Water Sanitation and Hygiene
Water Provision, Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 24% of the population have access to safe drinking water, and 28% have basic sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households.” – The World Health Organisation
Our water, sanitation and hygiene programmes save, transform and empower lives in Africa.
We drink it, wash our hands with it, use it to prepare food, and to flush away our toilet waste. Not only does water play a fundamental role in the day-to-day survival of every human being, but also in the development of future generations. Clean water, basic toilets and good hygiene practices are essential for the survival and development of children. Without these basic needs, the lives of millions of children in Africa are at risk. For children under five, water- and sanitation-related diseases are a leading causes of death. Every day, over 115 people in Africa die every hour from preventable diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene and contaminated water. Clean drinking water is the most essential foundation for a community that should be able to support itself.
Health and Sanitation
Clean water, sanitation and effective water management are fundamental to addressing the water crisis through increased access to safe drinking water; improved sanitation and hygiene; and better water management to reduce the risks of water-borne diseases.
Education
Lack of safe water and sanitation in schools affects children’s learning. By providing a secure sustainable water source, schools become equipped to focus on the provision of education and children are able to focus on learning without stomach pains and diarrhoea as a result of disease and hunger.
Agriculture and Food Supply
It is not possible to address issues of the food supply in Africa without improving access to clean water. Without access to a reliable source of water, food is hard to grow and even more difficult to preserve and prepare. It takes huge amounts of water to grow food.
Gender Equality and Opportunity
In most African villages, the responsibility of collecting water falls upon the women who spend hours walking to collect water for their families, exposing them to violence and attacks. Through sustainable water projects built in their immediate areas, women are able to take advantage of opportunities which they otherwise would not be able to. In addition, the consumption of contaminated water often causes illness, disease and death. By providing easier access, clean water and adequate facilities for woman, we can close the gender divide and create equal opportunities.
Together, we can ensure that the basic human right of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene becomes a norm in African communities.
JAM’s Water and Sanitation programme started in 2001 to provide a critical and sustainable response to the 325 million Africans without access to clean water. JAM works with communities in central Africa to establish sanitation best practices, improve agriculture, and empower people to create sustainable clean water access.
Programme Objectives
- Save Lives
- Increase Access to clean water
- Improve Health & Hygiene
- Promote Education
- Gender Equality and Opportunity
- Develop Communities
In 2019, we provided 417 234 beneficiaries with access to clean water, basic toilet facilities and WASH training – saving lives through water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives!
A water well has the capacity to supply around 2,000 people with water. JAM establishes approximately 120 water wells (boreholes) annually in communities that lack access to clean water. Drilling, installing and rehabilitating wells is a gruelling undertaking and our 20-strong team, drawn from throughout Africa. This project includes the drilling of boreholes which range between 40 meters and 100 meters deep and are installed with a slab and hand pump. Most sites do not have electricity so hand pumps are the most suitable installation in these areas.
We operate in the most remote areas of these provinces and have equipped our team with the latest drill rigs and compressors mounted on new 6×6 trucks that navigate the terrain extremely well.
Accompanying some wells are hand and solar pump solutions. JAM also implements rainwater-harvesting solutions where drilling is not possible. Besides providing sustainable water solutions, beneficiaries are also given comprehensive water and sanitation education through various WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) programmes. The goals of WASH training is to enable community leaders to make proper use of and maintain the wells in their areas.
So much more than just a source of life-giving water, a well is an investment in the future of a community and benefits thousands of people daily. JAM works efficiently to ensure it keeps it’s operational costs low so as to reach as many vulnerable villages as possible.
Safe water is critical to the effective delivery of the JAM School feeding programme.
JAM focuses on enhancing Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) services in schools to ensure safe and hygienic preparation of school meals. We also consider schools as the epicentre where the opportunity to promote training and awareness campaigns on good WASH practices can take place since children are more receptive to behavioural change that can easily cascade to households and communities.
The concept of school gardens is integrated into the school feeding programme for two main reasons. Firstly, when schools produce their own food through school gardens and introduce vegetables into school meals diet, this promotes dietary diversification thereby improving children’s nutritional status over time.
