Grace Kansiime, mobile money kiosk owner, Uganda
or the systems behind them?
Published on: 01/01/2024
When you move into your home or business premises, you expect there to be taps and running water; toilets that flush; and for the water to go somewhere to be dealt with safely.
You hardly notice these services, or think about how important they are to your health and livelihood. And I bet you don’t give much thought to the systems behind them.
That isn’t the case for millions of people around the world – people like Grace Kansiime and Grace Amendi. And when people get water and sanitation, it can even be the difference between life and death.
I felt very angry when we used to go down the stream to fetch water. There were a lot of people, and it was time consuming. The government brought water here why don’t I get my own connection?
We spent four months without being connected. Then they told me that the materials had arrived and I’d be connected, and I said thank God. The struggles I used to endure at the stream had come to an end.
I tell them whenever we have water difficulties, and if we have a shortage, and they make sure the water is restored. Clean tap water changed my life. And clean tap water changes people’s lives.
Before we drew water from the well. After that we got a borehole and fetched our water there. Pumping water was hard work. And often the water was polluted.
Now with the taps, there is hygiene. We are safe from bad diseases.
Like all of us, Maria and Grace just want to be healthy, happy and live a good life. They aren’t so very different from those of us who have access to essential services, and the systems behind them: things that we hardly notice.
The solutions are out there. But it doesn’t mean simply raising money to install taps, toilets and pipes. That makes no sense if they don’t work or break down.
So you need to figure out, step-by-step, what’s needed to put the services in place, and make sure they last.
And for that, you need to see all parts of the system – from where the money comes from, to how people can maintain their services for the long-term.
Then you need to bring people together to make the magic happen: and what we mean by that, is systems strengthening.
The money we raise from people like you, and from funding organisations and governments, is invested in working with people to transform the way things are done.
We don’t do short-term projects that don’t fix the problems. Instead we:
The result? People get strong, safe, and reliable services. And life-giving and life-changing water, sanitation and hygiene.
If you’ve chanced upon this article, nice to meet you. We are IRC. We support countries to build strong local and national services, underpinned by resilient systems, that transform lives and build equity, justice and opportunity for all.
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