Volunteering on a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project in Rural Tanzania- East Africa

Finished picture of the construction of Two toilet blocks at Kiberege Magereza Primary School: including 18 latrines; 2 disabled toilets; an Menstrual Hygiene Management room; A water tank; and an Handwashing station

After graduating from university, I took the big step to volunteer in Rural Tanzania for three months, on a sustainable development, Water, Sanitation, and Hygeine project, funded by the UK government ICS program, with Raleigh International.

  


From Academia: learning and being examined on the sustainability of WASH projects in East Africa, to writing this blog based on the hydrological impacts of climate change in this region, and how communities are/ will respond. It was surreal and overwhelming to be in the beautiful country Tanzania, and be apart of this program! The project was very hard, being very physically and emotionally challenging, however, was extremely rewarding, and so would highly recommend to anyone and everyone...




Group Charlie 5 (Schola, Kim, Amy, Vestina, Callum, Ellie, Jamie, Ally, Ahimeleki, Rosada, Dean, Rhona, Adelle, and Ciaran) and headteacher of Kiberege Magereza Primary School.
Photo credits: Sadick

In September 2017, I travelled to Tanzania to take part in a three-month volunteer project with Raleigh international, as part of the International Citizen service (ICS) program. I was lucky enough to be awarded a £400 individual grant for volunteering from The Jack Petchy Foundation, which contributed to my £800 target, enabling me to take part in this amazing programme.

The Raleigh project I volunteered with focussed on Water, Hygiene, and Sanitation (WASH) in a village called Bwawani, situated in the Kilombero district of Morogoro, Tanzania. Our team consisted of Volunteers from both the UK and Tanzania. The core ethos of Raleigh’s work is creating long lasting sustainable change through youth, this was the fundamental element of our work in Bwawani. Our project was based in Kiberege Magereza Primary school, raising awareness about WASH. The overall aim was to improve community health, life expectancy and opportunities, and prevent disease outbreaks, in line with guidelines set by the Tanzanian government.

The construction site (Septic tank and foundations of the girls toilet block) at Kiberege Magereza Primary School, before Charlie 5 began the second phase of construction in October 2017

Construction of the girls toilet block 

Our project in Bwawani started with a huge task ahead of us; overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work we had to complete in a relatively short amount of time, at times doubtful if we could complete what we set out to achieve. Our days were spent on construction site at Kiberege Magereza, building and completing two newly constructed toilet blocks including 18 toilets (with 2 disabled toilets and a menstruation hygiene management room), a water tank, and a hand washing station; with the help of our amazing fundi’s (builders).

Week 6: Members of Charlie 5 mixing sand and cement for construction.

However, building toilets will not improve the lives of this community on its own, education was a key part of the programme. Our work also consisted of teaching at our school about the importance of water, sanitation, and hygiene and mobilising our amazing community, together working towards sustainable behaviour changes over time.

Students from Kiberege Magereza playing a adapted game of 'IT' as part of their weekly SWASH lessons; teaching the students about the importance of washing hands with soap and water to prevent the spread of bacteria and disease, led by members of Charlie 5.

SWASH Club lesson: Students from Kiberege Magereza giving a presentation to their class on the importance of personal hygiene.

Our base school had a total of 562 pupils, across 7 academic year groups. In WASH projects, we have one part called training which involves teaching daily SWASH lessons with the pupils, but we also worked with the established SWASH club at our school- a group of students who are trained by Raleigh volunteers to be ambassadors, and help with awareness campaigns in the community, especially after volunteers are gone. Our SWASH club had an astonishing 55 members, of dedicated students who attended weekly sessions, establishing ways to mobilise their school and home communities. Being intelligent and engaged students wanting to contribute to this change, these young people were an inspiration, being receptive and fully on board with this movement towards development.

The SWASH Club during their performance at our Second Action day in Bwawani Village.

All the lessons we taught were extremely important for the student’s wellbeing and health, however, a true a highlight of my ICS experience was involved in teaching Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). Being a topic which is a taboo among this community, like many others in Tanzania, we approached this very carefully. We firstly had meetings with women in the village, and parents and teachers of the students at the school. The response at these meetings were overwhelming to say the least. This community was more than ready for change and there was a sense of relief: they wanted their girls (from a suitable age) to be taught the truths about MHM, and that it is a normal change that they will experience. What was more mind-blowing, was the demand to teach the boys, about the changes the girls, and they will go through, and the importance of respect. Teaching MHM gave a real sense of achievement. Seeing the girls so engaged and empowered to ask so many questions, and participate so actively in the classes, really gave a sense purpose and reminded the reasons I chose to take part in ICS Raleigh.

