oblast

Coordination : • Project administration : finalizing additional co-financing ( WECF/ MAMA-86 and MAMA-86 Central office/regions ) • Further regional/ local set up meetings; project presentation to stakeholders

Project Overview Bulgaria

Safe Sanitation, Health and Dignity Project Name File nr. EA/2007/04

Project duration 3 years: October 2008 – September 2010

Population reached Small Rural Communities with very poor living conditions: total number of beneficiaries 26 147.

Total Budget Euro 210.400 (100.000 from FE) Payments made at date 5000.00 Euro From FE

Partner organisation Name organisation Earth Forever Foundation Address 77a, Kiril I Methody, apt. 27, Stara Zagora 6000 Phone/ Fax + 359 42 634641 e-mail [email protected] Convention signed on 16 th of October 2007 Region of implementation Municipalities: Stara Zagora, Pleven, Pravets, Bulgaria Beneficiary population (list Kaloyanovets, Zagore, Hristiyanovo, Rakitnitsa – Stara Zagora Mun. the villages) Slavyanovo. Pelishat, Todorovo, Begljsh – Pleven Municipality Vidrare, Djurovo – Pravets Muncipality Instalments paid to date 5000.00 Euro Name of coordinator Diana Iskreva

Give details on contributing local authorities

The local authorities in the 3 municipalities of Bulgaria are willing to contribute to the project in kind and also financially when possible. MoU were signed with Stara Zagora Municipality and Pleven Municipality. The negotiations are to be finalized with Pravets Municipality soon. Earth Forever Foundation is working closely together with the project municipal authorities, village mayors, schools and village cultural centers to accomplish the project goals. A list of the main actors at project sites follows:

For Stara Zagora Municipality (main support): Prof. Svetlin Tanchev, Mayor, Stara Zagora Municipality E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +359 42 600105; Fax: +359 42 601103 Tanka Ganeva, Mayor Kaloyanovets, Phone: +359 41144 260 Nikolay Tenev, Mayor Zagore; Phone: +359 41277 260 Bogdana Jelayzkova, Headmaster Zagore; Phone:+ 359 41277 580 Velichka Atanasova, Mayor Rakitnitsa; Phone: + 359 4116 260 Radka Jeleva, Mayor Hrishteni; Phone: +359 126 260 Dora Petrova, Headmaster Hrishteni; Phone: +359 4126 360

For Pleven Municipality: Nayden Zelenogorski, Mayor, Pleven Municipality E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +359 64 881200; Fax: +359 64 844230 Dikran Ovanesyan, Director International Projects; Phone: +359 64 881273 Dimitrinka Abrasheva, Head Environment; Phone: +359 64 881336 Slavyanka Ivanova, Mayor Todorovo; Phone: +359 63574 234 Mitko Yankov, Mayor Pelishat; Phone: +359 63577 234 Assen Buchev, Mayor Slavyanvoo; Phone: +359 65115

For Pravets Municipality: Krassimir Zhivkov, Mayor, Pravets Municipality E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +359 7133 2288; Fax: +359 7133 2433 Narrative Report Bulgaria

1. Project Objectives planned for the reporting period Implementation • Implementing 1 HH toilet, cost: 700 Euros • Implementing a school garden in 1 village in Stara Zagora province. Costs: 600 Euros Capacity building • Water monitoring program – with teachers and pupils. Costs: 500 Euros (October, November, December 2007). • Developing a Water safety Plan. Cost: 500 Euros • Developing a solid waste inventory in 1 village (Dec 2007) - Costs: 1000Euros • Tutoring program on composting. Cost: 1000 Euros

Project Co-ordination

• Signing a memorandum with local municipalities • Regional and local start-up meetings, visit to the project areas

2. Results achieved compared to objectives

Project coordination • Field trips and press conferences for project start up Field trips organized with local authorities were carried out in the 3 municipalities for the selection of appropriate villages where the project will be implemented. Leading factors for the selection of the villages were: expressed local demand for improved sanitation, local motivation, lack of a sewer and no immediate plan to solve situation, local capacity to mobilize the population, capacity of local institutions (e.g. village school, village cultural center, village civil groups, village women groups, etc.). Field trips with Project Leader – Mrs. Anne Barre, were organized with project municipalities, within 4 days, to visit villages and local collaborators and formalize the MoU with project municipalities. Start-up press-conferences were organized in these municipalities when MoU were publicly signed with Pleven and Stara Zagora Municipalities.

