The Water and Development Alliance (WADA) Entrepreneurship for Resilient Village Water Systems in Tanzania project, led by Ohio State’s Global Water Institute (GWI), has accomplished much in the year since its launched in June of 2018.
To date, project activities have been focused in the Singida region of Tanzania, with installation and rehabilitation of water systems in ten villages. Next, these villages will receive solar powered pumps and monitoring sensors that will provide real-time information on the status of the groundwater. The first set of water service entrepreneurs are being trained to equip them with the skills to maintain the water system infrastructure and enhance economic activities in their local communities.
Photo, above: One of the existing water systems to be updated. This one, in kinyagigi village, was built in 1979. Photo credit Ohio State's GWI.
The $2 million project is funded by a 1:1 match from The Coca-Cola Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) combined investment of $1 million through WADA, matched by co-financing from WorldServe International and Waterboys, an American charity led by U.S. National Football League athlete Chris Long.
Together with the Tanzanian Ministry of Water (MOW), the WADA partners identified villages in need of assistance and committed to install or upgrade solar-powered water systems to benefit over 70,000 rural Tanzanians. A critical component of the project is to provide the villages with two years of technical support to train and develop water service entrepreneurs to perform operations and maintenance tasks, with a heavy emphasis on women entrepreneurs.
Additionally, the WADA project is investing in the technical knowledge of Tanzania’s workforce through field work with the ministry’s District Water Engineers and capacity-building collaboration, through technical training and skills development to advance the next generation of water engineers, with the University of Dodoma.
Over the next year, the WADA partners will be sharing more about the technical work involved in installing solar-panel pump systems in the villages, the positive impact on local communities through improved maintenance and governance structures, and capacity building through technical training and collaboration with local stakeholders in the local government and academic institutions.
See the story and more on the Tanzania project, led by Ohio State’s Global Water Institute.