By Zac Hill | Project Development Coordinator
Final Report
Summary
Over 65% of Madagascar’s rural population lacks access to safe drinking water, which greatly impacts the health and wellbeing of small communities. Children suffer needlessly; each year 6,900 die due to contaminated water and their families are trapped in a continual cycle of poverty and preventable disease. However, thanks to the kind donations of GlobalGiving supporters and the completion of Project Fatsaka, things are starting to change.
SEED Madagascar has completed two phases of Project Fatsaka, enabling communities to regain and continue to access safe drinking water by successfully encouraging the use of wells, building local capacity to manage and repair these wells, and engaging local authorities to improve governance in resource management. This has seen a staggering increase in well use from 41% to 95% in the communities involved.
Felana, a 25 year old mother of three has told us how important the project has been to her family: “I am so happy that SEED have [sic] helped us to restore our well, clean water is sacred … It tastes good and now I give my children clean water all the time and that makes me happy.”
Project Outcomes
Project Fatsaka has successfully improved the water quality and functionality of wells, leading to improved access to safe water for the communities. The futures of these vulnerable children have been further improved due to a reported decrease in diarrhoeal disease. Families can now spend less on costly medical treatment and disrupt the health-related poverty trap.
Successful water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education and practices have been implemented. Providing WASH lessons in schools has enabled children to act as agents of change, developing their own good WASH practices and incorporating these into family life.
Sustainability has been encouraged through community engagement and ownership. The formation of Well Committees and Community Action Plans have enabled active and responsible management of water resources. The benefits that have been achieved in a short period of time have increased community determination to ensure the project’s longevity: “I want to motivate the rest of the community to use the well. The well water is clean, and I want to keep it that way.” says Pela, a Well Committee member.
Technical training has built capacity to repair and maintain the wells, thus reducing reliance on external support whilst increasing local ownership and engagement.
Conclusion
Thanks to the kind support of donors, Project Fatsaka has provided over 10,000 people with the tools to improve their health and wellbeing. Families now have sustainable access to clean water, giving them a chance to break out of the health-related poverty trap associated with unsafe drinking water.
By Simren Herm-Singh | Project Development Officer
By Simren Herm-Singh | Project Development Officer
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