Scaling up sanitation in the Bay Islands: Coxen Hole, Roatan
Challenges
Coxen Hole is Roatan's largest city and the island's administrative center. This area boasts an international airport as well as a cruise ship terminal, making it a key hub for tourists.
Still, Coxen Hole faces numerous sanitation challenges, such as:
- Insufficient funding for improvements, personnel, training and operational costs,
- Effective protection of water sources,
- lack of micro water flow meters, resulting in an unsustainable water use and a lower water fee collection.
These are the result of a management model with room for improvement and most importantly growth.
Description of the Uptake
The community of Coxen Hole is significantly larger than West End, but it faces challenges similar to those faced by West End when CORAL first started supporting it, and thus our replica is based on the previous building blocks: Stakeholder engagement, water quality, sustainable financing, and planning for the future.
Once again, we joined efforts with West End’s Polo’s Water Association, the Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA), and the Regulation Entity for Water and Sanitation Services (ERSAPS). The team collaborated with the Municipality of Roatan by participating in over 20 online meetings and a week-long technical visit.
We were able to create a detailed assessment used to raise awareness and amplify knowledge about the sanitation problems in Coxen Hole. This was critical for the development and the acceptance of our proposal; an effective and financially sustainable municipal management model.
Success factors
- We were able to create a detailed assessment used to raise awareness and amplify knowledge about the sanitation problems in Coxen Hole, leading to an acceptance of our management model proposal.
- In collaboration with participants in the MAR leadership program, we continued to support sanitation efforts in Coxen Hole through fundraising initiatives.
- This is a first step toward securing clean water for the reef in Cordelia Banks, a site of importance for wildlife in Roatan.
- Creation of a team of organizations dedicated to supporting water and sanitation projects such as the AZURE regional initiative led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in collaboration with Agua para el Pueblo.
- A significant benefit of this replica was the ability to build new partnerships and to streamline knowledge and experiences by developing a sanitation toolkit that has the potential to become a regional tool.
Stumbling factors
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Our methodology had to be adjusted to comply with national biosecurity protocols while trying in order to achieve the planned outcome as well as keeping our team and the community safe.
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The need for a fully staffed and funded service provider caused us to find an information gap during our research, due to the limitations they experience to conduct periodic inspections and assessments. With a more sustainable management model, it is our hope that this situation will improve throughout the years.
Replication methodology
The scope and building blocks of long-term projects such as this, need to be slightly tailored to each community to ensure a lasting impact. We didn’t have to work on significant changes; however one thing that never changes is that stakeholders need to be provided with a clear picture of their situation and encouraged to team up with us to find a solution.
A large part of the replication's success can be attributed to the active participation and commitment of the organizations who have been part of the project since the very beginning. They have maintained their interest and engagement despite facing various challenges and juggling many responsibilities within their organizations. It should be noted that everyone remains interested in continuing to support Coxen Hole beyond this project’s completion.