2 more MoU with local partners (Pravets municipalitiy and Trakia University) are under negotiation.

The agreements had been discussed in details with the local authorities in the preceding months whereby all have shown a great motivation in participating in the project.

Discussion with the mayor Krassimir Zhivkov in Pravets Municipality

Initial background survey was finalized in the project villages from Stara Zagora Municipality and is under implementation in the villages of Pleven Municipality. The survey proved our suspicion that there are families that practice even open defecation – especially among Roma minority group. Open defecation is also a public practice in some of the project villages.

Predominantly Roma kids are attending the village schools, the need of hygiene education is enormous

• Fundraising

Earth Forever and WECF actively worked on fundraising during the reporting period (several project proposals were prepared).More project proposals are under preparation for local funding. The French branch of the worldwide education Institution ORT is now co-financing the project for Bulgaria and Romania (50 000€) and the finances will be used in the next 2 coming periods. Earth Forever together with the Stara Zagora Municality and Norwegian Institute for Agriculture and Environmental Research submitted a project proposal for additional co-funding of 355 471 Euro (incl. 27 760 Euro in cash to be provided by municipal budget, and 45 729 Euro to be provided inkind by the municipal administration and private beneficiaries) from EEA Financial Mechanism, call for Bulgaria. The result is expected by the end of 2008. A project proposal is under preparation for the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, call for Bulgaria, with 15% co-funding from municipal budget.

Capacity Building Initial surveys in 4 villages in Stara Zagora Municipality are completed and 3 are under implementation in Pleven Municipality Up-scaling Working with Trakia University: 1 lecture with students 1 field visit to an ecosan site; 1 video lecture organized as an exchange with IHE-UNESCO – Delft (Holland), on ecosan on-line training.

3. Tracking indicators

No of participants: No of No of No of schools where No of press conference Publications in municipalities initial survey was made University students meetings media signing MoU involved 85 19 2 5 32

• Media coverage : Publications in media, briefings, interviews, participations: 3 Pravets, Botevgrad, incl. 2 in electronic media (local TV Pravets and Botevgrad) 5 Pleven, incl. 3 in electronic media (local and regional TV) 11 Stara Zagora, incl. 8 in electronic media (local TV and radio; 3 TV with national coverage, 1 National Radio)

4. Difficulties encountered and solutions implemented or elaborated

• Lack of adequate funding to start project: - the expected MATRA co-funding was cancelled at the end of 2007. This created a very big problem for the start of the project, which was delayed to March 2008. Solution: partial co-funding has been obtained with ORT and further fundraising is being actively conducted.

• Organizational and coordination issues: due to the fact that the project is split among 3 different municipalities, the project needs more coordination support locally: Solution: In Pleven, Earth Forever Foundation appointed a local coordinator – Mrs. Stefka Nikolaeva, to coordinate the implementation of the project in 4 villages. Pleven Municipality is ready to contribute in kind and financially. In Pravets, the coordination will be done by Bistra Mihaylova from WECF together with Earth Forever Foundation. In this municipality there will be in kind contribution.

5. Planned activities for next period

Implementation: • Identification of the immediate schools and households for construction work in 5 villages; • Design of individual construction sites for 5 standard household and 1 school / public sanitation systems; • Construction of ecological sanitation systems – toilets and treatment facilities for greywater – 5 private household systems and 1 school system; • Construction of composting sites in 5 villages; • Construction of ecological gardens in 2 schools.

