Water means food, health and life

Let’s start with something positive: where ten years ago only one in five people in Chad had access to clean drinking water, there are now three times as many. That gives hope – but it cannot hide the fact that in the south of the country half the population still obtains drinking water from unhealthy sources.

Dirty drinking water is the main cause of the high child mortality rate in Chad: one in ten children dies before their fifth birthday. Women and girls in particular spend a lot of time fetching water – on average six hours a day. Time that prevents mothers from earning money and putting food on plates. Time that prevents little girls from attending school.

Even today, Chad can find no escape from this vicious circle. Although oil production brought economic prosperity at the beginning of the millennium, the country slid into an economic crisis with the collapse of the oil price in 2017. An unstable security situation, which worsened with the rise of rebel groups in the region, does the rest. Chad is the third poorest country in the world.  Those who are worst off lack the most basic necessities. Clean water – available as groundwater on large parts of the southern territory – remains inaccessible to them, buried under solid rock.

SWISSAID is improving this miserable situation with bore holes and setting up manual pumps. Over a period of five years, SWISSAID will be constructing 120 wells in 120 villages in the project regions. Each well will benefit around 350 people, and by 2023 42,000 people will have more access to clean drinking water.

But the project would not be very successful if it only concerned building wells: issues such as budget management, maintenance, sanitation and hygiene standards accompany every construction. A village committee is set up for each well to ensure its sustainability. The committee collects monthly water contributions from households, manages the money and uses it for maintenance and repairing the wells. Local workshops are equipped and trained to maintain the water points.

Villagers are trained in hygiene regulations: those who know how important it is to wash their hands and scrub their hands properly can prevent diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. The “Blue Schools” are an important part of the programme: pupils learn how important hygiene is for their health and the environment. Children are more receptive to behavioural changes than adults. If they are sensitized, the whole community learns.

However, SWISSAID cannot solve the water and hygiene problem in Chad on its own. Partnerships with other NGOs and actors present on the ground provide an important exchange of experience and synergies. SWISSAID also works closely with experts from the responsible ministry, supplies the national database on water and sanitation facilities and shares useful information on project successes.