Turning Sanitation into Opportunity: Antony’s Story of Health, Dignity, and Economic Empowerment in Tanzania

In the quiet village of Mapilinga in Tanzania, 28-year-old Antony Faustine is helping lead a sanitation revolution, one toilet at a time.

What started as a humble job in construction has transformed into a life-saving livelihood. Antony is not just a mason anymore; he’s a champion of hygiene, health, and hope in his community. Through his work, families now have access to safe, clean sanitation — reducing the risk of disease, restoring dignity, and transforming lives.

Before 2020, Antony earned just TZS 30,000–50,000 ($12–$20) a month. He had no formal training and little demand for toilet construction in his village, where open defecation was still common. “I was just an ordinary mason without proper training,” he recalls. “Toilet construction was not seen as a priority — or as a business.”

But that changed when the Amref-led FINISH Mondial project was launched in Mapilinga. After being selected through a local recruitment drive, Antony underwent technical training that equipped him with the skills to construct a range of improved toilet designs — from leach pits to Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) and Double Ventilated Improved Pit (DVIP)models.

Building Toilets, Transforming Lives

And the impact is real. Antony now earns up to TZS 100,000 ($37) in profit per toilet and builds an average of three toilets per month. With this income, he has started constructing his own house, with a toilet he proudly designed himself.

He is not alone. Thanks to FINISH Mondial, 267 local masons have been trained across Mwanza and Mara Regions, generating over 427,000 working days — and improving thousands of households’ access to sanitation.

A Health Crisis Averted

Poor sanitation is not just a convenience issue but a matter of life and death. In January 2024, Tanzania’s Ministry of Health reported a cholera outbreak with over 1,521 cases and 34 deaths. Many of these cases were linked to contaminated water sources, low latrine coverage, and unsafe waste disposal, especially around lake regions like Antony’s.

The work of trained masons like Antony has been instrumental in changing this picture. Every new toilet built helps to stop the spread of cholera, typhoid, and other waterborne diseases, especially in rural and peri-urban areas with high disease burden.

“Thanks to the FINISH Mondial training,” he adds, “we are not just building toilets, we are building better futures.”