Rehabilitation Project
Upon completion of the project, our partner in the field reports...
Community Details
In June 2013, Living Water Uganda commissioned a baseline survey on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in the Nyabushozi WPA. The purpose of the study was to generate context-specific, gender, age and disaggregated information upon which program intervention, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) would, be carried out. The study showed:
• 17% of households draw water from protected water sources.
• Overall use of safe water source is estimated at 17% (12,444) out of a population of 73,200. Therefore, 83% (60,756 people) depend on un-protected water sources and will require an investment of 202 water access points to meet their water needs.
In 2014, allocation of water supply intervention priority was given to the least served communities within Kashongi Sub-County, Nyabushozi WPA. One such community is Kyenturgye, located in Byanamira Parish, Kashongi. When the Living Water Uganda drill crew arrived in Kyenturegye to drill a borehole benefitting 74 households, there was a desperate need for safe drinking water as households were depending only on a hand dug pond to support their immediate domestic water needs. The team successfully implemented a safe water solution, also benefitting a local Anglican church, after two unsuccessful attempts (dry holes). Aware that access to safe, sufficient and affordable water in this rural community will not increase unless sustainable financing strategies are developed to ensure sustainability of this new facility, beneficiaries created a Water User Committee (WUC) including five women and five men to assume responsibility for the daily management and Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and administration for the water point. Cognizant that the challenge of creating a community-sustained and managed water point is real, Living Water Uganda will continue to support WUCs through an institutional 2-year support commitment to the community. Continued support for Kyenturgye and other communities served within the WPA will occur through:
• Regular visits to the WUC to monitor the water facility/performance of O&M and provide back-up support
• Training/capacity building of the Water User Committee in basic financial management and group dynamics
• Motivating and encouraging community to pay O&M through community mobilization and sensitization
In order to confront the true cost of O&M, Living Water Uganda and the community have set an annual household tariff at 12,000 Uganda shillings/$4.8 US dollars. The O&M fund will be kept at the Water User Committee account at Byanamira Village Savings and Loan Association. The major challenge, however, remains for community unwillingness to pay for O&M because of:
• Contradictions in government policies where users' contribution to service delivery is non-existent in other sectors like health and education
• Political interference, as politicians tend to gain political capital by claiming that water services are free.
• No fault on the facility hence no need to pay
Living Water Uganda is committed to and will continue encouraging and motivating the water users' of Kyenturegye to pay for O&M. They will also continue to help guide community-driven solutions as they relate to supporting individual community water points.
Hygiene Promotion
"Our previous water source, a hand dug pond, had dirty water and would dry up during the dry season." This was the reality for 74 families surviving in the rural western province of Ntungamo in Kyenturegye Community. In desperation for safe drinking water, community leaders connected with Living Water International through written communication to express their situation and need for water. Upon arrival, the team observed alarming hygiene and sanitation behaviors, including a common practice of open defecation, though shared communal facilities, pit latrines, a pit latrine with a slab and VIP pit latrines were available. Consequently, the people were suffering from dysentery, typhoid, malaria, respiratory illness, diarrhea and severe dehydration. All of which are preventable with the provision of safe drinking water and supported hygiene and sanitation lessons that serve to encourage total behavioral change.
Using a Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, which allowed the community to take ownership of the program and institutionalize a school-community partnership, the team addressed implementing the following principle hygiene and sanitation changes:
• Latrine construction at the school and community
• Tippy tap construction for single household use
• Promotion of a child-friendly environment
• School Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) approach at the secondary school aimed at making the school and the water catchment free from open defecation through collaborative efforts of different stakeholders
• Helping promote community self-realization of health and sanitation needs while encouraging a sense of ownership, self esteem, and social standing of pupils
Community Member Interview
"Our previous water source, a hand dug pond, had dirty water and would dry up during the dry season," shared 42-year-old community member and subsistence farmer, Akankwasa. "Consequently, we were walking long distances hunting for water. My wife and young children have been relieved from the burden of walking long distances hunting for insecure water."
