The
Mozambique Red Cross Society, with technical and financial support
from British Red Cross, the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Nestle, Norwegian Red Cross
and in close cooperation with the government have commenced
a long-term intervention in Nampula Province to assist the poorest
communities to establish improved and sustainable Water and
Sanitation infrastructure.
The first new Red Cross water point has just been officially
opened in Ribaue district. It will serve a community of over
800 people. In the first phase, a total of 39 rural communities
will be targeted, safe water supplies constructed or rehabilitated,
community structures set-up and trained in simple maintenance
and management procedures and sanitation and hygiene activities
will be undertaken.
‘We used to spend at least 2 hours or more each day in
collecting dirty water from a river some distance from the village
– which would also dry up at some times during the year,
causing us to walk even further .
Now we can take water from a hand pump in the centre of the
village and you can see the water is always available and clean,’
said a villager at the official opening of the new Red Cross
water point in Ribaue district.
This project is under the umbrella of the International Federation’s
ten year Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (GWSI) launched
in 2005, which has set a framework for scaling-up action and
partnership to contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goals
and specifically further contribute to ‘reducing by half,
those without sustainable access to safe water and sanitation
by 2015’.
‘
We feel particularly gratified that the efforts of Mozambique
Red Cross and other Red Cross partners are now being realized
with the additional support of Nestle’s three year Global
partnership with the International Federation,” said Mr
Thien Luong Van My, Nestle’s Public Affairs Issues Manager,
who was attending the opening ceremony.
“This has also led to forging new relationships between
our country based operations in South Africa and Mozambique
with the Mozambique Red Cross and out intention to support the
building of a new Red Cross branch in Ribaue,’ he added.
Establishing safe water supplies is not straightforward in this
remote region. Careful geo-physical studies are undertaken and
after consultation with the targeted communities, a site is
chosen to drill deep into the rocky terrain to tap safe and
reliable water sources.
In this technical area, Norwegian Red Cross have provided a
drilling rig suitable for this terrain and provide training
and technical back-up to the Mozambique Red Cross WatSan team.
‘Follow-up missions are planned by experienced drilling
engineers to ensure that drilling process, which can be technically
and logistically demanding, is fully integrated into the Mozambique
Red Cross Project – this also to save costs as previously,
this work was contracted out and was more expensive’ said
Andreas Koestler, Norwegian Red Cross WatSan Coordinator.
After many years of conflict in Mozambique and since the peace
accord in the mid-1990’s which brought stability to the
country, one of the greatest remaining challenges to the rural
poor have been to further establish sustainable development,
mostly based upon subsistence farming and improved, sustainable
infrastructure.
In the remote Northern Nampula Province, the second most populous
province of the country, many rural communities were displaced
by war and insecurity who have been slowly reestablishing small
farming settlements in areas where little or no infrastructure
remained or existed.
Despite the efforts of government and humanitarian agencies,
poor roads and communications, limited health and educational
services and especially a very low access to safe water, sanitation
and poor hygiene practices has the impact of hindering the attempts
being made to improve the health and productivity of these communities.
Although the overall growth rate in Mozambique is commendable,
it is mostly the large urban centers that benefit the most however
the rural poor - especially in the more inaccessible areas -
still have a long way to go to significantly improve their economy
and lifestyle.
Ribaue was targeted by the Mozambique Red Cross particularly
based upon the statistics of the district which showed that
access to safe water and sanitation was one of the lowest in
the province and the country as a whole (21% as opposed to a
national average of about 50%) and the incidence of water and
sanitation related diseases being unacceptably high.
Added to this, the loss in productivity by the need for women
and children having to travel long distances to collect water
further hindered development, and reduced school attendance.
Further surveys carried out by the Mozambique Red Cross using
locally based staff and volunteer workers recruited from the
affected communities confirmed the extent of the needs, not
just related to Water and Sanitation, but other issues such
as health services provision, the impact of the HIV and AIDS
pandemic and other recurring and endemic diseases such as malaria
and cholera.
Government officials also requested Mozambique Red Cross to
intervene in the district as there were few if any interventions
by other humanitarian organizations. This led to increased cooperation
and coordination with Government who provided temporary premises
for the Water and Sanitation team and the decision to grant
a plot of land for the construction of a Red Cross Branch.
‘
Our approach in Ribaue reflects our country-wide strategy of
taking a holistic view of the needs of vulnerable communities,
and in this case, using the Water and Sanitation project as
an entry point for other interventions such as community based
first aid and home-based care to those affected by the HIV and
AIDS pandemic while establishing a local branch to further our
efforts in the long term, and ensure that communities can sustain
the advantages our interventions may bring’ concluded
Eunice Mucache Mozambique Red Cross Head of Programmes.
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Water
and sanitation project implemented by Mozambique Red Cross
with assistance of Nestlé. (p15045)
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This
project is under the umbrella of the International Federation’s
ten year Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (GWSI)
launched in 2005 with technical and financial support
from British Red Cross, Nestle, Norwegian Red Cross and
in close cooperation with the government.(p15053)
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Now
we can take water from a hand pump in the centre of the
village and you can see the water is always available
and clean,’ said a villager at the official opening
of the new Red Cross water point in Ribaue district. (p15056)
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The
first new Red Cross water point has just been officially
opened in Ribaue district. It will serve a community of
over 800 people. In the first phase, a total of 39 rural
communities will be targeted, safe water supplies constructed
or rehabilitated, community structures set-up and trained
in simple maintenance and management procedures and sanitation
and hygiene activities will be undertaken. (p15052)
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