Safe and equitable WASH services, and live in safe and sustainable climate and environment
Every child, including adolescents, uses safe and equitable WASH services, and live in safe and sustainable climate and environment
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WASH is an all-encompassing issue with far-reaching implications for health, nutrition, education, protection, inclusion, gender equality, and overall equity. Working closely with the Government of Mozambique, UNICEF is contributing to delivering clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for every child in Mozambique. UNICEF supports the Government of Mozambique to deliver resilient WASH services that meet national standards and Sustainable Development Goal targets on universal water and sanitation coverage. UNICEF’s support helps to integrate and expand gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive WASH services in communities, schools and healthcare facilities and promote hygiene education and menstrual hygiene management.
Expanding climate-resilient access to improved water supplies and sanitation facilities is a key priority for UNICEF and the Government of Mozambique, a critical priority in a country facing repeated climate shocks and natural disasters that threaten sustainable access to WASH services.
UNICEF is working with the Government to strengthen coverage of WASH services in institutions, like schools and health care facilities. Sustainable solutions including installation of solar-powered water systems, toilets and handwashing stations, and waste management systems in maternity wards and health facilities, are key to UNICEF’s approach.
Together with the Government, UNICEF is also working to improve access to WASH services to displaced populations, rehabilitating and drilling boreholes, designing water systems, and installing pumps and other means to ensure safe, sustainable, and climate-resilient supply.
While the proportion of people with access to improved water sources increased, coverage in urban areas is 5.5 times higher than in rural areas.
Also, 27 per cent of the population still practice open defecation.
Around 63 per cent do not have access basic sanitation.
THE CHALLENGES
- Inequitable water and sanitation access between rural and urban areas: Nationally, the proportion of people with access to improved water sources increased from 61 per cent in 2015 to 73 per cent in 2020, but the percentage of people without access to improved water is 5.5 times higher in rural areas. Over the same period, access to improved sanitation has increased from 34 per cent to 42 per cent nationally. However, despite progress in restricting open defecation, its prevalence in rural areas is six times higher than in urban areas.
- Low institutional WASH coverage: Coverage of WASH services in schools is low in rural areas. Only 48 per cent of schools in rural areas have access to water, 26 per cent to sanitation facilities, and 6 per cent to handwashing facilities. The limited available data shows that only 54 per cent of health facilities have access to water, and only 2 per cent have adequate sanitation facilities. Just 40 per cent have access to hygiene facilities, and 30 per cent to waste management facilities.
- Impact of climate change on water availability: Climate change is leading to greater volatility and unpredictability of seasonal rainfall results in communities needing to rely on seasonal surface water sources. As the volume of water availability becomes increasingly difficult to predict, this has negative impacts on communities, especially those where poverty is prevalent.
In healthcare facilities, UNICEF provides infrastructure by installing solar-powered water systems, toilets and bathrooms in maternity and outpatient wards and facilities, and waste management systems, including incinerators.
To emphasize the importance of maintaining infrastructure, UNICEF conducts post-construction activities, such as training, environmental cleaning and hygiene promotion through health platforms, and advocates for including a WASH indicator in the National Health Monitoring Systems (SISMA).
Story: Corrane: building a home away from home for Cabo Delgado IDPs
One of the first groups of IDPs from Cabo Delgado province arrived in Nampula in 2020 and took refuge in a primary school in Namialo, which was vacant due to school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. But when schools reopened, they had no place to go.
UNICEF and partners were part of a discussion with the local government of Nampula about resettling the fleeing population, taking into account the need to cater to the needs of both IDPs and host communities.
Within one month, four boreholes had been drilled and UNICEF had provided direct support to set up temporary latrines and showers (30 of each) to welcome 300 people. And so, the Corrane resettlement camp was born in early November 2020.
Now Corrane is home to more than 7,000 IDPs (approximately 1,600 families). One of them is Said Cheia Alfane, 30, from Macomia in Cabo Delgado. After his village was attacked and several of his relatives were killed, he fled with his wife and children, walking for five days.
Back home, he used to be a businessman. Now he is a volunteer community communicator in Corrane, using his knowledge of four languages to provide information, communicate with residents, moderate debates, help lost children, and more.
