Poul Due Jensen Foundation
Poul Due Jensen
In Kirundo Province, the inhabitants in Marembo, Bunyari and Sigu villages are enjoying safe water thanks to our partner Poul Due Jensen Foundation.
Kirundo is highly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, hampering area’s economic development, where few other international NGOs operate. At present, the enabling environment for sustainable water service delivery in Burundi is not very reassuring when it comes to achieving the SDG goal 6 on water and sanitation. The efforts of NGOs are critical in order to give safe water access to all. Through our partnership with Poul Due Jensen Foundation we can scale up and make a bigger impact.
Through the project we have built 3 solar powered boreholes with a small distribution network of two water kiosks per system, as well as management systems.
The 3 systems were built in 2017 and started operating in January 2018. Each system has a trained water committee and a water fee collection mechanism – a kiosk.
We have also ensured access to water to Marembo Health Centre.
To ensure reliable access to adequate and effective WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) services, we work closely with the local communities and authorities to install or refurbish water and sanitation infrastructures, and provide information to raise awareness and encourage positive hygiene behaviour.
Through discussions with the local communities, hosted by the committees, opening hours in the kiosk were agreed upon, as well as kiosk attendants. Collected fees are kept in dedicated bank accounts.
Operations and maintenance of systems is often a problem in projects such as this. Often, local communities alone can’t manage water infrastructures properly. Combined with limited resources intervention capacity from technical government agencies, projects are in risk of becoming unsustainable over time. In order to avoid this, NCA is using the following methods:
By doing so, we are hoping to move towards professionalism amongst water operators by
As mentioned, the enabling environment for sustainable water service delivery in Burundi is not very reassuring when it comes to achieving the SDG goal 6 on water and sanitation. The efforts of NGOs are critical in order to give safe water access to all. The capacity building done by NCA and others, can also increase the national capacity.
In order to contribute to this, NCA is:
Looking at the SDG model of baselines for SDG 6 for this actual project, the inhabitants have gone from surface water consumtion to basic water access.
Kirundo
Kirundo Province is one of the eighteen provinces of Burundi. Kirundo has three big lakes: Cohoha, Rweru, and Rwihinda. Lakes Cohoha and Rweru are located in commune Busone, and Lake Rwihinda is in commune Kirundo. Kirundo is the capital city of province Kirundo.
Kirundo used to be the richest province because of its productive land. Now Kirundo is no longer productive. Climate change has devastated the province. In fifteen years the three lakes are almost half evaporated.
Kirundo is the northernmost province and it shares an international border with Rwanda.