Capacity building • Water monitoring in schools; • Solid waste inventory in 5 villages; • Start to develop a Water Safety Plan in 2 village schools; • Caretaking program set-up in 1 school; • Finishing the background survey in all the villages; • Design of training programs for the project schools; • Training of project teachers in 2 schools; • Design of training programs for decision-makers and media representatives; • Training of municipal and village mayors, representatives of local and regional institutions, representatives of local media in 2 municipalities; • Designing of training program for project villagers, households, village NGOs, village chitalishte (village cultural center), etc.; • Training of project villagers, households, village NGOs, village village cultural center - 5 villages ; • Design of training program for local constructors; • Training of 4 local constructors working in 2 villages; • Tutoring program on composting organic waste in 5 villages.

Up-scaling: • Background surveys for the case-studies: - Survey of local hygienic practices from past and present referring to solid waste management, human and animal waste management, re-use, etc. with questionnaire among villagers, children, local experts (medical doctor, farmers, etc.); - Survey on local status of environment (surface and ground water, drinking water), usage of fertilizers and pesticides (storage and use) - Survey on health status of children and health practices • Design of research to monitor and assess the impact of the project on: - Managing of health and environmental risks connected with composting and re- use of animal manure and human excreta + sanitized urine + treated wastewater - Design of Water Safety Plan for the project schools in 2 villages. • Design of agri-ecological projects in 2 school (ecological gardens) • Implementation of Water Safety Plan with 2 project schools.

Co-ordination: • Project co-ordination and administration. • Project monitoring and assessment. • Start-up meetings with all potential partners in each of the project villages.

Project Overview Romania

Project Name Safe Sanitation, Health and Dignity File nr. EA / 2007 / 04 Convention signed on September 20, 2007 Project duration 3 years: October 2007 – September 2010

Romania County Teleorman: Beiu village - Storobaneasa commune (3,735 Region of inhabitants) Implementation County Mehedinti: Vrata commune 2,000 inhabitants County Ialomita: Cosereni commune 6993 inhabitants

Small Rural Communities with lack of adequate sanitation and waste Target Population management facilities

Instalments paid to date 5.000 euro

Total Budget 248.000 euro

FE contribution 100.000

Structure: Implementing organisation: Name organisation Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF)

Address Biltstraat 445, 3572 AW Utrecht, the Netherlands Telephone/ fax +49-89-202323-90 fax -91 and +33 450 37 71 98 (tel. & fax) Anne Barre – Overall project coordinator Coordinators Sascha Gabizon – WECF Executive director Olivia Radu – Romania country coordinator [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected] , E-mail [email protected] Instalments paid to date 590 euro

Local coordinators/partners: Name organisation EuroTeleorman Association Address 178 Dunarii Street, 140047 Alexandria, Teleorman County, Romania Tel/fax +40247317878 Convention signed on 8th of November 2007 Region of Teleorman county implementation Name of coordinator Irina Feleaga E-mail [email protected] , [email protected] Beneficiary population Beiu village - Storobaneasa commune (3,735 inhabitants) (list the villages) Instalments paid to date 4060 euro

Name organisation Femei pentru un Viitor Curat (FVC) Women for a Clean Future Address GARLA MARE, Mehedinti county Tel +40732361564 Convention signed on 16 th of October Region of Mehedinti County implementation Name of coordinator Angela Boiangiu E-mail [email protected] ; [email protected] Beneficiary population Vrata commune 2,000 inhabitants (list the villages) Instalments paid to date 350 euro

Name organisation Medium & Sanitas Slobozia Address Slobozia, Ialomita Tel +40723668190 Convention signed on 5th of November Region of Ialomita County implementation Name of coordinator Elena Radu E-mail [email protected], [email protected] Beneficiary population Cosereni commune 6993 inhabitants (list the villages) Instalments paid to date -

Narrative Report Romania

1. Project Objectives for the reporting period Implementation: 1.1.1 Start selection process for private households 1.2.1 Identify local architect 1.2.2 School selection procedure: select 3 schools among 15 with specific questionnaires 1.2.3 Obtain tender offers from construction companies

Capacity Building: 2.1.1 Stefan Deegner - Technical advisor of WECF visits the county and has meetings with school designer, health authority and Environmental Protection Agency 2.1.4 Identify local builders 2.2.1 Organize start-up meeting to discuss practical issues 2.2.2 Organize visit of key deciders to Ukraine to see newly built indoor school toilet 1 2.2.3 Start up meetings with communities for announcing the project and awareness raising 2

Fundraising at local, national, international level to obtain needed co-funding of the project.

