Overview:
This fifth project with our partner will fund support and strengthen previous water projects on Idjwi in Lake Kivu, eastern DRC. The focus will be twofold: the restoration and upgrading of 17 existing water sources together with further water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) training for local water management committees within these remote and poor communities. Clean water for Idjwi is much-needed and requested, benefitting families and other social structures such as health centres, schools and local churches/community centres, including disadvantaged pygmy communities. The project complements a government program designed to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by unclean water and poor, or no, knowledge of WASH in villages and schools.
Why support this:
Our partner has provided clean water to a number of other villages across the island of Idjwi reducing disease and increasing access to clean water, taking the burden off girls and women in walking long distances. The local communities assist with the labour towards the upgrades and maintenance, to help ensure buy-in. It is imperative to the long-term success of water projects that local village Water Committees participate in targeted and ongoing training and work closely with health authorities.
Budget: $44,500.
The Need:
DRC has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world, with over 70% living on less than $1 a day. Decades of civil unrest has led to limited infrastructure, persistent high levels of internal population displacement and outbreak of epidemics. Idjwi exemplifies this. Most economic activity is in the informal space and subsistence agriculture provides most food. Transport and communications are limited on the island. After malaria, diseases related to drinking unclean water are the biggest health problem on the island.
Expected Life Change:
