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