2. Results achieved compared to objectives In the first period of the project several activities have been carried out resulting in: Implementation 1. selection of the first 3 schools where the first EcoSan dry urine diverting toilet will be built 2. selection process for the first 6 household toilets in the 3 regions 3. selection of the technical designers for the schools in Teleorman and Mehedinti Capacity Building 1. start-up meeting with the key decision people and project partners in Teleorman, Mehedinti and Ialomita 2. start-up meeting with the community and the interested schools and teachers in the 3 regions 3. visit of WECF ecosan engineer Stefan Deegener and establishment of the location for the school toilets in Teleorman – Beiu and Mehedinti –Vrata 4. visit of key deciders from Teleorman to Ukraine Up - scaling 1. visit to the Bucharest Technical University of Construction of Stefan Deegener and Olivia Radu (country coordinator) and discussions for starting the cooperation with the university 2. visit of Stefan Deegener to the ceramic Factory – Bianca Romania

Implementation The schools selected for construction of the first 3 toilets were: Beiu school - Storobaneasa Commune in the Teleorman County, Vrata school in Mehedinti county and Cosereni school in Ialomita county.

1 Activity only for Teleorman region 2 The only activity developed in Ialomita region in this period

Present school toilets in Teleorman – Beiu (right side) and in Vrata – Mehedinti (left side)

Capacity Building A start-up meeting with the key people and a start-up workshop have been organized in all the 3 regions in Storobaneasa Commune - Teleorman, Vrata commune - Mehedinti and Cosereni commune - Ialomita to set up the steps for the future activities in the project. The start-up workshops gathered local authorities, teachers and members of local NGOs (Water Management Center in Teleorman who will further cooperate in the project and work with the rural communities) and also representatives of the local health department and members of the local media (see annex 1 – list of participants). During the meeting in Teleorman a representative of the Ialomita region was present. The topics approached during the start-up workshop with the communities were about ecological sanitation, description of the project and of WECF and the implementation of the Water Safety Plan. Water tests on nitrate concentration were undertaken in all the 3 regions during the workshops. In all the 3 villages Water test taken during the wor kshops out of the total number of test only 30% were under 50 mg/l – the legal limit, 45% between 50 – 250% mg/l and 25% up to 500 mg/l. In March, Stefan Deegener – the ecosan engineer visited the first 2 schools school in Beiu and Vrata villages to discuss the location of the toilet and the necessary permits for construction. He met with the technical designers, with the authorities of the school and in Teleorman with the General School Inspector. After the meeting in Teleorman the partners established to start the process for getting pre-agreements from 3 stakeholders involved in approving the building and functioning of the toilet. Preliminary documentation was sent to the Public Health Authority, from where there is already an agreement (Annex 3), to the General School Inspectorate and to the Environmental Agency in Teleorman. Only after their answer the technical design process can start and get the final permits. Between the 16 th and the 18 th of March 2008, key decision people from the county of Teleorman attended a field visit in Stepanovka, Ukraine. There they had the chance to see an implemented EcoSan toilet from a school in Stepanovka village and discuss the process of implementation with local authorities of Razdelnaya and local stakeholders involved in permits approval. The delegation had 4 members: • Mr. Ion Putineanu – Vice president – Teleorman County Council • Mr. Gheorghe Gaina – Mayor – Storobaneasa Commune • Mr. Petre Barleanu – Director – Beiu School • Ms. Luminita Dumitrascu – Director – Teleorman Couty Public Health Department By this visit, the partner in Teleorman achieved the objective of getting involved local authorities and decision makers in the implementation process. In the same time the partners also managed to get the local authorities support in their effort to cooperate with them. Up-scaling Discussions for a possible cooperation with the Bucharest University took place with Stefan Deegener and Olivia Radu. The cooperation can start after a lecture to be held next autumn on ecosanitation techniques for the students of the Bucharest Technical University of Construction. After that the students will find topics for their thesis to be fitted within the project framework. Discussions between country coordinator, ecosan engineer and the ceramic factory representatives took place during the previous months. As a result Stefan Deegener visited the school and offered guidelines on how to make a dry urine diversion ceramic pot. In the following weeks Bianca Romania will execute the prototype of the ceramic dry toilet and further discussions will take place for a future cooperation on ceramic pots production. This cooperation with the ceramic factory is the follow up of a WECF project developed for Romania and Bulgaria last year and funded by Aqua for All the Netherlands via Women for Water Partnership. Fund-raising During the first period, WECF submitted applications to 3 funding organizations (ORT France, Matra Kap – Dutch Embassy in Romania, Europaid Non State Actors and Local Authorities). The first 2 were successful. This funds will cover implementation, capacity building and coordination costs for the first 2 years. In the next periods WECF will look for further co-funding for the up-scaling part (cooperation with the University).

