Inaugurated on Thursday, the centre is part of eight planned sanitation centres being developed in different districts under the funding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Isuku Iwacu activity.

The programme is being implemented by SNV in collaboration with World Vision and Water for People.

Speaking at the event, SNV Country Director, Phomolo Maphosa said that the centre will support the government’s efforts to attain sanitation targets by 2020.

“Our target is that through district sanitation centres, people will access services and hygiene materials. For example, private investors will be showcasing, from this centre, different hygiene and sanitation materials that can be used by households,” Maphosa said.

Sheikh Hassan Bahame, the Director General in charge of Social Affairs and Community Development at the Ministry of Local Government, said that hygiene should be a culture among Rwandan people.

“The Government of Rwanda targets to take sanitation activities to all people by 2020. That is why we should challenge ourselves by asking who the government is? The government is people,” he said.

He urged Rwamagana community to grab the centre’s services and solve the problem of lack of proper toilets among over 8,000 residents in the district.

The new facility will serve over 300,000 people. It will host trainings, provide a wide range of sanitation technologies and products, and oversee the district’s growing access to sanitation services like improved latrines and home hand-washing facilities.

Liberata Mukamana, a resident of Gishari Sector of Rwamagana District said that through Isuku Iwacu activity in their village, they have started construction of decent latrines.

“We are happy to have this centre close to the population; it will facilitate us to access sanitation services and materials,” she said.

The inaugurated centre has three sections which are a training area, a selling point for a local entrepreneur where residents can purchase sanitation products and showroom for visiting households and professional contractors to see various sanitation and hand-washing facilities.

It is expected that the centres of its kind will be established in Districts of Kayonza, Nyanza, Ruhango, Nyabihu, Ngoma, Nyarugenge and Kicukiro.

The USAID Isuku Iwacu activity is a four-year Rwf9.2 billion project. The overall goal of the project is creating sustainable access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene services, especially for country’s poorest households.