Making Access to Water Sustainable in Madagascar

Pela speaks of the cholera outbreak that devastated her village almost 20 years ago. After seeing so much despair in her community due to dirty water, she decided to make safe water consumption her priority. For so many years her village used the local river as their primary water source, and for so many years diarrhoea was rife. After the well was built diarrhoeal rates declined, but it wasn’t enough. People in the community still didn’t use it all the time and still people would get sick.

Over the past six months, we’ve been working with Pela’s community to motivate them to use their well over contaminated water sources such as rivers, lakes and rice paddies that are a breeding ground for potentially deadly waterborne diseases.

Almost 4,000 children die each year in Madagascar of diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor sanitation – WaterAid, 2017

By supporting and empowering communities, 14 of the 15 villages under Project Fatsaka have created community action plans and taken the necessary first steps to achieve them. In Pela’s village, initial research found that almost nobody used the well. Since working with Project Fatsaka, use by the community has risen to almost 100%! Over the coming months, we’ll continue to work alongside Pela and the committee so that they may gain the skills needed to manage and maintain their well for years to come.

“I am happy to be working with SEED on Project Fatsaka, 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.”

Water testing results found that surface water in the area was extremely dangerous to human health, with high rates of bacterial contamination. Yet, still so many people are forced to use them as the wells in their communities have fallen into disrepair.

In one village, a crucial part of the well was stolen by thieves, leaving the community no other choice than to use dangerous and unclean water sources like their rice paddies. To buy a new well head is very expensive for these isolated and impoverished communities, but donating just $100 could supply the village with clean, safe drinking water to help in the fight against diarrhoea and child mortality.

As Project Fatsaka begins training communities to self-manage their own wells, your support is needed more than ever. With your help, we’ll ensure that 10,000 people living in southeast Madagascar have access to clean, safe drinking water.

“It only takes 5 minutes to boil water, but it takes days to go to the local hospital. I know what I will do from now on. Thank you SEED!” – Blandine, age 54

Can you imagine a life where drinking a glass of water could be a fatal mistake?

Well, for 10,000 people living in the Mahatalaky Rural Commune, that dangerous reality is beginning to change for the better. In June 2017, SEED Madagascar's Project Fatsaka found that in the Mahatalaky Rural Commune, 3 out of 5 households perform drinking water management practices that are extremely unsafe and put their health at risk of parasitic infection, disease and even death. Over the past six months we have successfully mobilised 15 rural communities to undergo powerful ‘triggering’ workshops, behaviour change presentations that utilise elements of shock. These workshops have been getting people thinking about their drinking water practices and the connection between poor practice that leads to unclean water, and how this can negatively impact on their health. Over the last six months 15 communities have created their own water management action plans with support from our Project Fatsaka team. To help ensure these action plans translate to cleaner safer water, 10 of these communities have now established local water committees. The role of these committees is to help guide community action in restoring broken wells and developing financial and management strategies for their maintenance.

Claudine is a voluntary Community Health Worker based in the Mahatalaky Rural Commune. When we spoke with Claudine she explained how there had been heavy rainfall for the previous week, which caused rivers to swell and become contaminated by nearby open defecation sites. She explained that over just five days she had seen 12 cases of diarrhoea from one small village that uses the river as its water source. However, in Soananaga, a neighbouring village working closely with our Fatsaka team, she explained that there have been no cases of diarrhoea as everyone in the village now uses the well. Claudine expressed her gratitude and said how she is “happy that the all of the households in Soananaga are now using the local well, and not other dirty alternatives like before.” She told us that she hopes this work will continue and that more and more people in the Commune will become motivated to use and care for local wells.

Over the last six months we have worked closely in partnership with 15 communities, and has proved already to be successful in motivating 12 out of the 15 target communities to clean their local well site. In addition, three fences have been put up to prevent animals damaging or contaminating the well site, and six have already undergone well repairs. 

However, it doesn’t end there. With your help, we will further empower communities like those where Claudine works over the next 12 months, to ensure long-term sustainability of access to safe drinking water. Through educational workshops, trainings and well repair sessions, we aim to equip 30 rural communities with the necessary skills and toolsets to self-sufficiently manage their water source. We thank you for your support, getting one step closer to ensuring access to safe drinking water for all.