The Salima District project

This project in Central Malawi was allocated £325,000 to help improve water, sanitation and hygiene in the area. By summer 2002 the project was two years into its proposed four year life.

Project aims

Each community has been involved in the installation of all their new water facilities

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

Salima was chosen because of very low access to safe water and sanitation. Local communities were finding it very hard to initiate change. 

Salima also had particular problems with traditional latrine construction due to sandy soil conditions, and was seen as an appropriate setting for the piloting of different approaches, with the potential for significantly useful expansion well beyond the benefits to an estimated 25,000 direct beneficiaries. While it began in the Traditional Authority (TA) Kalunda, the project had expanded by mid 2001 to include TAs Maganga and Pemba.

The focus from the start has been on the deepening and protection of traditional hand-dug wells and scoop holes, provision of associated water points, promotion of composting latrines and parallel hygiene education.

However, by mid 2001 the project was also supporting decentralization, empowerment and good governance in the communities concerned, and in their local government institutions.

So far, as well as working with communities to install handpumps and composting latrines a baseline hygiene practice and awareness survey, including follow through village group discussions, had been completed.

More importantly, all of the installations have resulted from specific local demand or requests, which have been largely stimulated by the WaterAid local empowerment approach.

Training and skills development

There are also many examples of local skills being developed, with WaterAid supporting Ministry of Water Development training in management and maintenance of pumps, where emphasis was placed on trainees' views and experience in the training process.

This has allowed the reinforcement of trainees' determination to learn all the skills necessary for committees to assume responsibility for their own water points. It also quickly emerged that many rural women lack confidence in taking on what are perceived as men's tasks.

Women therefore worked separately from men in all practical sessions, and great excitement was reported from one such group who, when successful in putting together a pump, are said to have declared: 'We don't need men any more to do this, we can do it ourselves!'

Children at a new water pump in Chiutila Village.

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

At Area Development Committee level, WaterAid supported and facilitated a Ministry of Local Government run capacity building workshop for Kulunda ADC run over three days in mid 2001.

Regular Committee meetings to discuss development issues were subsequently established. The Committee was also instrumental in establishing an identified 'pool' of masons to assist communities in water point installation and maintenance, and in latrine construction, and has also established set levels of contribution from water point committees for spare parts purchase.

Further, it has been able to begin to address other community environmental issues, as well as to stimulate Village Development Committees (the next level down) into effective activity, not least in producing their own formal Plans for safe water and sanitation provision.

Significant progress has been made in promoting effective exchange of views and experience designed to promote greater co-operation between all local organizations involved in safe water and sanitation provision.

Facilitated by WaterAid, Salima District has, since mid 2001, had a first ever Forum of Implementing Organizations with a Water and Sanitation Component. It is chaired by the Department of Local Government's Director of Planning and Development and WaterAid provides the secretariat.