Request for Fundraising for Clean and Safe Drinking Water Projects
January 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2018 and 2019 no new clean and safe drinking water projects with the help of a water purifier could be realized because of lack of funds.
Management of Tusaidiane Uganda is looking for sponsors for clean and safe drinking water projects to the tune of UGX 200 million or € 50.000 and for stocking at least 4 purifiers (€ 10.000).
- The importance of clean and safe drinking water in Uganda
Clean and safe drinking water is a permanent concern for many. Is clean and safe drinking water a permanent concern for you?
In Uganda, it is a permanent challenge, especially for children. Even the availability of water (without using the word “clean”) in schools, hospitals and health centres is not self-evident.
Often long distances must be covered to collect water with jerrycans. This water mostly is of suspect quality and is certainly not clean for schools with thousands of pupils and health facilities with many hundreds of patients. Large parts of Uganda are blessed with sufficient and relatively regular rainfall. However, all that water is just running away from the iron sheeted roofs to nowhere. What a pity!
Not the whole year around there is sufficient rainwater. In such situation, the people living in the village must supplement water from streams, wells, pools and swamps. Mostly also cows and goats are drinking there and are doing there some other hygienic functions.
Such water must be purified from bacteria and viruses before it is drinkable. Technical solutions can do the job. However, they are even more expensive than rainwater harvesting and therefore out of reach for the local community.
- Strategy
Tusaidiane supports since 2005 schools, hospitals, orphanages, health centres and village communities in Uganda with tanks and accessories for rainwater harvesting and the installation of a water purifier.
In a period of 14 years, 93 projects with more than 2 million litres of rainwater harvesting capacity have been implemented in 18 Ugandan Districts. It concerns the communities around 39 nursery & primary schools, 31 secondary & vocational schools, 13 health facilities and 10 parishes and care homes.
More than 100.000 children, students, patients and village people in Uganda got access to clean and safe drinking water through the installation of 81 water purifiers.
Annex 1 surveys all water purifier installations (81) since the start in 2005 and those who are still operating (67) and in service with Tusaidiane Uganda (TUL), usually based on a service contract. Most of them got also rainwater harvesting facilities and water back-up provisions.
Some 12 Beneficiaries were helped with only rainwater harvesting facilities.
Project initiation by TUL starts with an assessment of the situation on the ground after having received an Application Letter of a candidate (community and/or institution), endorsed by the local authorities.
A water purifier can serve 3-4000 users/day with clean and safe drinking water and must be installed in a safe and protected environment of a school or health facility (the Host).
A water purifier will only be installed if the future owners of the purifier (Community and Host):
- Shows capability and motivation to properly manage and maintain the facilities,
- Will mobilize the community to be involved in the project and the ownership, and
- Will act to guarantee that users are aware about the impact of safe drinking water on health and understand how to use clean and safe drinking.
There are strict technical criteria to be met during assessment before granting a project, such as:
- Are roofs adequate for harvesting rainwater? Are there facer boards and gutters in good condition?
- How to guarantee sufficient water supply in times of insufficient rain? Is there a borehole nearby or swamps to fetch water in jerrycans? Is it possible to connect to municipality water?
- How many drinking water distribution points are required?
- Is there gravity, which among others can be used for drinking water distribution?
- Is there reliable electricity supply or do we have to install solar?
- Is there a safe and protected place to install the purifier or do we have to build a special house?
The Community and Host should be willing and prepared to contribute to the realization of their project.
Local contribution is essential in view of ownership and achieving sustainability in operations.
In addition, Local Leadership must find a sponsor to help them financially to realize the project. Where possible, TUL will assist in the search process for sponsorship.
Project costs for a purifier with drinking water storage and distribution facilities amounts to more than UGX 20 million or almost € 5.000.
If rainwater harvesting is required expenses can go up with UGX 6-7 million (more than € 1.500) for 12.000 liters of rainwater harvesting (tank, tank-base, gutters, pipes, etc.). Usually a minimum of 24.000 liters (2 tanks of 12.000 litres) is required.
Contribution of at least 20% of the project costs (from UGX 4 to UGX 7 million) by the Community can be in kind (bricks, cement, sand, facer boards, rainwater tank, etc.) or by sharing in the funding.
Originally, project costs were funded for 100% by donors abroad through the Tusaidiane Foundation.
Apart from private people, major donors in the beginning years were Cordaid Netherlands and the S.P.Y.N. Welfare Foundation. In addition, several organizations in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria co-sponsored a water project of a beneficiary organization in Uganda, with whom they had already a partnership relation.
Tusaidiane Uganda has also experience in organizing the drilling of a borehole (80-100 meters deep after doing a geological assessment). Costs of such borehole are very high (UGX 45-50 million or € 11-12.000).
Two of such boreholes were realized and one is under construction and will be completed in 2020
Review Water Program 2018-2019
- Servicing: 67 units in 18 Districts were serviced twice a year for the service fee of UGX 240.000 (€60 per year) including transport to the location but excluding expenses for broken gadgets.
- New projects: no new projects could be installed because of lack of funds. Both in 2018 and in 2019 Tusaidiane Uganda got yearly applications from 3 potential Beneficiaries. Beneficiary management and Local Leaders (including TUL) were not able to find sponsors for their projects. Moreover, TUL has no funds to stock a limited number of purifiers for use as soon as a project is materializing. Procurement and delivery from abroad are taking more than 6 months.
- Challenges for 2020 and following years
- Give priority in operational service support to clients with a good track record in view of drinking water use and make service business (= running business for 67 installed functioning purifiers) self-supporting.
- Support requests of Local leaders for “mind-set change” by offering native speakers to sensitize communities about the benefits of safe drinking water.
- Support requests for investments of existing customers for small extension of facilities.
- Stock a minimum of 4 purifiers if seed money for stocking (€000) can be found.
- Implement new purification projects in consultation and cooperation with the new beneficiary communities as far as sponsors are available. For 200 million Uganda shillings (or € 000) it will be possible to serve 5-8 communities with clean and safe drinking water. The exact number will depend on the composition of the projects.
ANNEX-Grouping-of-Safe-Drinking-Water-Beneficiaries-Update-January-2020 (1)