Promoting water and sanitation services

Men of Chololo village are proud of their work on the WAMMA managed borehole scheme.

Credit: WaterAid / Judie Skelton

WAMMA, now more than a decade old, has become a model of cooperation with government agencies in promoting integrated water and sanitation (WATSAN services). Structurally, it consists of teams of four to six fieldworkers drawn from junior staff of the government departments of Water, Health and Community, always including both men and women.

The name WAMMA stands for the four participatory parties; WA - WaterAid; M - Maji (the Water Department); M - Maendeleo ya Jamil (the Community Development Department); and A - Afya (the Heath Department).

The keyword has been empowerment: empowerment of the teams themselves, and through them, of local communities, so that the pre-existing very passive relationship between communities and government has been transformed.

The teams now enjoy respect from all sides. They ensure that village priorities dictate the type and pace of development, while government, donor and NGO support fill technical and financial gaps, villages themselves first raising a significant proportion of costs, as well as providing labour.

Villagers appreciate the guidance that enables their committees to take rational decisions about their own projects, while District and Regional officers are happy to devolve local planning and investment to the teams, having gained confidence from the improved sustainability of WAMMA managed initiatives.

Download the full WAMMA report ( PDF 451Kb)