Plateau

Plateau State Sub Programme

WaterAid began work in Plateau in 2000 building the capacity of local partners to implement effective community based water, sanitation and hygiene projects. Currently, WaterAid is supporting projects in 25 communities in two local government areas: Kanke and Langtang North Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State. This strategic period WaterAid Nigeria and the State Government through the State Agency Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency and the State Water Board will carry forward the objectives of developing State WASH policy/guideline and piloting urban water supply and sanitation respectively in addition to working with the state on developing a sustainable sector master plan.

Over the years, WaterAid and its partners have pursued objectives around increased access to improved water and sanitation facilities, institutional building, WASH policy dialogue, capacity building, networking and collaboration; gender mainstreaming, advocacy, documentation and research.

The four partners in Plateau include both NGO and Government partners.

Charity Dandak - State Coordinator
WaterAid Office - Jos
House No. 1
Behind Ministry of Justice
Hwolshe, Jos
Plateau State

Tel: 00 234 073 464148 - Fax: 00 234 073 464149

The NGO partners are:

Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN), Plateau State Chapter

Bol Development Association (BOLDA)

The Government Partners are:

Plateau State Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (PRUWASSA)

Plateau State Water Board (PSWB)

Country Women Association Of Nigeria Project (COWAN)
COWAN is one of the foremost women's organisations in Nigeria with geographical spread across the west and north of the country. Its primary focus is poverty alleviation and women's economic empowerment through thrift and micro-credit schemes. Water and sanitation have a direct bearing on this organisation's focus: women bear the greatest burden when services are poor and often benefit the most when access to services are improved.

Through its numerous local and community branches COWAN has engaged in capacity development for sustainable planning and implementation of integrated WATSAN projects. Sanitation and hygiene education are also core components of these projects with emphasis on marketing options and latrine uptake in project communities. Amongst other activities COWAN is also leading in gender mainstreaming.

Bol Development Association Project (BOLDA)
BOLDA is a local community association of the BOL tribe in Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State. Bol tribe consists of a group of poor communities living in the highland range of Plateau State. The communities are generally poor with poor access to water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion services. Water and sanitation related diseases are rampant among these communities.

Plateau State Rural Water Supply Agency (PRUWASSA)
PRUWASSA is an agency of the Plateau State government set up like others across the country to deliver water and sanitation projects directly and through ad-hoc arrangements. Most of these agencies were set up through national directives and UNICEF prompting without clear operational guidelines. The National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, however, recognises such agencies as policy facilitation and implementation agencies at the rural levels because of the peculiar nature of RWSS programmes. The National policy also lays the statutory responsibility of rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene education on the corridors of the LGAs that are to be supported in planning by the State Agencies.

Like all others, PRUWASSA is under-funded and has inadequate planning and management capacities. WaterAid's projects, therefore, facilitate the State Agency to meet the statutory obligation in a sustainable manner, thereby creating model and best-practices for scaling up.

Plateau State Water Board (PSWB)
Plateau State Water Board was set up like all other SWAs in the country to cater for the urban population water supply needs. They are not responsible for sanitation; neither do they have anything to do with hygiene education, even though the urban areas, depending on where you are in Nigeria, pose different challenges. The SWA run like social service agencies and are hardly regarded as delivering service. They are plagued with capacity issues, financial, technical and managerial. Their services are inconsistent and can hardly satisfy the urban needs. The peri-urban, usually poor and vulnerable, are in most cases voiceless and are hardly served. Coming under the heels of the urban sector reforms, the Kubong Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project will provide a sustainable model for serving peri-urban areas that allow the beneficiaries to have access to adequate information that enable them to, choose, plan, control and manage the services they deserve through appropriate service arrangements.