25 Villages: Improving water, health & hygiene in the Integrated North of Santa Cruz, Bolivia

PROJECT CONTEXT

According to Water for People, “2.3 million Bolivians do not have access to safe water and the majority of people that do have access to water have an inadequate water service in terms of quantity, quality, and continuity.” Lack of access to potable water and lack of basic sanitation services are major causal factors of many health problems. For example, diarrhea causes 36% of deaths in children under five. Studies show that access to potable water and sanitation facilities can reduce deaths from diarrhea by 65% and overall childhood mortality by 55%.

In order to address the need for clean water in rural communities, the local  Bolivian NGO Asociación para la Erradicación de la Pobreza (APEP), the Prefecture of Santa Cruz, local mayors and local communities are joining together to form the project “Construction of Water-Wells in Rural Communities in the Integrated North in the Department of Santa Cruz”.  The goal of their project is to construct gravity-well water systems in 25 rural communities throughout the Integrated North. 

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Etta Projects and Rotary Clubs will augment the water-well project with a separate project called “Improving Water, Health & Hygiene in the Integrated North of the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia”.  The goal is to implement water, health, hygiene, & sanitation education sessions in the same 25 communities that will receive a water-well. By working alongside a project that will implement a sustainable water supply system, rural communities should have the infrastructure in place to allow local people to practice and maintain improved hygienic habits. The education sessions will provide an opportunity to explore new issues with the community such as local hygiene and sanitation norms, methods to improve hygienic habits, utilizing and maintaining the new water system, nutrition, garbage, latrines and illnesses.

EDUCATION AND FACILITATION

Etta Projects utilizes methodologies based on community participation and bottom-up planning. Participants consider their own lifestyles and the effects of their behavior on their well-being and learn to practice hygienic behaviors. Mothers, health workers, teachers,
community leaders and even children will be left with both the knowledge and skills to continue to teach their new habits to all members of the communities. 

The local people who live in the communities are leaders of the investigation process. Using participatory methods, the project adapts to the needs of the community and not the contrary. Etta Projects recognizes that each community is unique and different, and thus the project design will look different in each community.

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