A WOW! e-Brief

Work of Women program @ World Neighbors

January 2007

Introduction

Overview on Women and Water

World Neighbors and Water

When World Neighbors begins to partner with a village, the people living there are all too often among the more than one billion in the world who go without sufficient potable water. And when we talk to women especially, they regularly identify easier access to clean water as the top priority.

Because of this, water has been fundamental to World Neighbors work since the organization began in 1951. Indeed, we were one of the earliest international organizations to understand the critical role of community participation and capacity building in the success and sustainability of water access. At that time, many well-intentioned but unsuccessful attempts to provide water were made that sent in experts, installed pumps and showed local residents some basic repair. However, since villagers had not been involved in the process or decision making, they tended to view the pumps as belonging to that outside organization. Therefore, from their perspective, those organizations should maintain them and pay for the repairs. Other problems included technologies that were not locally appropriate, or had difficult to obtain parts. Without maintenance plans and funds, the pumps often fell into disrepair.

Using the same community driven and participatory process with water access that World Neighbors pioneered in other development activities in the 1950s, we designed a water system approach that responded to community needs and created a sense of ownership by users. A planning process was undertaken with the community to determine who should and would benefit from the water system, what technologies and implementation methods were locally appropriate, what kind and level of contribution could be provided by all parties and how the improved water system would be sustained. Outreach and involvement of people in the community and marginalized groups, including women, have been important aspects of the planning and decision-making process.

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A 1980s World Bank report reviewing approaches to bringing water to isolated communities in India and Nepal looked at the success of different methods in terms of long-term use. It noted that many water pumps fell into disrepair in the years following installation. Those of World Neighbors, however, continued to be cared for and utilized years after we completed our work with the community.

What does community involvement look like? For example, even very poor communities can contribute time and labor to the construction of a water system, as well as some locally available materials. The community also determines how to build up a limited amount of capital to be saved for future repairs. With training on organizational and financial management, a water committee formed and run by the community takes on the responsibility to manage, maintain and repair the system. Women are sought out for leadership roles on these committees, since they have a vested interest in the success of an improved water system. Community level training is also facilitated on water conservation, purification and improved hygiene and sanitation. When specialists are needed, such as hydrologists, local experts are favored in order to ensure technologies are contextually appropriate. The end result is a water system that the people own—their community’s or community group’s name is on the pump or system, not that of World Neighbors.

Communities where World Neighbors works in South Asia, as well as West and East Africa are the neediest in terms of access to clean and sufficient water. The reasons why access is not readily available vary according to the site. In central Tanzania, for example, there is no rain for ten months of the year, and further north in World Neighbors program areas in Kenya, rain is absent for more than eight months of every year. In both cases, the rainy season consists of a sudden and constant downpour that causes floods, soil erosion and destruction to property. Unfortunately, most villages are not equipped with systems to catch and store the water for use during the dry season.

The villages in our program areas in West Africa are no better off. Communities in Burkina Faso, for example, face a cumulatively devastating pattern of erratic rainfall and periodic droughts that have persisted for more than ten years. In these impoverished communities, borehole wells are often the best means for providing clean water, but costs are prohibitive since the wells must be dug with drilling machinery to a depth of 200 feet or more.

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The critical capacity building work that World Neighbors does is essential to the long-term success of water access. World Neighbors also works holistically with the community until it is stable and able to manage its own development process. Water access, then, is not the end result—good health, greater capacity and ability of communities to determine their own future are the goals. But this all takes time. So water access, though critical, is just one step along the way. Often an entry point, subsequent actions, depending on the communities, their needs and their visions, include the building of improved latrines, establishment of women’s savings and credit groups modeled on the water committee maintenance fund, experimenting with new agricultural innovations, kitchen gardens and livestock management, and branching out into new income generating activities.

The best work done by many agencies now recognizes that communities must be at the center of water planning. When funds are scarce, they can and will commit time and local resources. Because communities must eventually maintain water systems, their involvement in planning for that eventuality is vital. World Neighbors is proud to have played a leading role in developing this approach, and in the success that communities have had in increasing access to safe, clean water.

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An Interview with Linda Jo Stern, MPH

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