AMREF Water and sanitation Mtwara, Tanzania

The Mtwara District is one of the most vulnerable districts of the country. Mtwara rural district is one of 5 districts in the Mtwara Region of Tanzania, consisting of 18 wards and 118 villages with a population of 213,554.

Rural populations in the district are extremely under served by, and lack access to sufficient, reliable, safe and sustainable water and sanitation services. Water is a limiting factor for economic development, and for those whose livelihoods are primarily agriculture based (75%), scarce and unreliable water resources make them particularly vulnerable to poverty. Women and children of Mtwara rural district have to travel on average six kilometres to a water source in the dry season to collect water for human consumption. Poverty can in a large part be attributed to lack of access to safe water and sanitation facilities, and improper hygiene and sanitation practices, which contribute to higher incidence of water borne diseases and hygiene related health problems.

Goals overview

The first goal is that access to safe drinking water will increase from the current level of 30.4% to 85% of the population in the project area in 2012. Secondly, access to safe sanitation will increase from the current level of 27% to 90% of the population. And finally, by 2012 the number of children under 5 years in the project area suffering from water borne diseases (cholera, diarrhea), will decrease with 30%.

Current status

The project described here is part of a big programme that covers 40 villages. Here, one village is singled out to serve as an example. Nevertheless, the current project status of the whole project is described.

In most of the villages the necessary trainings at schools and in the communities have taken place. The schools and other institutions that have received the trainings have also been equipped with demonstration latrines (VIP and Ecosan) and with rainwater tanks.

Already 13 boreholes have been realised and many latrines have been built both at households and at schools. The necessary surveys in preparation of construction of the next 13 boreholes have been done and construction is starting around half 2010.

Project plan

The national water strategy of 2002 of the government of Tanzania recognizes that the availability of water is a fundamental need and everybody’s right. In Tanzania around 70% of diseases are caused by a lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. The Mtwara District is one of the most vulnerable districts of the country. AMREF will build affordable water sources and sanitation facilities that are also easy to operate and maintain. The project focuses primarily on children and women.

This project contributes to Millennium Development Goal 7, ensuring a sustainable living environment with clean drinking water for everybody.
Indirectly the project has impact on Millennium Development Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 en 6.

Some of the activities for the promotion of improved access to safe water are: the construction of a borehole and 48 demonstration rain water jars on public places. Improved access to sanitation will be targeted through provision of technical support for the construction of 3.000 household latrines, construction of 48 demonstration latrines on public places (both VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit) latrines and ECOSAN (ecological sanitation) latrines). Hygiene will be promoted through hygiene and education training of 400 volunteers from the communities and 40 Trainers of Trainers (TOTs) in sanitation and hygiene according to the successful PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation) approach. In 29 schools children will be taught about the significance of health, hygiene and sanitation according to the PHASE-method (Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education). A multi sectoral project steering committee will be formed consisting of representatives of local governments. 40 Village Councils (VC), Water Committees (WC) en Health Committees (HC) will be established as well as “Child-to-Child and Child-to-Parent” health clubs.

Expected outcomes

• Realization of 1 borehole
• Water and sanitation facilities at 1 local clinic or school
• Realization of 75 household latrines
• Activities for capacity building
• Activities in the field of behavior change/hygiene education

The introduction of cost recovery arrangements at all communally owned water points will provide the necessary funding for the continued maintenance of water points by the stakeholders. It is envisaged that revenue collection will be raised either on every bucket of water or at household level contribution. Water user groups (WUG) will (in agreement with village leadership) establish the mechanisms and rates of payment for cost sharing including exemption criteria for household and individuals incapable of paying for water. Collections from each water point will be recorded separately. The funds collected will go towards maintaining the water points and paying incentives to the pump operators.

A micro-finance approach; communities in each village will organize themselves and borrow money from their respective banks to construct new water sources (wells, boreholes).

The government commitment to continue financial support to the community through its budgetary processes and local resource mobilization structures are expected to give financial and economic sustainability to the project. Decentralization under the ongoing local government reforms provides an opportunity for improved budgetary allocation for development initiatives in the district.

The community structures established during the project period will continue to receive technical and financial (where necessary) assistance from the local authorities at the ward and district levels thereby enabling them to continue to oversee the maintenance of especially the water systems. Community involvement in project design, implementation and management as well as emphasis on applying technology that is appropriate to the level of development of the target population are all considerations for the sustainability of project achievements.

Behaviour change and capacity building:
Since the project intends to change the target group’s way of life, the following measures have been planned to ensure long-term acceptance of its results: awareness raising training/capacity building to the community as a whole and ensuring gender balance and especially ensuring women involvement will facilitate sustainability since women are traditionally involved with the provision of water. By working with the district authority, AMREF also takes advantage to transfer skills that remain in the district. Finally, the project emphasizes on the use of locally available resources at all levels.

Good environmental practice:
AMREF has begun to integrate into its activities in house environmental protection policies (Environmental Impact Assessments and Audits) that must be observed in every project area. At the local level, the project will support the communities to use water from developed sources for planting new trees in an effort to conserve the environment.