Secondly, school gardens are a great way to use the schoolyard as a classroom, reconnect students with the natural world and the true source of their food, and to teach them valuable gardening and agricultural concepts and skills that integrate with several subjects. These include math, science, art, health and physical education, as well as social studies. Several educational goals, including personal and social responsibility goals, are also realised through learning outside of the classroom.
Some of the benefits recorded through our rigorous monitoring and evaluation exercises over the years are: students developing an interest in agriculture, learning to focus and be patient, co-operation, teamwork and basic social skills. Garden-based teaching addresses different learning styles and intelligence, and achievement scores improve because learning is more relevant and hands-on.
Lack of sanitation contributes to the incidences of diarrhoea and to the spread of intestinal parasites which, in turn, causes stunting. Therefore, JAM’s WASH programme is integrated into the nutritional school feeding programme to promote and facilitate increased access to and use of safe water supply, adequate sanitation facilities and key hygiene practices
Sanitation and Hygiene
Everything related to the provision of water, water systems and training for the safe and adequate disposal of sewage. This is important to prevent the cause and spread of disease. Access to clean water promotes handwashing and is the best way to prevent water-related diseases.
Food and Health
Clean water is vital for maintaining a healthy body. 80% of diseases in developing countries are waterborne, these are preventable with improved sanitation and clean water. Schools can cook safely, clean utensils and grow their own vegetables to be used to supplement their diets with clean water.
Education and Empowerment
Teachers and children spend their days collecting water for their students or families and often stay home ill because of water-related diseases instead of attending school. Woman are twice as likely to walk and fetch water. Water Projects nearby can save time and give woman freedom and opportunity.
Our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes are tailored to align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), those of No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well Being, Quality Education, Gender Equality and Clean Water and Sanitation.
We focus our water, sanitation and hygiene programmes on rural communities to provide them with access to clean water in Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, South Sudan and Uganda.
Our programmes provide urgent life-saving interventions and direct assistance to meet immediate needs.
You can help end the water crisis and restore hope. Together we can provide access to clean, safe and reliable water across Africa – one community at a time.
WATER CHANGED EVERYTHING
Angola
He who brings water brings life! Thank you JAM!
It’s been eight years since JAM installed a hand water pump at Limbuata village in Caimbambo municipality, Benguela. This borehole has made life easy for the 750 inhabitants in the community, with women benefiting the most.
Joana Helo Cassilola, 18 and Rosalina Cambaya Cassilola 21 say they have been spared the long back-breaking walks to fetch water. The nearby water point means that they save time which they use productively for other activities. For example, Joana has volunteered to assist in the school feeding programme at the local school.
JAM Water rehabilitated two water points to provide safe water access to community members and almost 380 students in Grudja, Sofala Province after more than two months of severe problems with a water supply and access.
Children could now go to school and have water for better hygiene practices (handwashing after using toilets) which meant clean facilities, water for food preparation and no more sick children! Happy, healthy children means learning and growing!
Turn Problems into Potential – Just Add Water
ACCESS TO SAFE WATER AND SANITATION CAN QUICKLY TURN PROBLEMS INTO POTENTIAL
Empower Women and Girls
Women and Girls are disproportionately affected by the water crisis, as they are often responsible for collecting water. They are also at risk of being subject to rape or abuse along what is often a long journey from home to get to the water source. When there is access to safe water at home, women and girls can pursue more beyond water collection and their traditional roles allowing women to work and contribute to their household income, and girls to attend school.
Improve Health
The water crisis is a health crisis. Every 2 minutes a child dies from a water-related disease. Access to safe water and sanitation contributes to improved health and helps prevent the spread of infectious diseases. It means reduced child and maternal mortality rates. As we face the COVID-19 pandemic,
now more than ever access to safe water is critical to the health of families.
Strengthen Communities
Time spent gathering water or seeking safe sanitation accounts for massive economic losses. Access to safe water and sanitation gives families more time to pursue education and livelihood activities like growing food to help them break the cycle of poverty.
For £15 you can provide a person with water for a whole year!
HELP TURN THESE PROBLEMS INTO POTENTIAL