Access to water and sanitation is a fundamental right of all human beings, which is not accessible to all people. Social Promotion, together with its local partner ESMABAMA and Canal Voluntarios, has carried out a project in Mozambique, Improvement of the sanitary conditions and water access for the poorest population of the rural districts in the South of Sofala province (Mozambique), recently completed, to guarantee this access to the most vulnerable population.
Sofala is one of the poorest regions of the country, where government aid is barely available and very few NGDOs work in the field. In a context of extreme poverty, ESMABAMA has a comprehensive project through which it manages four missions in Estaquinha, Machanga, Barada, and Mangunde, which provides education and health services through the schools and hospitals integrated into the missions. They welcome a large number of people among external students, interns, staff who go to health centers and surrounding populations. It is a population in extreme poverty, with very limited and highly vulnerable economic resources, most of them children.
The project has allowed access to water supply for both human and agricultural consumption, through the construction of water tanks and the start-up of pumps for the extraction of water from wells. In addition, an irrigation network has been built that will help manage water efficiently and improve access to food security for the beneficiary population. Sanitation has been the other fundamental work carried out by the project: being a key aspect of the development of people, there are hardly any projects related to sanitation. Thanks to the contribution of Canal Voluntarios, different community bathrooms have been built for the students of the missions (both with latrine and shower areas, to contribute to access to water in all its aspects, including hygiene), as well as Dry latrines for the patients of one of the health centers.
This project has an important added value due to the contribution of specialized personnel from Canal, which makes the identification and technical follow-up. In addition, the project has had the follow-up on the ground of two additional people, who have gone hand in hand with Canal, Promoción Social and ESMABAMA to follow up on the works in the missions. In addition, they have made environmentally sound campaigns such as the construction of bins that has helped to manage the waste in the missions and good hygienic practices related to soap making and the correct use of latrines.
In total, the number of beneficiaries of this project, which was launched last summer, has been 769 children, girls and young people, 105 families and a population estimated at 41,986 people, which are the consultations made in the health center of Estaquinha, where the dry latrines have been built.