The Kiritimati Island TAK team took a huge role in being part of the organizing committee to promote the beautification, gardening, sanitation, and water hygiene competition on Kiritimati Island. The competition was held between 30 registered households as part of the 45th Kiribati Independence Day event in July. The competition was initially planned and implemented in 2022 and will be a continuous activity for households on Kiritimati to participate and compete.
The purpose of the competition is to promote a cleaner and healthier Kiritimati Island community that will contribute to achieving Kiritimati Island’s aspiration of being a “New Paradise.”
This initiative was chaired and promoted by the Ministry of Lands, Environment & Agricultural Development through its Agriculture Division based on the island and was joined by other stakeholders from the Wildlife Unit, Ministry of Line Islands, the WASH project, and the TAK team who formed the organizing committee.
The Ministry of Linnix awarded a competition prize of $1,500, and the WASH project donated 30 filter buckets to participants. These participants were involved in cleaning water tank catchments to ensure accessible drinking water, building cooking huts for boiling water, and installing tippy taps for hand washing.
The 30 registered households participated in the competition and were all commended for their creativity and innovations in creating their household tippy taps, and waste reduction methods, and for promoting home vegetable gardening, growing cabbage, cucumber, pawpaw, and other vegetables.