Water and health project in Tanzania

Organisation: Concern Worldwide
Country: Tanzania
Project: Construction of 3 shallow wells with hand pump

This project is part of Concern's five year plan to increase access in 12 wards in Ngara and Biharamulo districts of Kagera region, Tanzania which by 2012 aims to give 221,948 people access to safe and clean water.

Over a five month period in 2009 the three shallow wells were constructed and three water user groups were set up, contributing labour and materials to the project as well as ensuring the local people participated and were able to feel part of the project from the very start.

Families in the Kagera region are typically isolated and had to walk more than 30minutes to access drinking water in the dry season. They live in areas in a country where diarrhoea and malaria are the top two killers, and running, clean water will help reduce the presence of vector-born malaria and the spread of bacteria in these communities.

As well as providing access to clean and safe water for approximately 1,200 people, through water user groups the project ensures that the most vulnerable people in the communities benefit including the elderly, orphans, people with disabilities and those with chronic illness. The project helps promote and implement better health for communities and assists them in providing for themselves in the long term.