Habitat for Humanity targets 70, 000 people in WASH project
Nearly 70, 000 people are expected to benefit from a three-year water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project, which Habitat for Humanity Malawi (HHM) is implementing in Traditional Authority (TA) Masumbankhunda in Lilongwe District.
Under the project, HHM is constructing 210 pit latrines for 2, 400 most vulnerable households, drilling 16 new boreholes and has already rehabilitated 13 others in the same area.
The project is aimed at promoting and improving hygiene in an area “grappling with issues of access to water and sanitation.”
HHM WASH Coordinator, Ulemu Gondwe, said the project, which has received 553,000 Euros from the German Government, will directly benefit 14,000 people and indirectly benefit 54,000 others.
Speaking Friday in Group Village Head (GVH) Kamgwiliro during a tour, Gondwe added that the project is a start of service delivery of advocacy for sustainable WASH services in communities.
“Whatever work is done under the project and the technologies we use, are learning points for communities in order for them to change for the better. The project is a learning ground for best WASH practices,” Gondwe said.
Some of the interventions under the project, according to Gondwe, include capacity building of water point committees and training of area mechanics.
She further said there are also WASH committees trained in, among others, waste water management, which enables them to channel to a garden of veggies all the water spilled at a borehole.
The veggies are then sold and the money used for maintenance of the borehole and promotion of other WASH practices.
A WASH committee member in GVH Kamgwiliro, Sinkanako Tsache, commended the HHM WASH project, saying “it is indeed a best way of motivating and empowering communities to embrace good WASH practices.”
