WASH

Sustained access to safe and sufficient water, basic sanitation, and hygienic practices are of paramount importance for people’s well-being. A changing climate is threatening the existence or provision of these basic services in unprecedented ways. ZOA implements an integrated WASH approach, taking social, economic, and ecological factors into account. We are pleased to share some results of ZOA’s worldwide work to address these challenges.

YEMEN Safe drinking water for 670,000 Yemenis

The current war, now in its 9th unrelenting year, has magnified the Yemeni people's vulnerability. Lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities impacts a staggering 15.3 million people. Desperate families resort to drinking from unclean water sources, such as manually dug spring wells and surface water (following rainfall). Women and girls often walk 2-3 hours twice daily to collect water for their families because of nonfunctioning water wells. Providing access to clean, safe drinking water closer to their villages is of vital importance to ensure life-giving hydration, ward off diseases (such as cholera), and protect women and girls from dangerous treks through remote, mountainous terrain in search of water.

In 2022, ZOA successfully reached 670,000 Yemenis by implementing WASH interventions in various parts of the country. ZOA’s areas of intervention included repairing and rehabilitating water supply systems and installing solar systems. Solar pumps also protect communities from exorbitantly high fuel prices. Moreover, our integrated approach provided gender-appropriate latrine facilities, community volunteer training, and hygiene promotion. Internally displaced people were presented with hygiene kits. Notably, community members contributed their time and labour, resulting in pride of ownership, self-sufficiency, and community building.

"My joy is indescribable because we now have safe, clean, and protected water," says a smiling Mr. Hadi. After a moment of reflection, he solemnly adds, "I am sad because my daughter was one of the victims of this well before ZOA came to rehabilitate it, but now I feel happy and relieved that there are hundreds of families who are now reassured that their children will not fall into the well again."

- Mr. Hadi, a 55-year-old displaced man from Harad District

provided 1,000 households in Sudan with access to clean drinking water and improved water source management. Sanitation services were upgraded, and awareness-raising improved healthy hygiene practices. Notably, 238,739 individuals were provided with latrine access.

We are pleased to share that these flagship projects have been successfully implemented in Gedaref and Darfur, where ZOA has been assisting vulnerable host communities, IDPs, and refugees since 2004. Our interventions have made access to water a far shorter and vastly safer journey.

Ensuring sufficient quantities of safe water

Faced with acute shortages of safe, public drinking water, more than half (52%) of people in Syria rely on alternative and often unsafe water sources to meet their water needs. Water shortages force households to resort to negative coping mechanisms such as unhealthy hygiene practices or increased household debt to afford water costs. In 2022, ZOA implemented several WASH projects in different locations to ensure that people have access to sufficient quantities of safe water they can use and store efficiently. The promotion of healthy hygiene practices was another important objective.

We are pleased to share that ZOA distributed 4,114 household water tanks and 4,541 NFI kits, including jerrycans, so people may safely store water in their homes. To ensure healthy menstrual hygiene practices, we dispensed 4,190 feminine hygiene kits to vulnerable beneficiaries affected by the crisis. Syrian refugee students (who returned from Lebanon to participate in official exams) were provided with 750 water bottles and 505 hygiene kits. Under the Syria Joint Response (SJR) intervention, with the support of GOPA, our local partner, ZOA conducted water trucking and water well digging for vulnerable households in Al Hassakeh. We continue to rehabilitate the water network in Aleppo.

Elida’s story (Colombia)

A cry for water

Elida, a 9-year-old Wayuu girl, is growing up in the Colombian desert of Alta Guajira. She loves to crochet bags. By doing so, she is developing the necessary skills to make her own hammock. That colourful piece of artisan work will be what she brings into her marriage – one day.

Until then, Elida – like her five older brothers – will have to help her family survive on an extremely arid piece of land. Because of climate change, the drought is even more intense, and rainfall is more extreme.

Every day, they walk for five hours to fetch water from a freshwater well. “We used to have donkeys to carry more water at once,” says Elida. “But people from outside our community killed them for the meat.”

With a desalination installation that ZOA intends to provide, the walk to fetch water will soon be a lot shorter: there is a saltwater source in Irraipa, the village where Elida lives. An answer to a cry for water.

Madagascar

Rehabilitated water infrastructure in health centres

People residing in southern Madagascar are grappling with the most extreme drought the area has experienced since 1981. The last few agricultural seasons in this region have been crippled by a severe rainfall deficit, resulting in decimated crops, deteriorating food and water security, and a nutrition crisis. Approximately

1.1 million people in the southern and southeastern areas of the country experienced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2022, which necessitated emergency assistance.

The drought has put tremendous strain on existing water sources, directly impacting the availability of clean, safe water for consumption as well as for agricultural production. The number of people with access to sanitary water supply sources remains alarmingly low, forcing the majority of the population to use and consume unsafe surface water.

In 2022, ZOA, in close collaboration with Medair, rehabilitated the water infrastructure of two health centres to increase access to sufficient and safe water for domestic use and to boost hygiene standards. Showers and six latrines (comprised of three compartments) were constructed at both health centres. The project expanded access to safe, clean, consumable water and functional, hygienic excreta disposal facilities. Proper treatment for trucked and piped water was also organized. Approximately 8,000 people benefitted from the project.