For many years, the people of Kinoni A village walked long distances to fetch water from an open stream shared with livestock and yet they had a borehole which was in ultimate need for repair. This saw women and children walking long distances and spending hours searching for alternative sources of clean and safe water.
That changed when Whave solutions, under the TeamUp Uganda program, engaged local leaders and the community to rehabilitate the borehole through the preventive maintenance approach that calls for communities to take ownership of their water sources by paying a service fee to the service provider.
Whave Solutions conducted a community engagement meeting at which a Preventive Maintenance Agreement (PMCRA) was signed, a water source committee (WSC) formed and trained on financial management, women participation, prompt response to breakdowns, community mobilization and community service fee payment.
Technical assessment was carried out by a contracted Whave Service Technician (WST) and an electronic solar-powered dispensing system (Sunda) was installed, thus enabling the community to contribute small regular payments (Community Service Fee) for maintenance and repairs.
“We never imagined we would have clean water just two minutes from home again. Now we fetch water in the morning and use it for the whole day. We used to drink dirty water, but this changed, and we no longer visit the health center due to waterborne diseases. Community ownership and preventive maintenance have contributed to this success”, says Kamya Leonald, the LC1 Chairperson.
Over 60 households now have daily access to safe and clean water, women and girls save an average of about 2 hours per day and incidences of gender-based violence (GBV), high dropout rates of girls from school, teenage pregnancies and water- borne diseases all belong to the past in this community.
In Mityana and Kassanda districts, Whave Solutions, an implementing partner of TeamUp Uganda program manages more than 200 water sources through preventive maintenance agreements signed with communities.
