One of the global missions of Africa Consulting Group International (ACGI) is to eradicate poverty and empower poor communities through sustainable access to economic opportunities, education, health, and WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene). 

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Did you know? 

• Roughly 780 million people still do not have access to safe drinking water. This is about 11% of the global population. 

• An estimated 2.5 billion people do not have adequate access to safe disposal of human waste, and lack hygiene practices to prevent disease. 

• Sub-Saharan Africa is among the regions with the lowest coverage of "improved" sanitation (~31%), according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. 

• 500, 000 children die every year from diarrhea caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation - 1400 children a day (1 every minute) from preventable water related diseases. This amount is higher than the average number of people who die from AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. 

Source 

 

The WASH program promotes effective sanitation and hygiene principles, educates the community on what causes diseases, and what they can do to prevent them. Sustainability of clean drinking water is difficult to maintain without a WASH program in place. 

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Critical Components of Clean Drinking Water Initiatives: 

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• Sustainability 

• WASH - implementation strategy 

• Identify ways to encourage the community to participate and provide leadership 

• Hydro-engineering/technical support

  • Consider the options: well, borehole, rain harvest or water treatment, or a combination. ​

  • Choose the best fit for the community. 

  • Provide for maintenance of the system.

• Financial management: accounting processes, fund raising initiatives for WASH and equipment and fee structure for sustainability ​

• Ensure program is inclusive for all community members 

• Government and legal compliance   

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Clean Water Projects 

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ACGI specializes in working with NGOs worldwide who are looking sustainably improve access to reliable clean drinking water in Africa. One of out most notable projects involves partnering with African Hope Committee, Inc. (AHC) to build a water pump in a village (Menjo) in Cameroon. 

 

 Under the sponsorship of Enfance Joyeuse du Cameroun, Cameroonian Friends Association-USA, There is No limit Foundation, Giraffes Consulting, Inc, Africa Global Consulting, African Gas Association, CENDADEV-USA , and Foundation Pere Maurice, AHC provided clean water in 2018 to the population of Menjo meeting the goal of SDG6.
 

Still more need to be done and according to UNWater.org :"A person without access to improved drinking water – for example from a protected borehole well or municipal piped supply for instance – is forced to rely on sources such as surface water, unprotected and possibly contaminated wells, or vendors selling water of unverifiable provenance and quality. For many communities, water sources are usually far from their homes, and it typically falls to women and girls to spend much of their time and energy fetching water, a task which often exposes them to attack from men and even wild animals."

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Some more statistics: 

• 89% of the global population (6.5 billion people) used at least a basic service; that is, an improved source within 30 minutes’ round trip to collect water (WHO/UNICEF 2017)

• 263 million people spent over 30 minutes per round trip to collect water from an improved source (WHO/UNICEF 2017)

• 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of
  contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio (WHO/UNICEF 2015)

• More than 340 000 children under five who die annually from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water (WHO/UNICEF 2015)

• 159 million people still use surface water, and two thirds live in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO/UNICEF 2015)

• 842,000 people die every year from diseases caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene (WHO 2012)

• 50% of child malnutrition is associated with unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene (WHO 2008)

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Menjo Village is found on the West of Cameroon near the city of Bafoussam which is one the major city in Cameroon. It lies close to the equator. The rainfall is constant from November to March and a lull in the rain season from June to August. The temperatures range from 10 C to 38 C. The village is between a plateau and mountain areas with very beautiful views, huge trees and rivers. The undulating landscape is permeated by a vast network of both perennial and momentary green soil. It is the richness of these soils that give Menjo a quicker agricultural adaptation and progress. The Menjo population is about 3,400 with nearly 620 households. The socio-economic life of the people of Menjo is originally from the agriculture alongside livestock rearing. The village has a characteristic of "corn and red beans economy". These crops are grown for self-subsistence and a small portion for sale to earn money for other household needs.
 

There were a general water problem in the village. The only proximate source of water were shallow wells close to the village market and to the only hospital .There were also running water from rivers with dirt and other debris. When it rains, all the water in the village runs down to the rivers. These river sources dry up during very dry seasons. The nearest water pump serves the radius of 6 kilometers and is used by the hospital, teachers, children and the surrounding villagers. Traditionally it is left to the children to fetch water and it disrupts the lives of children as they have to walk long distances and wait for many hours in congested lines. Because of the difficulty of getting water from the water pump, people rely to their traditional shallow open barrels to collect water from the rain. Population drink this water, use it for washing, cooking, bathing, watering their plantations, and feeding the animals.
 

African Hope Committee project was aimed at installing a water well in Menjo village to serve close to 2,000 people, improved their life condition, and especially save children from long distance traveling and moreover on bare foot to fetch water especially during the dry season. This has effectively reduced the incidence of waterborne diseases and enable people to have access to clean water leaving children to go to school and dedicate their time to be children. Unlike other water pumps built prior in the village where the chef villagers were to pay a monthly bill for the running water and consequently all the water pumps were shot down due to high bills charged by the water companies, AHC built a nominal low fee access water pump and provided training on water safety methods and water-sources maintenance. With AHC water well, the population does not worry about huge bill, but just maintenance and a fee of $3.00 a month by household to the committee that manages the water well.
 

Prior to building the well, there were a deliberate efforts to fight the dependency syndrome. Therefore while building the well, the local chiefs/leaders had help in community mobilization, provided security, and supervised the activities at various functions as part of the community contribution. The community also contributed land, labor, skills, stones, bricks, sand and other locally available material needed. Through the guidance and consulting efforts of ACGI, AHC was able to provide direction and leadership for building the water well in Menjo by: identifying and building relationship with the chiefs/ leaders, woman and youth of the village, assembling and deploying teams of volunteers who prepared the land and safely cut trees and grasses, and opening a bank account to save money receive by each household. African Hope Committee completed the project in 2018.

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