Water & Sanitation
The Foundations
Access to safe, potable water is a significant issue in the Monduli district. Women are often responsible for collecting water for their families, but the journey to the nearest earth dam reservoirs takes many hours every day. Additionally, this water is seldom filtered and can pose various dangerous health risks. The goal of our Water & Sanitation program is to combat these issues that threaten water security and pose health risks to the community and help increase access to safe water supplies.
Our Impact
In 2020, WAEV focused on finding a more convenient and reliable source of clean water that could solve many of the current issues around water security. So far, 65 women and their families received 2000 liter polyethylene water tanks to collect rainwater. These women have been able to collect water mainly for drinking, but also for tasks such as laundry and dishwashing. Any resulting greywater is also repurposed for watering trees and irrigating vegetable gardens.
Due to the significant cost of each tank, we are currently unable to provide every woman and her family with one. However, we have introduced the tanks as rewards and a motivational strategy for women who have been exceptionally hard-working in our Tree Planting program. The introduction of these tanks has brought WAEV much more exposure in the surrounding areas and are a motivating factor that is driving more and more women to participate in WAEV’s programs!
Menstrual Health
In 2021, we expanded our Water & Sanitation program to also focus on improving menstrual health among local girls and women. To do so, we collaborated with another non-profit called the TATU Project who helped us to educate individuals on relevant issues and provide re-usable sanitary pads to girls at Lendikinya primary school.
In collaboration with the TATU Project, we provided menstrual health educational sessions to 70 students, and provided 50 students with sanitary pads packages. Prior to this training, we conducted a need assessment and we found out that 50 percent of students were using pieces of clothes as pads during their periods. Through this assessment, we also noticed that periods are still considered taboo in the community. WAEV and the TATU Project also worked together to educate WAEV's women's groups to raise awareness of these issues.
Future Plans
We look forward to devoting more resources to research water filtration options, rainwater collections, and other types of sustainable water tanks to permanently play a role in our communities. We also hope to increase our menstrual health programming and to secure more funding for this project in the future.
Leya with her water tank
Testimonials
Leya Loishiye says that “I’m so much thankful that I now have a water tank that WAEV has rewarded me… owning a tank has been my life’s dream that I didn’t know when I was going to achieve!”