New households were listening attentively to the experience from a senior household that installed Mother's Space in a previous project.

The COVID-19 lockdown in Vietnam, which is known to be one of the strictest in the world, was eased last October. The fourth wave lasted for more than three months, and FIDR staff were unable to visit the project site during this time. However, administrative officials and local people in the project site, Kon Tum Province, started their long-awaited activities.

The first activity is the installation of "Mother's Space". This was modelled by FIDR in the previous project that started in 2012 and lasted for 6 years. It is a hand-made sanitation facility for each household that can be used for multiple purposes such as toilet, showering and washing. This is also an activity that World Bank and other international NGOs are now beginning to introduce.

This year, we plan to start installing Mother's Space in four districts in Kon Tum province to improve the sanitation condition of local people. Therefore, after the lockdown was eased, FIDR's staff immediately went to the site because we received many calls from local people that “When will the activity start?" "Let's get started soon!" again and again. At the site, the people were very active. Even during the meetings in the preparation stage, some residents started the installation right away and helped other families who were behind in their work.

All the staff feel that activities that residents truly need have been carried out by the residents themselves. We are excited, imagining how many Mother's Spaces will be created this year.

A woman was measuring the site for installing Mother's Space (behind her is the current toilet).

Materials for building Mother's Space arrived at the site of each household.