Members of Charlie 5 (Vestina, Rhona, and Sadick) carrying out an end of project survey with a Standard  One student at Kiberege Magereza Primary School.

The work we were completing at Kiberege Magereza primary school would not be enough. We taught the students WASH lessons in the hope that this knowledge is passed on to their families, resulting in a transfer of knowledge to the community. However, it is important to reinforce this message with the rest of the community, including youth, women, elders, and other children who do not attend Kiberege Magereza, creating conversation, and mobilising change. 

To do this we held mobilisation meetings and action days in the village; these proved very successful, bringing together the whole community, raising awareness of the importance of our work in Bwawani, spreading knowledge, and building relations within the community. Over 600 people attended our second action day in Bwawani village.  New to Raleigh, we also introduced requested weekly WASH lessons with the village elders, which proved successful among the villagers.

Tippy Tap relay race at our first Action day at Kiberege Magereza Primary School: The first team to perform all six stages of hand washing in the relay wins a prize of a bag of soap.

The Village Chairman during his speech about the importance of WASH and our work in Bwawani and Kiberege Magereza Primary School, at our second action day.

The project came with its many challenges, which is inevitable due to its sheer size, and the amount of work that needed to be completed in a short space of time. However, that made every second all the more worth it. My time in Bwawani village was life changing; knowing the impact it had on the pupils at Kiberege Magereza primary school, our homestay families, the community of Bwawani, my team, and me, is indescribable. I thank Bwawani, and all our homestay families for letting me experience village life as a local and making us all feel so welcome and part your family. My gratitude for this community being open and ready to learn, for change and for development, is what made this project successful. 

Charlie 5 and the members of SWASH club, at our opening of the toilet blocks, SWASH Club graduation and handover.

The female members of Charlie 5, and members of Bwawani during a Kitenge Ceremony on our Final Evening In Bwawani village.

Sustainable development volunteering projects like ICS bring about positive and sustainable changes to communities that are ready to learn. It is therefore extremely disappointing that the department for international development (UK government) are reviewing the funding for ICS. From first- hand experience I have seen how important youth led development is, and how huge the impact is for communities like Bwawani, and both UK and Tanzanian volunteers involved.

I have been truly blessed to have been able to meet, work and share this unforgettable experience  with the amazing members of Charlie 5 for three months. Raleigh Tanzania do a fantastic job of challenging their volunteers to create sustaining change, not just while on project but at home in their local communities too.  Bwawani we all really do hope that you are encouraged for your future, the young people you have are truly shining stars, a real inspiration. You can all be the mobilisers of change; challenge yourselves to change your world!

Some students of Kiberege Magereza Primary School using the hand washing station.

Merry Christmas (Eve)

So, this is my final blog post for this module. This has probably been one of the most challenging university projects, in being consistent at producing weekly blog posts for two different modules. However, it has been one of the most interesting and engaging projects I have completed to date.

Throughout this blog I have examined the hydrological impacts that have already and will occur in East Africa due to climate change. I have also reviewed this in the context on land use change. What is important to note is that climate change is not a future phenomenon, it has been occurring for many decades.  What has been particularly interesting is that East Africa is an extremely diverse region, with different areas experiencing varying hydrological impacts. Therefore, there is a fundamental need to focus on regional and local aspects of climate change.

Climate change is not only changing the frequency of extreme weather events, but also seasonality, intensity and duration. During the coming century, increasing population, changing pattern of water use, and concentration of population and economic activities will pressurise Africa's water supply. Therefore, adaptive and mitigation strategies, both institutional and local are needed to be employed to reduce vulnerabilities, and allow this continent to flourish and develop more proportionally.

Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/campaigns/Ecological-Farming-in-Africa/ClimateResilience/

Remember in a warming world, not all Africa's taps will run dry.

Rift Valley Fever

What is Rift Valley Fever?

