Access to water and sanitation facilities in Gwanda
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Authors
Annie Halliman
Issue Date
2016-04
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Water and Sanitation
Alternative Title
Abstract
Mbereki Noko is Village Head of Bethel Village, Gwanda District Ward 14 in Zimbabwe. Mbereki explained: "The mechanization of the borehole was no longer working. As you say Practical Action, this was a practical job. Very few people had a toilet, but now there is only 1 member in the village without a toilet and within a month he too will have one. So we are very happy. The borehole previously worked for a year. When it wasn’t working we had two other sources of water. The dam which is 500m away, but this often dried out. The other source is the local river which is a 10km walk." "Before the borehole was working, people took a lot of time in the day looking for water, but now we all have more time to work in the fields. The distance has been shortened, also we can now afford to pay to get it repaired if it breaks again." "We have a Water Management Committee to collect money from all households to pay for repairs, so we have excess to pay in the future, especially to help households who cannot afford to contribute. 82 households are benefiting from the water, with at least five people per household. Livestock are also benefitting as we have a special animal trough too at the borehole. The water is also used for construction, watering gardens and the 500 pupils at the school who come during school breaks to get their water." Msongelwa Masuku is the Deputy Village Head. He told us: "now it looks like things are going smoothly, we are healthy and we have had training. It all starts at home and we hope that we can continue working with you and continue to learn a lot. You have done a lot with us, but maybe you can assist us again? Children are coming to school and the toilets in the school need repairing. 15 of them were destroyed during the rainy season and although we have salvaged the bricks, we only have 13 left." The project included a rehabilitated borehole, toilet building and hygiene training programme and was funded by the EU and in partnership with local NGO Moriti Da Dechaba Trust who were delivering on-the-ground training. It is a 5 year project that is due to end in July 2016. The project has trained 32 pump mechanics and repaired 300 water points. The most common problems with boreholes is that the cylinders and pipes break and the threads go. The government used to have ‘pipe minders’ that would repair any breaks, but after 2000, due to lack of funds, the country moved to a community based model. But with no money or knowledge of how to fix breakages, water points went into disrepair. To share the knowledge of health and hygiene, 37 signs were created to give a visual representation of the importance of hygiene and toilets. 35 are in schools, 1 at the rural district council and 1 in Bethel township. Originally introduced the ‘Blair’ toilet which uses 4 bags of cement, the cost to build one toilet is $500. The bricks are made from termite soil which is dried and fired. Practical Action initially provided all of the materials; however, other NGO’s were only providing 1 bag of cement. There was a requirement for more toilets to be built, so Practical Action moved to the 1 bag model. This means that the community must come up with the remaining materials themselves, but they have a big incentive to now build their toilets as they have enough cement to build the base and they can see others in their community with toilets. Practical Action also provided the fly screens and barbed wire. In 2014/15, we circulated 20,000 bags of cement. The building of toilets is targeted at the most vulnerably of people. The criteria is; elderly, child headed households, terminally ill, people with disabilities, people without access to food and the unemployed. The initial project concentrated on capacity building, with 850 people trained in local health promotion, including; local teachers, and members of local community based organistions. To ensure the project remains sustainable, each village has a village health worker, health committee, water committee and through village leaders. Any problems that arise, are taken to the local district council and the ministry of health/water. Practical Action and our local partner work closely together of ministry of health and ministry monitor. Practical Action work with the ministry on their expertise on checking the quality of products and we also work with the rural development council who decide which community will benefit from the project by linking us into their annual plans.