Five of the seven members of the water committee set up through the ‘healthy villages’ approach in Kasitu, North Kivu. From left to right: Kakule Kasembo Mapendo, Kakule Kasembo Jean Bapiste, Kahambu Marhata Alfonsine, Muhindo Tsongo and Maskereka Muthahwh
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A tippy-tap near a latrine in Kasitu, North Kivu, with a bowl of ash for hand-washing and a leaf screen for privacy
A SWIFT, Oxfam and CEPROSSAN sign by the road en route to Kasitu in Beni, North Kivu
Oxfam’s partners in DRC have exceeded their targets for reaching families with hygienic household latrines through the SWIFT programme by some 36,000 people, and have learned much about working in semi-urban contexts along the way.
In the last quarter of 2015, 23,661 family latrines were constructed or rehabilitated with the support of Oxfam’s partners CEPROSSAN, Hyfro and PPSSP, providing hygienic sanitation to 134,771 people. Community mobilisation activities and hygiene promotion events were carried out to raise awareness around the safe use of both latrines and water facilities, including meetings, mass campaigns and inter-community sanitation awareness competitions.
Sanitation in semi-urban contexts
One of the challenges faced by SWIFT in DRC has been to adapt its approach to sanitation for semi-urban contexts. In Kanyabayonga, for example, in Lubero territory in North Kivu, Oxfam’s partner CEPROSSAN found that households were not completing the superstructures for their latrines. The soil in the area requires that different materials and techniques be used if the constructions are to be viable, and families were not willing or able to provide the investment required.
Under the ‘healthy villages and schools’ approach (Villages et Ecoles Assainis), the step-by-step process of village mobilisation supported by DRC’s government and through which SWIFT is working, villages are mobilised to build latrines with technical but no material support. In rural areas in which there is a community ethos and families have access to local materials, this works well, but Oxfam’s partners have found that it is not always suited to the more individual lifestyle of families in semi-urban contexts.
The solution has been to consider providing tailored subsidies, such as bags of cement, to households in semi-urban areas on a case-by-case basis. A time-intensive and complex process requiring close monitoring and strong commitment on all sides, this has nevertheless proved very effective, enabling Oxfam’s partner to exceed their sanitation targets.
The ASUREP model
The Oxfam team in DRC has been piloting the ‘ASUREP’ model of water network users’ associations for the management of water supply systems in semi-urban areas, where there is currently no established approach. This is a hybrid model (blending community and private management) which focuses on formalising and professionalising existing community-management organisations, and stipulates that water users’ associations must include both legal and community representation.
In the last quarter of 2015, most of the ASUREPs set up under the SWIFT programme have organised elections for their three main bodies: the “Assemblée Générale”, “Conseil d’Administration” and “Commission de Controle”.
In Kalunguta Health Zone, for example, the ASUREP for the four gravity-fed water systems has elected these three bodies and is now recruiting a ‘Unité de Gestion’ (management team). In Mutwanga Health Zone, the ASUREP for the town of Lubiriha – which is called the ACOEP (Association des Consommateurs d’Eau Potable Kasindi-Lubiriha) – has also reached the stage of recruiting technicians.
Institutional sustainability
There are encouraging signs of institutional sustainability in rural areas too. In Kirumba, the involvement of the National Hydraulic Service for Rural Areas (Service National d’Hydraulique Rurale – SNHR) with the gravity-fed water system built through the SWIFT programme is considered by the community to be a basis for its future support for operations and maintenance of the water systems in Kayna Health Zone.
In the last three months of 2015, Oxfam’s partners in DRC completed 66 water systems: two gravity-fed systems, in Mataba and Murambi; 21 springs with reservoirs; and 43 simple springs. These systems are now providing clean, sustainable drinking water to 35,199 people. Other water systems are still in the process of construction and will be completed by the end of March 2016.