4. Tracking indicators:

Number of Number of participants to Number of Number of schools willing Number of key start-up schools who villages who to get involved people in the meetings and sent their Indicator/ sent their in the trip to general representatives Organization representatives implementation Stepanovka course on to the start-up to the start-up of the (activity for ecosanitation, meeting (incl meeting educational EuroTeleorman) water safety teachers) activities plans ET 30 10 10 5 4 Teleorman FVC 30 2 2 2 - Mahedinti MS 15 1 1 1 - Ialomita

5. Difficulties encountered and solutions implemented or elaborated

The initial concerns of the different stakeholders regarding Ecosan systems, especially for public buildings. Solutions Implemented: • Organizing a trip to Stepanovka, Ukraine, which convinced all participants that EcoSan is a great improvement towards the present sanitary situation in Romanian rural schools. • Sending detailed documentation to different stakeholders regarding the benefits of the EcoSan System.

6. Planned activities for next period 1) Teleorman county – EuroTeleorman Association Implementation • Technical design of Beiu school toilet, obtaining permits for construction and starting construction. • Launch tender for selecting the construction company for school toilet

Capacity building • Training for builders on construction of school toilet and construction of 2 household toilets • Starting the implementation of the WSP o monitoring nitrates concentration from the private and public wells – activity to be developed during one year in order to have a complete overview of the evolution of nitrates concentration o starting the nitrates monitoring map of the village by identifying the water wells and their level of pollution in the entire village

2) Mehedinti county – FVC (Women for a Clean Future) Implementation • Technical design of “village name” school toilet, permits for construction and starting construction • Launch tender for selecting the construction company for school toilet

Capacity building • Training for builders on construction of school toilet and construction of 3 household toilets • Starting the implementation of the WSP by o monitoring nitrates concentration o starting the nitrates monitoring map of the village

3) Ialomita county – Medium et Sanitas Slobozia

Implementation • Choosing the designer for the technical design of the school toilet in Cosereni (to be built in 2009) and meeting with WECF Ecosan engineer. Capacity building • Training for builders on construction of household toilets and construction of one school toilet • Starting the implementation of the WSP by o monitoring nitrates concentration from the private and public wells o starting the nitrates monitoring map of the village

Common activities for all partners:

Capacity building • Training on facilitation methods for community-based activities will be organized for all partners. This training will help the partners to work better with the rural communities within all the further activities. Up-scaling • The cooperation with the Technical University of Construction Bucharest (TUCB) will start by offering a lecture to the students in October, this year. We believe the students will find topics for their thesis and conduct research in the project areas. • The cooperation with the ceramic pots producer is also planned to start in the next period.

Coordination • A common meeting of the partners will also take place to plan the next periods and evaluate the beginning of the project.

End of report

Annexes: 1. Copies of press coverage of the project activities 2. Other documents relevant for the project