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Project brief
To enable poor households in Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Niger and Mali to improve their own water supplies in affordable steps.
Project details
Approximately one billion people around the world do not have access to a safe and reliable water supply at a reasonable distance from their home. Many more consider their existing water supply to be inadequate in terms of quality, quantity, reliability or convenience. Consequently, increasing numbers of households have improved their own water supply in small and affordable steps using their own resources. Their capacity to do so and the advantages this may bring are seldom recognised or built upon.
RWSN is encouraging government authorities, NGOs and the private sector to recognise the fact that many households and small groups can actually construct, or pay for the construction of wells and rainwater harvesting facilities. Self Supply refers to cases when households improve water quality or their access to water supply by incrementally upgrading existing water sources, undertaking household water treatment, or a combination of the two.
The household themselves invest and may even implement the construction work. Many are showing the demand for such improvements and the constraints which they face in achieving their aims. Supplies that have been improved with household investment (self supply) tend to be more effectively managed and maintained. They are particularly relevant in small or remote communities and where there is easy access to groundwater or plentiful rainwater. These sources are often used for productive as well as drinking water supplies. In such conditions, conventional communities tend to offer high per capita costs combined with low sustainability, and so often lead to low coverage.
Over the past six years, RWSN has been involved in Self Supply activities in Mali, Niger, Ethiopia and Uganda. Piloting, in the form of promotion, training of local masons and extension staff and enabling households to access credit or revolving loans has been undertaken in these countries. Local organizations including the health or water ministries, local governments and NGOs as well as the local private sector have been involved in this work.
This project builds upon these initiatives, by enabling in-country partners to promote the concept of self supply in other areas, provide training and guidance materials for artisans and work hand in hand with water users and politicians to ensure that there is an enabling environment to encourage and stimulate household investments in rural water supplies. The main activities of the project are:
RWSN is encouraging government authorities, NGOs and the private sector to recognise the fact that many households and small groups can actually construct, or pay for the construction of wells and rainwater harvesting facilities. Self Supply refers to cases when households improve water quality or their access to water supply by incrementally upgrading existing water sources, undertaking household water treatment, or a combination of the two.
The household themselves invest and may even implement the construction work. Many are showing the demand for such improvements and the constraints which they face in achieving their aims. Supplies that have been improved with household investment (self supply) tend to be more effectively managed and maintained. They are particularly relevant in small or remote communities and where there is easy access to groundwater or plentiful rainwater. These sources are often used for productive as well as drinking water supplies. In such conditions, conventional communities tend to offer high per capita costs combined with low sustainability, and so often lead to low coverage.
Over the past six years, RWSN has been involved in Self Supply activities in Mali, Niger, Ethiopia and Uganda. Piloting, in the form of promotion, training of local masons and extension staff and enabling households to access credit or revolving loans has been undertaken in these countries. Local organizations including the health or water ministries, local governments and NGOs as well as the local private sector have been involved in this work.
This project builds upon these initiatives, by enabling in-country partners to promote the concept of self supply in other areas, provide training and guidance materials for artisans and work hand in hand with water users and politicians to ensure that there is an enabling environment to encourage and stimulate household investments in rural water supplies. The main activities of the project are:
- Awareness-raising through dialogue and a series of workshops with the national government as well as local government, local political leader, the private sector and water users. The outcome of this will be momentum built for the project and the self supply approach as well as a clear understanding of the experiences of the previous piloting and
- Demonstration and research into the technology and finance options for accelerating self supply in selected areas of the country. This will enable water users, private enterprises, micro-finance organisations as well as local Governments to see the opportunities of this approach at first hand. It will also provide more detailed information with respect to very low cost, but effective technology designs and enable water quality testing to be undertaken.
- Training of local private enterprises as well as local government extension staff, political leaders and other key institutions in technical, business, promotion and marketing skills for self supply. It is envisaged that 40 individuals per year will have skills in a combination of marketing, business development and water source upgrading. A set of tested training materials will also be published.
- Monitoring, documentation and dissemination of results, experiences, and lessons leant as well as the challenges of implementing this approach from the perspective of users, local enterprises, local government extension staff and politicians. This will enable lesson learning beyond the scope of the project and ensure that the effectiveness of this approach can be determined.
Project map
Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Niger and Mali
Budget
The overall budget for this five-year initiative is CHF 2.5 million.
Implementing Organisations
Skat Foundation will undertake the overall management of the project. Project implementation (i.e. promotion, demonstration of technical options, training and monitoring) within the five countries will be undertaken by the local government extension staff, a number of local NGOs, WaterAid and UNICEF.
Results expected
This project will lead to the upgrading of household water supplies for an estimated 500,000 people in the five year duration of the project.
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