Villages link with Facebook ‘friends’ to solve water & sanitation crisis

Rural NGO uses social media to link isolated villages with Friends overseas

March 22, Kampong Speu, Cambodia: Three villages in Kampong Speu province that connected with “friends” in Singapore and Malaysia via Facebook yesterday received one of the province’s largest deliveries of water and sanitation facilities, the director of Sao Sary Foundation said.

Children in Rokha Thom commune, Kampong Speu province, where less than 10 percent of households have access to safe water and sanitation.

Mr. Vichetr Uon said four “friends” from Singapore and Malaysia arrived on Saturday 19th March to assist village residents install 168 sanitary latrines, adding to the scores of ceramic water filters distributed and wells installed with the assistance of Facebook friends from around the world.

“Facebook put us in the villages,” Mrs. Connie Cheah, from Johore Baru Malaysia, said. “After we became ‘friends’ I started asking how we could help and what they needed most.  We used social media and text messaging to raise awareness and funds in Malaysia and Singapore.”

Kraing Ampil commune chief Kong Chhom said, “We were very surprised that came to help install the latrines. They knew a lot about the villages and spent a lot of time talking to residents. They were really eager to help, even digging the pits.”

SSF is using Facebook and other social media to provide people around the world with a more immediate understanding of the immense development challenges rural Cambodians face, especially those in isolated villages, Mr. Uon said. Youths from the villages connect with Facebook friends through SSF’s Learning Center near Chbar Morn city.

Students at SSF’s Learning Centre in Kampong Speu, central Cambodia, are using Facebook and other social media to link their villages to friends around the world.

Lack of access to safe water and sanitary latrines is a major barrier to development in rural Cambodia, said Mr. Bora Im, SSF Livelihoods Coordinator. “Children are getting sick, some are dying, and they are missing school. There is also a loss of productivity among parents due to illness, and some are going into debt pay for medical expenses,” Mr. Im said. He pointed to a World Bank report that warned that at the rate Cambodia was going it would take 150 years for universal sanitation coverage in rural areas, which have been largely bypassed by the country’s economic growth and under served by Phnom Penh-based NGOs.¹  More than 6,000 Cambodians, primarily children, die every year as a result of lack of access to sanitary latrines, the report notes.

Mrs. Cheah said, “We started with photos, videos and chats, and then arrived in person. We also worked with SSF to make sure all the latrines were locally produced so that it would boost the economy and provide employment.”

Mr. Im said SSF had been training village residents on how to install and maintain the latrines, as well as maintain the wells. Some residents had also received training on how to construct ceramic water storage containers, which can be sold in the area rather than imported from Phnom Penh, he said.

The cost was about $40 per latrine, which is cheaper than the price most private sector companies sell at because the latrines had been bought in bulk, Mr. Im said. The average household income in the three villages is less than $25 per month, he said.

“Because we are a small NGO that works within rural communities we have more personal relationships with residents, so this allows us to create the sort of personal bonds with people around the world that can lead to effective and sustainable solutions based on personal understanding,” he said.  “For us, social media puts the power of personal connections into development. It keeps the focus on people not data,” Mr. Uon said.

¹ Economic impacts of sanitation in Cambodia, World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, 2008.

The three villages are Thlok Dounsok and Kdol in Kraing Ampil commune, and Rokha Thom village in Rokha Thom commune.