Rehabilitation Project
The report below from our partner in the field gives some great information on the construction of a new hand-dug well in the Kifuruta II Central Village in Uganda:
Background
Kifuruta II Central is one of the under-served areas of Kiryandongo District that lacks many basic facilities to prevent numerous diseases from affecting its inhabitants. Located in Mboira parish, Kigumba sub-county in Kiryandongo district, Kifuruta II, a home to about 180 people rely on a single open water source (pictured below) for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing clothes. The major economic activity in this village is small scale farming with maize, beans and cassava as the major cash crops. Mr. Emukol Francis a 54 years old and father of 10 has lived in this village for the last 30 years and says that apart from the need to access clean water, this village is blessed with fertile soils and a conducive climate for most crops to grow and it is the reason he and many other people migrated there.
The village chairperson Mrs. Odaga Joyce wrote a letter to The Water Trust requesting for a protected water source. In her application letter, she affirmed that the community is ready to provide labor and all locally available materials such as 2000 bricks, one trip of hard core, one trip of sand, volunteers to excavate the well and ready to host the technician with food and accommodation.
The Water Trust will have an intensive program to provide access to clean water and sanitation. The community will participate in excavating and constructing the water source. In the mean time the aim is that all households have access to a latrine. Many households don’t use a latrine but use the bush. Due to open defecation, faeces are spread over the village. This leads to (fatal) diseases and contamination of the groundwater. Our aim is that the community is able to live a healthy live, free of preventable diseases. Therefore we endeavor that at the end of our presence in the community, people have both access to sustainable clean water and access to sanitation.
Sanitation And Hygiene Strategy
The main objectives of TWT’s Sanitation and Hygiene Program are the use of latrines and observing proper hygiene practices as these goals are inherently connected to the provision of clean water. Open defecation, water storage in unclean containers and the absence of hand washing at critical times are all possible contaminates to the water supply at the household level. TWT leverages this relationship, by requiring each participating village to achieve Open Defecation Free status (defined by one latrine per household), prior to the pump installation for a shallow hand dug well. Using the immediate gratification of clean water as an impetus, TWT works toward sustainable, interdisciplinary WASH development.
The Water Trust’s social program includes the assignment of one Community Development Officer (CDO) per village. The CDO encourages each household to build an ideal homestead that includes: a latrine with hand-washing facility, a rubbish pit, separate structure for animals and drying rack for dishes.
Community Led Total Sanitation
The Water Trust implements the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach with each of our village partners. TWT facilitates a CLTS session in which we aim to improve the sanitation and hygiene practices and behaviors of a village. During these sessions, village leaders naturally emerge and push the community to realize that current practices of individual households – particularly open defecation– are not only unhealthy, but affect the entire village. CLTS facilitates a process in which community members realize the negative consequences of their current water, sanitation and hygiene behaviors and are inspired to take action. Group interactions are frequent motivators for individual households to: build latrines, use the latrines and demand that other households do the same.