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a virus transmitted by mosquitoes and blood feeding flies that usually affects animals but also affects humans. The virus was first identified in 1931 during an epidemic among sheep. Since then outbreaks have been reported in SSA, North Africa, and in 2000 Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The occurrence of RVF is known to follow periods of widespread and heavy rainfall associated with the development of strong ITCZ. Heavy rainfall floods mosquito breeding habitats, known as "dambos" in East Africa, providing an ideal environment for naturally infected mosquito eggs to hatch (Figure 1)/

Figure 1: Rift Valley Fever Ecology

Source: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/el-niño-east-africa-and-rift-valley-fever

In 2006-2007, outbreaks in Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Sudan, and Madagascar caused > 200,000 human infections and led to roughly 500 deaths. In Kenya alone, the outbreak cost $32 million in livestock losses and international export bans. An outbreak in 1997 caused 170 haemorrhagic fever associated deaths and ~27,500 infections. The most serious outbreak on record occurred in Kenya 1950-51, and resulted in the death ~100,000 sheep (Greenhalgh, 2015).

Predicting outbreaks

Enso is recognised to be linked with outbreaks of RVF in East Africa. 2015 stood out to be one of the top three El Nino events since 1950, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania were identified as areas at risk for RVF due to substantially elevated rainfall (figure 2)

Figure 2: 2015 projections of extreme rainfall and RVF outbreaks

Source:https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/el-niño-east-africa-and-rift-valley-fever

Climate Change

More extreme rainfall events are projected in East Africa with warmer temperatures. These events will create the necessary conditions for more RVF outbreaks not only in East Africa, but also potential for it to expand its geographical range (Martin, 2008). 

Future projections

A study 'Environmental Change and Rift Valley fever in eastern Africa: Projecting Beyond Healthy Futures', focussed on the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. The two pathway scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, indicate increased temperatures, rainfall and variability. Results highlight high- risk of future RVF outbreaks, including parts of East Africa that are currently unaffected. The results also highlight the risk of spread from/ to the study area, and possibly further afield. The greatest projected changes in RVF outbreaks are in Kenya and Tanzania. Changes remain stable up to 2050, when compared with baseline results, even declining in central/ eastern Uganda (RCP4.5), before increasing by the end of the century. Positive changes are most evident to the West of Lake Victoria (Berundi, Rwanda and Western Uganda) and in Western Kenya, especially under RCP8.5 by the end of the century.

The study also combined results of a spatial assessment of social vulnerability to the disease in Eastern Africa. Predisposition to RVF is greatest where the boarder of North-eastern Uganda, North-western Kenya and South Sudan meet, because of the co-occurrence of highly seasonal rainfall, relatively high densities of livestock, high levels of poverty and poor infrastructure, including health services. Under RCP4.5 risk decreases in Southern and Central Uganda, however increases in Central Kenya. For RCP8.5 risk patterns are similar however, RVF has expanded again in central and Southern Uganda, and is greater in Western Kenya.

Results show that with increasing extreme precipitation events, there is a clear need to remain vigilant and to invest not only in early warning systems, but also in addressing the socio-economic factors that underpin social vulnerability in order to effectively mitigate future impacts (Taylor, 2016).

Land use change as important as climate change

Throughout this blog, I have vaguely touched upon land use change. However, this too, is an important factor affecting the hydrological system in East Africa.

As shown in previous posts, agriculture largely contributes to the East African economy. Although a very risky enterprise due to increasing rainfall variability, many East African farmers have adapted to their variable climate in very successful ways- this is often results in the modification of land- cover and/ or land- use type. These effects have shown to have significant impacts on rainfall, as well as GHG effects (Moore, 2015).

Land- use change and drivers

Some of the main land use conversions in East Africa can be summarised as:

1. An expansion of cropping into grazing areas, esp. in semi- arid to sub- human areas
2. An expansion of rainfed and irrigated agriculture in wetlands or along streams esp. in semi- arid areas
3. A reduction in size of many woodlands and forests on land that is not protected
4. An intensification of land use in areas already under crops in the more humid areas
5. the maintenance of natural vegetation in most protected areas

What are the drivers of land use change in East Africa?

