Let Us Build Ourselves: Kanombe

ISSUE:
In the Kanombe community, according to the team, violence is triggered by a lack of knowledge about the importance of clean water, whereby women are getting sick and cannot take care of their family. Poor hygiene and women's incapacity due to illness leads men to cheat on their wives. Women living in mountainous areas where there is limited water access have to travel long distances to collect water. Not only do they experience the risk of violence at these remote water collection points (such as valley streams), but when women are late returning home from collecting water and cannot prepare meals on time, domestic violence often occurs. Additionally, children who are tasked with collecting water are often unable to attend school. In the Kanombe Sector, there are many temporary or migrant residents that are unwilling to invest in local development, and so this community has continued to suffer from a lack of water access.

SOLUTION:
This team of 15 local women will install a central public water access point and, when women come to collect water, offer trainings on the importance of clean water and how to end violence against women. The training course will teach how women are important to community and family development, will highlight how women in high positions have made valuable contributions to society, and will share ways that men and women can respect one another. The project goals include that:

• People in the community will have access to clean water and physically disabled women will have access to free water
• People will have knowledge about the importance of clean water, and learn the effects of using dirty water; personal hygiene will increase
• Water related illness will be reduced
• Men and women will understand how water can be a trigger for domestic violence
• Men will respect women's rights and domestic violence will decrease
• Children will be on time for school

IMPACT:
Over its first year, the water project will benefit 100 families and the training will reach 30 couples.