access to safe WATER - PROJECT SUMMARY 2005-current

Commonly women and young girls carry up to 20 to 30L of water on their backs in goatskins or plastic containers. In the 2 Kebele’s where first started our work in the Afar region, Angelile & Kalat (Zone 3), covering 8 villages with an estimated 1186 households, the main water source is the Awash river. Women and girls on average conduct 6 trips per day to collect water, and this is practised even throughout a women's pregnancy. When using a water cart, a woman is reduced to only two trips a day to collect water from the river.

Through discussions with the community in late 2005 Barefoot Initiative and the community came up with the idea to construct pilot water carts. Each cart was designed to be able to carry approximately 80 litres of water. Households to receive a water cart are based on criteria (defined by community elders and leaders) which identifies the most vulnerable (pregnant women, widowed women, people living with a disability and the elderly).

Over the years feedback received from the community, highlighted a need for more carts with a stronger and more sturdy design. Over the years the water cart has been modified to a more solid and smaller vehicle that can carry approximately 50 Litres.

With an increased demand for the water cart, Barefoot Initiative commissioned and trained employees from a local garage over 3 consecutive years on how to make the water cart. Additionally we took women from the committee to the garage so that they knew where to go for maintenance and if individuals wanted to save and purchase their own cart they now have a local supplier. 

During a survey conducted by Barefoot Initiative in 2019, community members agreed that paying a 20% contribution towards the water cart was important, as this showed value and ownership of the cart. It also helped others access a water cart as the contribution would go towards funding the construction of further carts. Barefoot agreed it would continue to give a water cart with no contribution to families who live below the poverty income level and families who have a family member with a disability. With the introduction of the water carts, the men of the community started to partake in collecting water for the household, thus breaking the traditional role in Afar society where in the past this chore has been seen solely as belonging to women and children.

In addition to the water carts, which although provide greater access to water, they do not provide access to safe drinking water, which is essential to health. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause up to 485,000 diarrhoeal deaths each year, and in the Afar, diarrhoeal deaths are one of the main causes of mortality in the region, and have been linked to the population relying on surface water without means for purifying and making water safe for consumption.

Barefoot Initiative now work with our partner Waklisa, who continue to lead on the on water cart and clean water project, by providing a Sawyer bucket water filter along with every water cart, along with household level coaching on operation and maintenance. The sawyer filter is a very basic design, available in the local market and has positive user feedback where it has been piloted in the Afar and other regions of Ethiopia.

As of December 2023 together with our partner Waklisa we reached all 1186 households in our 8 target villages in Angelile and Kalat kebele with a water cart and water filter.

Our focus is now to raise additional funds to support Waklisa to expand this project in new kebele’s to reach more families.