Women Water Stewards in Africa
AFRICAN WOMEN'S WATER CHALLENGES
- African women and girls spend 40 billion hours per year collecting water.
- Women often have to wait in turn to collect water, forcing many to leave home in the middle of the night to reach the source/(WaterAid)
- Constantly carrying heavy water containers with 5 gallons, that weigh up to 50lbs, on the head, hip or back, has severe health implications. In extreme cases curved spines and pelvic deformities can result, causing problems in childbirth. (WaterAid)
- In Tanzania women have reported taking water as a special gift to a new other as it is considered to be the most precious gift you can give. (WaterAid)
- The health issues in Africa have increased challenges due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS. Safe water is essential for health maintenance.
CHALLENGE: Women and girls in Africa spend over 40 billion hours collecting water (World Health Organization)
ASD SOLUTION: ASD sponsors workshops and trainings in East, West and Southern Africa to empower women with the tools to alleviate their daily burdens providing clean water for their families and communities.
- The Global Women's Water Initiative (GWWI) is a dynamic partnership between A Single Drop, Crabgrass and Women's Earth Alliance. Our goal is to equip local African women leaders with technology training, business skills, networking support and seed funding to launch income-generating water service projects across Africa. Our first African Women and Water Capacity Building Training was held in Nairobi, Kenya partnered with GROOTS Kenya hosted by Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement Training Facility. The conference was host to 30 women from eight countries in Africa who were chosen from a rigorous selection process based on their dynamic leadership. This capacity-building training is in sync with ASDs mission to support community-led water service projects as the GWWI curriculum supports a appropriate technology trainings with organizational development workshops to create effective action plans and promote micro-enterprise development. ASD spearheaded the coordination and follow-up visits to support the women on the ground offering technical and organizational assistance to help the women implement their projects in the form of refresher workshops on the technologies, WASH Strategies and Education, micro-enterprise development and offering additional workshops in WASH Education for PLWHAs (People Living With HIV/AIDS) where appropriate. In the first eight months after the conference, some of the women were able to impact over 2700 people with improved water supply and a few have started a micro-enterprise. Read more about this dynamic initiative..
- PODS Pilot in UGANDA - ASD will be piloting its award-winning PODS program in 2010 in Uganda with Uganda Community Based Association for Child Welfare (UCOBAC) and Mukono Women's AIDS Task Force (MWATF). ASD will be working with these women-led organizations to transfer the PODS model and help build and strengthen their water programs.
AIDS ORPHAN SAFETY CENTER (TIOS in Portuguese) Biosand Filter Microbusiness in Chimoio, Mozambique - TIOS is a school for orphans that “protects children by teaching them to protect themselves”. To add to their safety education which includes such things as first aid, self defense, AIDS/HIV Education, ASD assisted TIOS to expand their services to offer safe water technologies and WASH Education.
ASD trained female orphaned youth to be BSF facilitators and mentored them to start a BSF micro-business and offer WASH Education in their community. ASD is also working with all the students and staff to strengthen their knowledge in WASH. ASD has helped TIOS conduct a BioSand Filter and WASH Education Pilot Project to get real world experience in building a service business from the ground up. ASD continues to mentor the women ASD is grateful to Blue Planet Run, Global Green Grants, AOSCI (US) and Christ Church Methodist Church in San Rafael for their generous support.
