Ethiopia Lowlands WASH Capture Questions

Status of WASH
 What is the current state of WASH in the lowlands at the household level?
Currently there is shortage of water as it is an indicator of WaSH and the major source of
water for sanitation is rainwater which is not pure. It differs from house to house and
some households use it by treating.
 What percent of people have access to drinking water supply and sanitation? Hygiene
(particularly with regard to hand washing with soap and menstrual hygiene
management)?
Drinking water coverage as Borana zone as per 2014 EC is 52.42% (Rural 49.1%, Urban
53.64%)
Hygiene and sanitation coverage is less than 60%

 What are the major barriers to accessing WASH services?

Shortage of water supply, unprotected water source (open hand dug well, Cistern, Pond,
Traditional well), lack of awareness
 What is water quality like in the lowlands? Quantity? Reliability? Availability? How is
climate change impacting these factors?
The quantity of water in the lowland drops with water table and most of the time water
may abundant during dry season. Regarding quality no more affected source since ground
water is used in large but some sources have chemicals resulted from geochemistry of
rock like sodium, Chlorine, Fluoride, Arsenic, Mercury and Sulphate that increases its
hardness. In reliability, groundwater is surface water dependent to be recharge.
Availability of water is small in lowland and bore hole water is from 100m to 602m
 What is the state open defecation and ODF certification? Can CLTS/CLTSH work in the
lowlands on a large scale? Why or why not? Is it necessary to change the government
definition for ODF from kebele to village level? What local stakeholders are in the best
position to provide follow-up of CLTSH activities (HEWs?)
ODF is done in the lowland area every year using CLTS but villages free from ODF
become OD for the local community adopted it for a long period and HEWs follow up
need to pushed.
 What role does climate change play in WASH provision in the lowlands? Does it
necessitate mechanized deep boreholes? Other technologies? Developing springs?
Due to climate change mechanized deep boreholes water table drop every month of dry
season and the existing deep boreholes depths are not good enough and must be greater
than 200m to 300m. For there is no springs with enough discharge, Dam construction and
Dawa river intake with treatment plant is the second alternative for both usage and
recharging ground water.
 How does pastoralism play into the state of water provision in the lowlands? How do
pastoralists typically access water? When they move, do they switch water sources, or
does one water source cover a large area?
Pastoralists access to water crowded over one source during they move for search of
pasture and water. In case of this it serves for more than limited time and become non-
functional frequently (pump burn, oil change time, electric cable, battery damage, etc)
 What role do remote sensors play in maintaining mechanized boreholes? Does Sweet
Sense (private company) still exist and make remote sensors?
Only for some solar based sources and the rest are maintained by water Office experts
 What kind of data is available for WASH in the lowlands? How is it used?
Scheme inventory (access and coverage) and latrine coverage
 Why are so many water sources non-functional? Lack of spare parts? Lack of funding?
Lack of knowledge? Lack of maintenance workers? Something else? Are non-functional
water systems typically in need of major or minor repairs?
Water sources are non-functional due to overloading in addition to lack of maintenance
work. The training of maintenance is given to WaSHCo more than two times but they are
not well equipped both in knowledge and skill. Time guard of borehole rehabilitation is 5
to 10 years because it is rusted, but in lowland case, it serves more than 20 years. The
other one is high cost and availability of electromechanical part.
 To what extent are household-level and public latrines functional, adequately maintained
and used?
In the rural part we can say no functional public latrine and at house hold level almost
community latrine coverage is 75% and its utilization is also around 73%, but most
public latrines were poorly managed and utilized.
 Do water systems in the lowlands typically provide water for both agricultural use and
drinking/washing? Or are these more commonly separate systems?
There is no water systems that serves both for drinking and agricultural purpose in the
lowland. We can say there is no water system that balance the use of drinking.
 How much do WASHCOs and Water User Associations need to collect in tariffs to cover
minor O&M WASH-related costs? What are the major barriers to tariff collection?
WaSHCo are currently the centre of corruption for most water systems and now the
government changed to Water user Association. Fee collection is not regular as set by
water Office and once the system become non-functional due to lack of fuel/oil or miss of
spare part. No maintenance done by WaSHCo but reported to water Office as they have
nothing to do. The quantity of water that water meter read and consumed are different
because the amount of water that are consumed by livestock are not equal and the
payment is agreed per person/livestock. Affordability of community due to high cost of
water
 What are the major barriers to adoption of handwashing practices in the lowland areas? Is
it lack of access to water supplies? Is it lack of awareness?
The major barriers are lack of water supply, missing practice of handwashing, awareness
 What is cell phone penetration like in the lowlands? Regular or smart phones? Do men
and women generally have access to the internet? Are men and women generally literate?
