12.5 Regular inspection and monitoring of facilities

Inspection is a tool to identify problems, to design strategies for improvement and to monitor behaviour and the impacts of interventions. Regular visits are needed to each local public institution, at least once a year, using a checklist or a questionnaire that enables you to collect data on sanitation and waste management, similar to the checklist for schools in Table 12.1. If you are taking part in an inspection, you should inform the owners or people responsible for the institution that you want to visit them at a specified date and time. It is important to be transparent and genuine when inspecting to show that you want to help the institution to attain proper hygiene and not to criticise or penalise them. You should give advice to the owners for improvement. If you do find any violations of sanitary requirements that require enforcement, these should be reported to the kebele administrator. Monitoring is an important part of any programme for improvement and is described in more detail in Study Session 15.