JWF Fund 2021- Outline of the Project
３. Training and installation of rainwater harvesting containers for girls, Uganda•••••

Organization： SORAK DEVELOPMENT AGENCY（#002）
Country/Area: Lusalira Trading centre, Mubende District, Uganda
Cost:
US＄ 1,738 (JWF Fund: US＄ 1,500, contribution from SORAK DEVELOPMENT AGENCY: US＄ 138
and beneficiaries: US＄ 100)
Number of direct beneficiaries: 5,000 people (Men: 1,000, Women: 1,000 and Children: 3,000)
Background:
Rural Ugandans were disproportionately vulnerable to water-borne diseases through unsafe water, limited
sanitation capacity, and poor hand-washing habits. Most of them did not have even basic access to water,
sanitation, or hand-washing facilities with soap. Amidst the challenges of lockdown, and the lack of water andsanitizers, children continued travelling long distances in search of water.

Before:Girls fetching water at unsafe open ponds••

After:
Supplying water from a rainwater
harvesting container

Main activities of the project：
Identifying 20 vulnerable girls and conducting two days of training for the girls in WASH entrepreneurship andonsite construction of water harvesting containers (500L); installing a rainwater harvesting system for ten
households; conducting a five-day community campaign with a truck for promoting the project and the importance ofhand-washing with soap; and water quality testing
Sustainability activities：
The girls acquired lifelong skills in manufacturing rainwater harvesting containers and provided entrepreneurship skills.

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JWＦ Ｆund 2021- Results of Follow-up Ｏbservations
３. Training and installation of rainwater harvesting
containers for girls, Uganda【Current situation】••The water jars were well functioning, and beneficiaries got water. There were no major
damages apart from report taps breakages that were replaced in time.
Beneficiaries were using the facilities properly. Those facing challenges made calls to
SORAK and given expert advise. When taps broke, they were advised where to buy andhow to replace. No major disputes nor conflicts on beneficiaries. Nowadays somebeneficiaries sell saved water to neighbors and earn some income. Facilities aremanaged by the household heads, here in this case usually elderly single mothers/widows.
Those managers had close contact to SORAK for advice and sometimes call on the girls
who constructed jars to repair when needed. These facilities did not need much financial
and human resources to maintain. However, they made some water sales and used themoney for simple repairing. The girls who had called for repairing were the ones whoconstructed them and selected from the same community/households. They did not
charge money for repairing facilities because they partly own them.

Completed water Jar in useOctober【Changes】
The following changes in beneficiaries’ hygiene behavior have been found;•Presence of clean and safe water all the time.
•Beneficiaries can now wash their hands with soap after visiting toilets due to readyavailability of water.
•Beneficiaries can keep their clothes and house utensils clean due to availability of water.
Decrease of water borne diseases, especially typhoid, was reported.

Ms Scola Kolugendo explaining
the importance of this water jar
to her household【Others】
After JWFF2021, SORAK endeavored a $20000 water project supplying a township withpumped water from a deep well to a 30,000 litre capacity storage tanks system, delivering 16
points of community water stand taps by gravity pipeline. Their recent project in 2023 wasconstructing 10 water jars funded by Netherlands Albert Switzer founds.
The major
hinderance for SORAK was funding because there were a huge demand, good human resources
and better political supports. SORAK decided to form a social enterprise called Nakayima springwater Ltd. to become experts in providing clean, safe and affordable community-based watersupply systems for sustainability, having a business plan and a pitch deck for possible investors
John at his grand mother‘s home，and donor support attraction.
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happy to own and use this water jar

JWＦ Ｆund 2021- Results of Follow-up Ｏbservations
３. Training and installation of rainwater harvesting containers for girls, Uganda
Voices from the beneficiaries (Excerpt）
Propella Nyirasaba, ４６years old
We are very grateful to SORAK ,Muhammad Kyeyune and the donors Japan Water Forum for the support. The hygiene
behaviours of our people have greatly improved, due to SORAK activities of moving around sensitizing the community.
Secondly the households supported with water tanks were also given information about how to keep clean and safe fromwater borne diseases. There are now reduced number of people going to the health unit suffering from typhoid whichused to be very common before SORAK activities. The health conditions especially on water borne related diseases
improved. The poor health field needing challenge is malaria. Some people still sleep without mosquito nets.
The project created some income source to the owners of the tanks. The only challenge is that overall, the tanks are few.
The community needs hundreds of these yet the project limits number due to the budget.

Scola Kulugendo, ４２years oldYes, we use water from this tank. It is the water we use for drinking and cooking food. We preserve it a lot because it isclean and safe. For our livestock and chicken, we fetch from open ponds because we don’t want to waste this water. We
feel very happy for this support and SORAK and all those who supported SORAK to bring us this water… ‘the only
challenge is that this tank is small and if the dry season lasts longer than the usual one month, it gets empty, and we haveto suffer again’
We have a small handwashing container placed near our toilet to ensure that whoever visits our toilets washes his or herhands. All this information was obtained from SORAK WASH training. SORAK told us the dangers of not washing hands
after visiting toilets. Like falling sick, getting stomach pains that lead to diarrhea , typhoid, dysentery etc..
Scola reported that after the project, her home started receiving visitors asking about that unique water collecting tank.
Children reduced suffering long distances walking for pond water. Food, water and tea can be prepared and got in time
Sometimes she sold water to neighbors and used the money for buying family needs like sugar, salt and soap.
Feedback from other users of constructed water jars/tanks was as follows;Appreciating the support and requesting for more, especially from the leaders of the area.
Asking where spare parts for taps can be obtained.
Asking whether we could increase on the size of the tanks, especially for those who are willing to pay forconstruction.
Asking whether we could expand the project to other areas not yet reached.

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