Water projects in Madagascar:
Deichmann and SaniTap are creating quality of life
Water projects in Madagascar:
Deichmann and SaniTap are creating quality of life
Overview
Project
The DEICHMANN Foundation supports water projects in Madagascar. Together with SaniTap, the Foundation has a dependable local partner that plans to repair over 4,300 defective hand pumps and service them for at least 15 years. This will give many thousands of people access to clean drinking water again. The DEICHMANN Foundation is initially financing the repair of 500 wells within the project.
Impact
Access to clean drinking water in the region has a positive effect on people and nature in many ways. Clean drinking water reduces the risk of disease dramatically. Children who fall ill less often can attend school more regularly. Healthy adults can provide for their families more consistently. Medical expenses are cut, and the time otherwise required to collect water is available for other activities. Since no more wood needs to be burned to make water germ-free by boiling, a lot of CO₂ can be saved – for the 500 wells alone, our partner expects that 27,000 tons of CO₂ will be reduced annually.
Madagascar fights against the forces of nature – extreme weather threatens crops and infrastructure
Due to its unprotected location in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is severely affected by extreme weather events. Heavy rains, hurricanes, floods and droughts regularly destroy crops and infrastructure. Current armed conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the large aid organisations only rarely have missions in Madagascar have exacerbated the situation experienced by Madagascans.
In addition, girls in particular are responsible for the water supply for their families and often neglect their schooling in order to fulfil this duty for their family.
88% HAS NO access to safe sanitation
50% HAS NO access to clean drinking water
Over 30% of children drop out of primary school.
How the Foundation helps
Long-term sustainability is the way out of poverty and disease
SaniTap, the DEICHMANN Foundation partner, has a big vision. Everyone should have access to clean water and proper sanitation. To achieve this, the organisation develops business strategies and offers advice. In this way, it creates safe living conditions for people living in areas affected by climate change.
In Madagascar, SaniTap improves access to clean drinking water in rural areas. The DEICHMANN Foundation is proud to support this key project.
SaniTap focuses on feasibility and sustainability
The three core pillars of the project are:
- Building of new water points
- Repairing non-working water sources
- On-going maintenance of existing infrastructures
By repairing and maintaining a total of over 4,300 handpumps, about 650,000 people will be supplied with clean water in the coming years. Hygiene education programs support awareness of clean water. The program ensures that the communities are sustainably supplied with clean drinking water. The funding of the DEICHMANN Foundation will be initially sufficient for about 500 wells from which around 27,000 people will be able to draw their water.
Women and children fetch contaminated water daily. A danger to health and a very time-consuming activity. Schooling loses out.
The impact of aid
Clean water transforms the daily life of the Malagasy people
WATER PROJECTS IN MADAGASCAR – ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND HEALTHCARE
Clean water immediately reduces the risk of infection and the transmission of diseases arising out of polluted water, as well as strengthening the body’s defences and general wellbeing. Healthier people are better able to grow up healthy, learn, work or provide for their family. This multiplies the benefits of clean water.
Today, the Madagascans who use water from open sources, usually boil it on a wood fire to kill germs. Clean water, thanks to the project, will be able to be used directly. The CO₂ otherwise produced during wood burning will be saved. If all 4,300 wells are restored, around 242,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions will be saved annually. With less wood collected, local forests will also be able to recover in the best-case scenario.
Regular hygiene programs in the villages where wells are being restored also helps the population learn about the importance of clean water for their own health and the health of their children. During these sessions, people will also learn how to reduce the number of infections caused by waterborne diseases.
WATER AS A PRECURSOR TO GENDER EQUALITY
Finally, improved access to water promotes gender equality. It relieves women and girls, who today in many cases still need several hours a day to fetch water for their families and boil it.
Background information
Elevated level of transparency
With the project – Water Projects in Madagascar – the DEICHMANN Foundation not only will be giving many people access to clean water. With SaniTap, as a strong partner alongside the Foundation, the respective community that benefits from the well is actively involved in the waterprojects. SaniTap workers regularly go to the villages. They ask the residents about their needs, especially the women.
After the first wells have been repaired, SaniTap organises workshops in the villages. Together with the community members, the aid workers assess whether well repair and restoration has been successful. In this way, SaniTap ensures that the projects are tailored to the local needs of the communities.
Water Projects in Madagascar – an interactive update
For example, SaniTap identified 369 water points in the Madagascar regions of Anosy and Androy over a period of four months. Of these, the social enterprise rated 286 as repairable. Repair work is currently in full swing.
In a kind of live streaming reportage, work steps are documented and can be viewed by all.
> https://sanitap.org/monitoring-and-reporting-deichmann-stiftung/
In just a few clicks, anyone interested can track which pumps SaniTap has already identified, surveyed and repaired.
A partner to work with
Pioneers for sustainable water solutions
SaniTap works to ensure that people worldwide have safe access to water and toilets despite climate change and uses innovative technologies and working methods to offer affordable and reliable water supply especially for rural and urban areas. SaniTap seeks to protect lives, help communities better adapt to climate change, and work with other organisations to achieve common goals.