“We are good here; we feel a bit normal now. My dream is to continue to do business, to create good continuity for my children to study,” he says. His home has been destroyed and he prefers to stay in the camp. Alfane enjoys work with the communication team. “I can help the community,” he says.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?
- Key policies, norms and standards for WASH need to be put in place, and funds deployed to ensure that infrastructure meets these standards.
- Coordination between WASH and other sectors, including education, health and nutrition, needs to be strengthened, ensuring joined-up programming.
- Equitability of water and sanitation access needs to be improved, ensuring that more children gain access to improved, safe, resilient, and sustainably managed water and sanitation infrastructure and services.
- Government and private sector capabilities must be strengthened for design, construction and supervision of WASH infrastructure. At the same time, communities should be involved and the capacity of communities to manage their own WASH services strengthened.
- Social and behavioural change approaches should be used to promote positive hygiene and sanitation practices in communities.
- WASH elements must be incorporated in climate change adaptation, preparedness, disaster risk reduction and emergency response plans. Similarly, climate-related risks must be factored into WASH sector plans to reduce the impact of fast- medium- and slow onset hazards on WASH infrastructure, services and behaviours.
Proper operation and maintenance of built infrastructures, impacting their durability, is also a big issue in communities, schools and health care facilities.
WASH solutions to serve growing needs of IDPs and host communities in Cabo Delgado
Mozambique’s 2017 census showed that the province of Cabo Delgado had one of the lowest rates of coverage of clean water supply, and coverage has fallen further due to damage to infrastructure resulting from conflict. Ongoing instability has led to displacement, creating additional strain on already-stressed water points and systems.
“The demand has increased while the supply remains the same,” explains Benildo Januario, UNICEF WASH Officer in Pemba. There are specific districts where getting water is difficult. One of them is Mueda, with four IDP camps, one of them Eduardo Mondlane resettlement site, home to 2,334 families.
It’s difficult to drill boreholes because of the mountains, and the closest river is 100 kilometres from the town. “We need investment to bring water to the communities here,” Januario says.
Despite the challenges, UNICEF has managed to drill three boreholes to temporarily supply water to the IDPs and communities in Mueda. This was no easy feat, considering the only possible location for boreholes was 4.5 kilometres from the IDP sites and with a 200-meter difference in elevation, requiring a complex and costly investment.
Currently, the water is supplied to Eduardo Mondlane at two points in the camp by water trucking, through a partnership with the French NGOs Solidarités International and SPI. Each point has two tanks with a holding capacity of 10 cubic meters supplied by daily water trucking totalling 120 cubic meters. Every household receives 60 litres per day but, since many households have many members – some as many as 15, the daily amount received by each person is lower.
UNICEF has also supported the installation of a new system that can pump water directly from the boreholes to the site. The project, being carried out in partnership with USAID and FIPAG, is scheduled for completion in 2023. Januario says the new system will be able to supply around 320 cubic meters daily – fully covering the site while improving coverage for host communities.
UNICEF’S RESPONSE
With support from partners, UNICEF prioritizes:
- Integrating and expanding gender-sensitive and disability-inclusive WASH in communities, schools and healthcare facilities, promoting hygiene education and menstrual hygiene management.
- Strengthening community capacities to manage WASH services through water committees, small-scale private water operators, sanitation entrepreneurs, and pump mechanics.
- Supporting equity-based targeting and mobilization of resources through innovative and blended financing, as well as integrating the WASH sector into recently adopted government climate change plans.
- Supporting government in incorporating focus on climate risks and resilience into all WASH sector plans.
- Promoting access to safe water services, safe sanitation infrastructure and hygiene services.
- Supporting installation and maintenance of WASH services in schools and health facilities, with the objective of improving education and health outcomes and reducing school drop-out, particularly for girls and people living with disabilities.
Displaced families in Eduardo Mondlane resettlement camp in Cabo Delgado province only receive 60 litres of water a day, which has to be trucked to the remote camp. Families can be composed of as many as 15 members, leaving each person with less than they need (international standards put the daily amount per person at 15 litres per person per day in emergency settings). With this new WASH project and borehole, supported by UNICEF, the camp will soon have access to running water and will no longer have to rely on trucked water for the IDPs, some of whom are currently suffering from water related diseases due to water scarcity.
