Project Background

In March 2020, the project “WADI – Innovation for Safe Water and Climate in Uganda” was kicked-off with a physical stakeholder meeting to present the project and its planned impact to beneficia-ries from multiple villages in the district, as well as representatives from the field of politics, religion, and women associations. The project achieved a high outcome level providing safe water access and trainings on good sanitation and hygiene practices. Today 10,013 households are benefitting from safe water through WADI in the Namayingo District

The project focuses not only on the provision of safe drinking water but furthermore targets the improvement of local WASH infrastructure at a household level. In the reporting period, 11,006 WASH infrastructures were constructed, including 3,471 latrines and 2,537 hand-washing facilities (tippy taps).

Project Region: Namayingo District

Uganda currently ranks 159th according to the Human Development Index 2019 (HDI value: 0.528; rank 159/189), therefore being part of the lowest 50 countries. Half of the country’s population still depends on unimproved water sources and only 18 % are using improved sanitation facilities, contributing to a mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, sanitation & hygiene services of 31.6 per 100,000 people (HDI 2019). HELIOZ has selected Uganda as one of its primary implementation countries with a focus on WASH activities (SDG 6.1 and 6.2), working with skilled partners in this sector.

“As a women leader, I am so excited to be part and a beneficiary of this new project in Buhemba Sub County. For so long, the women have been so burdened when it comes to finding firewood for general cooking activities and boiling drinking water.” Auma Patricia (Women Associa-tion Leader Bukewa East Village, Buhemba Sub County)

All respondents would recommend WADI to other people and the average rating of the WADI technology is 4.9 out of 5 (1-5 scale, 5 being the highest). In general, the switch from boiling water to using WADI leads to a decreased need for firewood. 99.3 % of households have stated that they also spend less time on collecting fire-wood since using WADI. The respondents have shared that they save on average 9.5 hours per week, which equates to about 494 hours per year.

The results of the assessment underscores a key strategic decision HELIOZ has made since the project ended: The switch to multi-year projects building up strong local partnerships for continued households support in the area of WASH, access to additional materials like PET bottles and WADIs as well as plastic recycling and household waste management initiatives.