SWIFT Story of Sustainable Change: Handing over a new water network to a community in South Kivu, DRC
Overview
The residents of Katungulu used to have to make a two-hour round trip to a contaminated river to collect water. Defecation took place mostly in the bush; the few latrines were dirty and poorly maintained; and hand-washing with soap or ash wasn’t practised. Diarrhoea, malaria and water-borne diseases were rife.
Under the SWIFT programme, Tearfund has been working with the residents of Katungulu to implement the government-approved ‘Healthy Villages and Schools’ approach to village mobilization. Sickness in the village since it received access to clean, safe water and since the ‘healthy village’ process began has dropped sharply. Having taken over responsibility for the new network, the community is determined to ensure its long-term sustainability.
Keywords
- Capacity building
- Civil society
- Community building
- Development methods
- Health promotion
- Humanitarian practice
- Livelihoods
- Local Government
- Maternal and child health
- MDGs
- Millenium Development Goals
- Natural resources
- Participation
- Resource scarcity
- Sustainability
- Sustainable development
- Training
- WASH
- Water and sanitation
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