Basic Sanitation Committee

To ensure long-term sustainability and maintenance, the Public Health Program team trains and empowers local community leaders in the formation of a Basic Sanitation Committee (BSC), which then becomes responsible for carrying out in-home assessments and monitoring the status of the projects, acting as the long-term, sustainable solution to the maintenance of a healthy community and Public Health projects. Global Brigades’ goal and objective with the BSC is to:

Identify responsible, active individuals within the community.
Train community members on health practices and capacity-building skills.
Offer remedial education workshops to continue to develop their confidence and abilities.
Empower BSC to develop health initiatives that meet the needs of the community.

And with this, BSC would be capable of:

Perform monthly in-home visits to ensure projects are being properly cleaned and maintained.
Host community clean-up days.
Lead and assist in the education workshops.
Serve as role models and health liaisons within the community.

UNICEF’S Healthy Schools and Households Methodology

By recognizing the fact that water and sanitation are a fundamental need and a human right, and how they are vital for a community’s dignity, health, and overall poverty reduction, UNICEF, in collaboration with SANAA (Autonomous Service for Aqueducts and Sewers), started in Honduras, in 1996, the “Healthy Schools and Households” project, which is conducive to implementing a new water culture in communities, as well as prompting it’s protection as a resource. This methodology aims for creating adequate hygiene, health and environmental sanitation habits in the population, oriented more towards prevention of water-related diseases and deaths, which affect the poorest groups within society, especially children.