Project Description
“Access to water and sanitation for the rural population of the Boke area (Ethiopia)” RESCATE Internacional NGO.
The RESCATE Internacional organization was awarded the Cooperation Development Prize by the Fundación José Entrecanales Ibarra for the construction of a water supply infrastructure, a project entitled “Access to water and sanitation for the rural population of the Boke area” of Ethiopia.
Project: Construction of a well 250 metres deep, in which a diesel generator-powered submersible pump was installed that enables more than 6.3 litres of water per second to be extracted. The water drawn from the well accumulates in a 50,000-litre regulating reservoir from which a network of 12 kilometres of pipes extends. Six community water points were built which, in addition to the relevant source, have washhouses for clothing, showers and watering troughs for livestock.
The water points were placed so that no beneficiary needs to walk for more than 15 minutes to access drinking water. Also installed were 500 toilets located in more familiar places where each toilet serves some 20 people.
As important as the infrastructures was the educational effort made to train 150 “facilitators” to transmit to the community the need to avoid bad hygiene habits, in the hopes that this will help multiply the benefits of the project.
Also, as is required in all cooperation projects, local personnel assigned to the operation and maintenance of the infrastructures were trained in the relevant skills, and the responsibility for these tasks was transferred to the beneficiaries through the creation of a Water Committee whose members are chosen by the Councils of the Elders.
Budget: €270,000
Time frame: 12 months
Impact: The system enables drinking water to be supplied to some 10,000 people and their domestic livestock. But the main beneficiaries are the 2,000 women and girls whose daily activity will no longer consist of going for water and returning laden with jerry cans of up to 30 litres, covering an average of 10 kilometres on foot. Improvement of sanitary conditions.