Numerate?
They have regular cell phone, do not have internet and majority are literate
 Are there water utilities in the lowlands? What percent of systems are run by utilities?
Yes, 35.29.% (6 out of 17 utilities: Yabello, Moyale, Dubluk, Mega, Boku and Elwaye)
 How can linkages among KWTs, HEWs and business partners be strengthened?
Market based sanitation(business) linkage is on early stage and need many more efforts
 Has the war against Tigray affected the lowlands? Are there any current tensions or
political issues in the lowlands that we should be aware of?
Yes, because of armed groups supporting TPLF also existed in the lowland area
Government Policies and Actors
 Does the National CLTSH Implementation Guideline address the post ODF phase of
CLTSH Implementation?
No, CLTSH national implementation guideline is smart to create ODF, but it is difficult
to implement ODF post follow up on the ground, still ODF backslide is community
hygiene and sanitation.
 From a policy standpoint, what policy and legal changes need to be made to encourage
private sector development in the lowland areas?
Currently the policy planned to change WaSHCo to Water User Association planned and
this part include all user community
 To what extent do land tenure issues create challenges to promoting WASH in the
lowland areas?
No more challenges because pastoralists land used in common and in some cases when
scheme developed in someone’s residence there is compensation
 Who are the service authorities? What government agencies and authorities deal with
WASH at the national, zonal, woreda, kebele and village level in the lowlands? What are
the potential sources of funding for WASH activities? How often to government staff
visit these systems? Which authorities should be coordinating with each other better?
Service authorities are by community and government water Office only give technical
support. funding source is also by community and visit at woreda is monthly based and as
zone it is quarter based. Waoreda and kebele have better coordination.
Current WASH Efforts
 What USAID projects are currently going on in WASH in Ethiopia? What achievements
have they accomplished? What major challenges have they faced?
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 Is the USAID Building the Potential of Youth (POTENTIAL) project still active in Afar?
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Potential Partners
 What local/international women or youth groups are active in the lowland areas that
could be engaged with WASH activities?
In rural area there is Cistern constructed by women group and has active participation
(Magado, Romso and Romso Didibe in Dire, Gale in Dubluk). They collect 10 birr per
week based on fixed water supply.
 What is the capacity of the Afar Water Works Design Enterprise and other similar private
sector actors?
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 Who are the WASH service providers? Are most water systems maintained by
community groups? Are there any private sector water providers or public-private-
partnerships?
Community maintains only minor parts oil, battery. No private sector participation on
maintenance.
 Are there any examples of strong WASHCOs in the lowland areas?
There are WaSHCO’s that are best performed in water management system and income.
For example: Romso (Dire), Malka Sadeqa (Dillo), Bake (Yabello)
Professionalization
 What is the state of professionalization in WASH in the lowlands?
At zonal level all staffs are professional but may lack in Solar system and at woreda level
also there are professionals but differ from woreda to woreda.
 Are there any private companies providing water or O&M services? What is their service
delivery model given the wide geographic spread and nomadic nature of pastoralist
communities?
There is no private company but three private sectors in Yabello and Mega
 Are there any promising private sector or public-private-partnership business models we
should explore?
No.
 Does the government provide any professional O&M services?
Yes, on technical part
Community Priorities
 What do pastoral communities (males and females, persons with disabilities) want in
their latrines (product attributes)?
At community level, nothing considered for male, female or disability, but at facility
level no latrine initiated without considering male, female and disabilities.
 Are pastoral communities open to pooling resources to build better quality shared
latrines, or do they prefer individualized household mobilization of resources for poorer
quality latrines?
Have individual’s household resources mobilization
 When would each different type of community water source technology (e.g. hand
pumps, protected-on-spot springs, and public standpipes connected to springs or deep
well–based schemes) be used in the lowlands? What considerations would make one
option preferable to the others?
Deep borehole with standpipes is preferable as best option over the others
Gender and Youth Dynamics
 What are gender dynamics like in the lowlands?
Gender dynamics has a ratio less than 50%
 Is it socially acceptable for women to hold decision-making positions on WASHCOs and
other WASH-related/natural resource management committees?
Yes to some extent
 Are there female maintenance workers? Artisans?
No.
 Is the Government of Ethiopia’s goal of “women membership of WASHCOs shall be
increased to 50% or more” possible?
50+% may not possible
 Are there any examples of strong local female leaders promoting WASH in the lowland
areas?
Yes (40% of WaSHCo members are female)
 Do women and children stay behind on the homestead during the pastoralist migration
season?
Yes, Women and children stay at their locality/homestead when men migrate to other
places for search of water and pasture.