WASH - Water Project
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Joint efforts for Green Mountain Initiative planned to contribute towards clean water in Uganda. Over 85% of Water sources in all the frontline Districts of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda are in terrible and sorry State, and people completely using dirty water while others have abandoned them due to poor water. We believe that when these water sources are constructed and others rehabilitated, community members will gain self-sufficiency, which will reduce potential conflicts with wildlife in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Joint Efforts for Green Mountain Initiative (JEGMI) will implement critical WASH-water project activities including provision of safe drinking water, domestic water, sanitation and hygiene services for populations at the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the Districts of Kanungu, Rubanda and Kisoro in Southwestern Uganda to reduce incidence of acute malnutrition, human to wild animal disease transmission, diarrhea among children under 5, specifically contributing to United Nations sustainable Development goal (please click here) while bringing harmony between human and Nature.
Districts Bordering Bwindi Impenetrable National park are in overall need, with very high child under 5 mortality and severe acute malnutrition, in part caused by water borne disease and transferred diseases consequent of an extremely poor access to clean and safe water. We plan to construct new drinking water systems and rehabilitate the existing water infrastructure in targeted communities not limited to spring water wells, rain water harvesting tanks and gravity flow schemes/piped water. Community members will contribute by providing the labor to carry out construction materials as the areas are hard to reach. Selected community leaders will be trained in the maintenance of the water infrastructure and monitor the daily running of completed water infrastructures.
The water related challenges stresses most of community members, overwhelmingly women and school going children to walk 3-4 hours from their homes to obtain clean water. And this has resulted into;
Domestic violence: Because women are the individuals collecting the water, but are also responsible for household activities, they are late in preparing food for their husbands.
School dropouts, poor academic performance, and child labor: Because the women of the community have many responsibilities, there is often not enough time to fetch water, and the task then falls to children (especially female children). This leads to many days of missed school, which can impact academic performance, in addition to negative effects on physical and psychological development.
Poverty: Collecting water takes a significant amount of time which could otherwise be spent on activities that would contribute to the economic income of the household.
Poor health: As an alternative to traveling long distances to the wells, but closer alternative sources are often the source of water-borne diseases.
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