Ethiopian women collecting water from COWASH project site. Photo: USAID Photo Gallery. Photo credit: Morgana Wingard.

What is WASH?

Widespread access to water is a continual challenge for both rural and urban populations in Ethiopia. Whether it be due to mismanagement of water allocation, lack of infrastructure, or severe droughts that continue to plague the nation; many young women still have to spend hours walking, not to school, but to retrieve water for their families. In 2004 a movement was launched under the United Nations Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council in partnership with multiple development organizations in order to address the issues of water access and sanitation in Ethiopia. This movement was called WASH (Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and its objectives were “to promote improved water, sanitation, and hygiene practices and gain the political and social commitment required to make a real difference.¹” WASH programs have been initiated in many nations to initially meet the Millennium Development Goal Target 7.C. which sets the goal of halving, “the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015” and has launched into second phases with Sustainable Development Goal 6 that aims to achieve sustainable access to drinking water and basic sanitation for all. In Ethiopia the WASH movement has leveraged social mobilization and advocacy activities that resulted in the development of a National Hygiene and Sanitation Strategy Protocol². UNICEF is now supporting the second phase of the WASH program that is intended to “increase the number of people having access to water and sanitation, through strengthening the service delivery, enabling environment, and knowledge management of the WASH sector.³” The goal is to increase water access from the current 59% to 85% in rural areas and 58% to 75% in urban areas by 2020. This second phase also has a strong focus on working with the government in order to reduce vulnerability to water insecurity as droughts become more frequent and longer in the country⁴.

Community Project Ownership

We are now aware of what is happening from a “top down” approach to solve the water access crisis  Ethiopia, but an important question is often overlooked: How do communities improve their own water situation? A good answer to this question can be found in the first phase of the COWASH program was implemented in 2011 in partnership with the Ethiopian government and the government of Finland with the goal to reach more rural communities. In this approach communities are given full ownership. They have control over the planning, financial management, construction, and maintenance of their water access project. In contrast, the majority of WASH projects only have the community members involved in the continued maintenance and operation of infrastructure. In the COWASH program funding for construction is given directly to the communities through regional micro-finance institutions set up by the Ethiopian government. The transfer of investment funds (grant) is carried through regional micro-finance institutions (MFIs)⁵. A major reason for the success and sustainability of the COWASH program is it entails a high amount of ownership from the community since they are involved in the life cycle of the project implementation. It also provides capacity building for rural Ethiopians and extends the reach of the WASH movement in order to achieve its goal of increased water access across Ethiopia⁶. The COWASH program is now in its third phase and operating in 76 Woredas of 5 Regions ⁷.

Women Taking the Lead

As we know poor water access and sanitation disproportionately affects women and girls in many ways. The second phase of COWASH added that gender equality should be mainstreamed into the WASH intervention process. Women empowerment is defined by the European Institute for Gender Equality as “the process by which women gain power and control over their own lives and acquire the ability to make strategic choices.⁸” The major goals related to gender equality in COWASH Phase II are a 50% quota of women’s participation in WASH committees and at least 25% of artisans to be trained for implemented WASH facilities should be women.

In researching the success of this phase at increasing female participation in WASH projects it was found that the majority of projects fell short of these goals. One issue that was sited was community meetings were not held at times when women could easily attend and participate⁹. With the implementation of third phase of COWASH last year, new entry points have been identified for women empowerment. These include targeted capacity building for women, placing women in leadership roles, creating conducive environments for women to be engaged in male-dominated productive activities such artisanship, and advocating for gender programming in the WASH sector¹⁰.

Since women are directly involved and affected by access to water they have the knowledge of what issues need to be solved and have the motivation to solve them. As the issues with water access and sanitation are solved in a sustainable way it means that girls are able to spend their time in school rather than walking to retrieve water. This will only increase their capacity and bring more empowerment for women and girls to play an important role in their community.

Ethiopian girls carrying water they collected.

Photo Credit: Waterdotorg, CC BY-NC-SA

Water is basic need for all of us. When it is convenient and easy to get we hardly think about it. But for some getting fresh water is a constant thought and burden. Sustainable Development Goal 6 states to, “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. In Ethiopia access to drinking water is improving. It has increased from 13% in 1990 to 53% in 2012¹.  But this still leaves many without convenient and adequate access. Ethiopians are not only struggling for access to water, there also are issues with poor sanitation of water. When drinking water is not clean water borne diseases like diarrhea run rampant and has the greatest affect on children.

So what does this mean for education? It means that children, particularly girls, are spending time collecting water rather than being in school or studying, and children are home sick causing school absences to rise. In Ethiopia it is estimated that 32% of children of primary school age are not attending school². SDG 4 states, “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education…for all” and SDG 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.  The Sustainable Development goals regarding access to clean water and improved sanitation go hand in hand in increasing school attendance and equitable education access for girls. As access to water increases the number of secondary school girls in Ethiopia that are able to attend school and be successful in school increases as well.

The Water Walk

Ethiopia is considered “water stressed” by the rapidly growing population and drought. The majority of water being withdrawn is used for agriculture, almost 95%³. For those living in urban areas centralized water sources are more accessible. In rural areas water sources can be great distances away from villages. One study showed that on average those in rural areas walk between 2-5 hours per day to retrieve water (Demie, Beckele, Seyoum, 2016). The lack of access and uncertainty of clean water sources is exasperated by drought and extreme weather events. In Ethiopian culture water gathering, as many household chores, are considered a woman’s responsibility. This means that girls who are able to attend girls are spending time before or after to collect water for their families, affecting their ability to focus in class and taking their studying time. All too often the burden of retrieving water in addition to other responsibilities leads to girls dropping school all together.

Dirty Water

After a girl walks for hours to fetch water for her family it is not always guaranteed that this water will be clean. With the expansion of agriculture to feed a growing population cases of pollution from fields running off into water sources has increased. In addition in some areas the closes fresh water source is also shared by animals. Cases of poor waste management lead to water contamination as well (Demie, 2016). The drinking of this contaminated water leads to the contraction of water-borne illnesses. One of the major hindrances across the globe of children’s ability to attend and stay in school is illness from contaminated water, claiming an estimated 443 million school days each year⁶. Not only are girls being kept out of school because they are inflicted by water-borne illnesses, but it is also customary for women and girls to care for sick family members. These factors cause girls to be out of school and inevitably out of options.

Washing Up

In response to first the Millennium Development Goals and now the Sustainable Development Goals UNICEF along with multiple NGOs are working to improve water access and sanitation for communities in Ethiopia. These programs have accounted for much of the initial progress that has been made. The UNICEF WASH program works to establish clean water and sanitation infrastructure in addition to supporting the government to reduce water insecurity. There goal is to increase the water access supply to 85% in rural areas and 75% in urban areas by 2020⁷. Individual communities are coming together to improve their individual water access situation as well. These efforts will hopefully be the answer to bringing girls back to the classroom.

Reference

Demie, G., Bekele, M., & Seyoum, B. (2016). Water accessibility impact on girl and women’s participation in education and other development activities: the case of Wuchale and Jidda Woreda, Ethiopia. Environmental Systems Research, 5(1), 11.