Central African Republic

Sustainable access to drinking water and improved sanitary environment for vulnerable populations of the Ouaka, Central African Republic.

Huge needs for intervention to improve access to water and sanitation have been identified throughout the Ouaka Prefecture where Triangle GH conducted a joint multi-sector diagnosis together with Aide Médicale Internationale, Nourrir and the DGH. The main roads serving the North (Bakala) and the South-West (Kouango) are particularly neglected. In the 22 villages targeted by the operation, basic access to healthcare and education is extremely poor, less than 30% of the targeted people have currently access to drinking water, and only 8.8% have access to improved sanitation facilities.

In addition, the weak institutional capacity of the local DGH does not allow any improvement in the situation. Efficient and targeted local capacity building is needed as well as improved access to basic services related to water and sanitation through the building of appropriate infrastructures. The running of awareness campaigns on hygiene is also imperative.

Finally, as it is the case in the rest of the country, major structural deficiencies are aggravated by the faulty maintenance of infrastructures and the inaptitude of social organizations in charge of their management. The principles of transparency and good governance are scarce and require a background social work and continuous support.

In the frame of a widespread « multi-country » call for proposals, launched by the European Commission in 2010, this program contributes to reducing morbidity and mortality rates associated with waterborne diseases and participates in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6.

It will start with the checking of work sites and validated technical choices, a participative definition of the implementation of activities for each village, and the establishment of a steering committee of the project involving all the stakeholders.

It will then pursue the following objectives:

• Extending and improving access to drinking water: construction of water infrastructures (25 drillings and 10 sources), strengthening of the mobile team for the monitoring and repair of hand pumps, monitoring of the quantity and the quality of water resources in connection with concerned local authorities.
  
  
• Improving the sanitary environment by extending access to health facilities and developing the knowledge and good practices related to hygiene: selection of beneficiaries according to predefined criteria, construction of sanitation facilities (1, 200 family latrines) and awareness raising on their use in public institutions (6 schools and 4 health centers), conducting of CAP surveys¹, monitoring of medical data and supervision of health centers for the collection of information related to waterborne diseases, definition of hygiene promotion messages, creation of communication tools and running of a communication campaign to promote hygiene among targeted populations.
  
  
• Strengthening of the organizational and technical capacity of local actors, adaptation to the requirements of the project: definition and implementation of a training course for the local partner and the DGH, creation, training and monitoring of water management committees.

¹Survey Knowledge, attitudes and practices