Establishing clean water and sanitation for West African countries

On behalf of USAID, ARD, a Tetra Tech company, joined a diverse group of partners in 2002 to form the West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI) to help establish clean water and sanitation in four countries: Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. ARD manages USAID contributions within WAWI to improve not only the attainability of WAWI's goals, but also to encourage their sustainability.

ARD assists USAID in its role as a catalyst for success in these activities:

• Strategic planning to set short- to long-term goals and a road map to reach these goals. Tabulating lessons learned along the way has also helped to fine tune developmental approaches.
• Supporting innovative technologies for water supply and sanitation, including low-cost drilling and well rehabilitation, rapid assessment of potential for non-traditional water sources, and multiple use systems that include drinking water and water for agriculture and livestock.
• Delivering messages and demonstrating good hygiene practices in effort to change behavior such as hand washing and disinfecting household drinking water.
• Encouraging the involvement of women in project activities and decision-making in order to foster success and promote equality.
• Knowledge management and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices.
• Advocacy to encourage governments to invest more in water and sanitation, and scaling up the partnership to assist in meeting the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals of increasing water and sanitation coverage.

We have facilitated meaningful dialogue and cooperation among WAWI partners. ARD has also provided and managed grants to partners and local organizations for a variety of construction and capacity building activities.

So far, WAWI has significantly increased access to safe water and sanitation in rural households in all three countries (activities in Burkina Faso are just getting underway). More than 600 wells have been drilled and 250 rehabilitated so that rural households have access to adequate year-round supplies of water. Thousands of sanitation facilities have been constructed. In addition, ARD supports WAWI partners in providing water for agricultural purposes (drip irrigation and livestock watering) in some villages and installing micro-irrigation systems.

Additionally, WAWI partners are involved in increasing awareness and understanding of the prevention of water-related diseases through improved hygiene, and qualitative evidence indicates that the partnership is having a positive effect.

The road to clean water and sanitation can prove incredibly complex, thwarted by climate, culture, and politics. While the tools used by WAWI to bring clean water and sanitation to these regions are not new in the world of community development, the union of so many partners is. WAWI's ability to strengthen alliances and foster new collaborations will create the necessary funding and support for basic health through clean water.