1. Government policy, laws and regulations 
2. Economic factors
3. Population growth and migration
4. changes in land tenure arrangements
5. Access to markers
6. Environmental conditions

Land use and climate change 

In a study 'projected land- cover change effects on East African Rainfall under climate change', Moore (2015), examines the regional responses to GHGs, Landcover/ land use change (LCLUC), and their combined effects in East Africa. The aim was to further understand how hydrological mechanisms might be altered by LCLUC in future scenarios. The four different scenarios they used were:

1. Current land- cover and current climate
2. current land- cover and future climate
3. Future land- cover and current climate 
4. Future land-cover and future climate

It found that LCLUC can affect precipitation in several ways:

• Increase in albedo from the change in land cover from forest to crop lands, can result in surface cooling, which can reduce convective rainfall.
• An increase in the amount of suspended dust from overgrazing which removes large amounts of vegetation. This can result in radiative cooling, and therefore a decline in (convective) precipitation.
• Intensive rainfall is also caused by LCLUC due to an increase in intensive convection. These convection changes can enhance the local sea breeze effect. As shown previously, East Africa is already and will face more extreme weather events due to increased GHGs. LCLUC has the potential to increase the risk to floods and damage to agriculture in coastal areas where forest has been replaced with agriculture.

Results show that GHG and LCLUC may slightly differ in how they alter regional precipitation patterns. One of the most important findings is that projected precipitation changes around major populated areas may be as strongly influenced by LCLUC and as by GHG effects. Precipitation in areas which have a large population density were more influenced by LCLUC than GHG, due to higher human and agricultural systems. GHG effects on precipitation, largely has wide scale implications, whereas LCLUC have more regional and local impacts.

This paper has shown that Climate change and land use change are not two separate forces affecting the distribution of precipitation; instead they are interrelated. Figure 1 clearly depicts this.

Figure 1: framework of land use/ cover linkages and flow dynamics among driving forces, bio-physical system, and climate change

Source:http://www-tandfonline-com.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/19376812.2014.912140?needAccess=true 

Impacts on river basins

What are the impacts on river basins? A study on the Mara River Basin, Kenya found that any further conversion of forests to agriculture and grassland in the basin headwaters is likely to reduce dry season flows and increase peak flows, leading to greater water scarcity at critical times of the year and exacerbating erosion on hillslopes.

     
      Most projections call for precipitation increase of 5-10% in this century. This can suggest greater future availability of water resources in this basin. However, results from this study conclude that together with increases in evapotranspiration (from warmer temperatures) and potential increases in aquifer recharge, runoff will be limited. Water balance showed non- linear responses to climate change. Small decreases precipitation may produce large reduction in runoff because of reduced runoff and increased evaporation.

Therefore, model results support protecting headwater forests and indicate that additional emphasis should be placed on improving land management practices that enhance infiltration and aquifer recharge as a part of a wider program of climate change adaptation.

Concluding thoughts

This post has shown that land use change does have a large influences over change in precipitation. Although, these may be localised in comparison to climate change, they should be incorporated into rainfall projections, as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies. 

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COP22

World Climate Simulation

Last week as part of my Global Environmental change module, we took part in the world climate simulation. As part of this, we had to act as a negotiator at the united Nations Climate Change negotiations. I was part of a team of 4 acting as delegates from the united States. In the 3 hours, teams from each region had to negotiate to try and get temperatures down to 1.5℃. We managed 2.1℃. It showed how challenging it can be to reach agreement between different regions, how complicated politics can be and how tensions can rise very quickly. 

The exercise is framed by current climate change science, using the interactive C-ROADS computer simulation which allows participants to find out how their proposed policies impact the global climate system in real- time. We went into this not really knowing how COP (Conference of the parties of the United nations agreement on climate change) worked, and we left with so much more knowledge and understanding.

I would definitely encourage students (not only geography), schools, lecturers, businesses, leaders, everyone to get involved. Below is a video of how this climate simulation works:

Mock video of how the world climate simulation works

But what does this have to do with Water and Environmental change in Africa?

COP22 was held in Marrakesh 7-18th November 2016. For the first time in history, a water action day was the highlight of the third day. World Water Action day aimed to highlight the water sector as a provider of solutions for implementing the Paris Agreement (COP21). 

Countries have identified water as key to adaptation in 93% of their national climate action plans. Water is the key to food security, human health, energy production, industrial productivity, biodiversity, as well as a basic human need. Therefore, ensuring water security means ensuring security in all these domains.

From the Water Action Day, "Water for Africa" was officially launched. This initiative aims to mobilise different international political, financial and institutional partners to develop an emergency action plan to confront climate change and improve water and sanitation services and management in Africa.

Concluding thoughts

Water needs to be seen as an end in itself, rather than merely a means to an end.

The importance of water seems to be highlighted through its critical role in other domains. It is a start that the sheer importance of water is now being acknowledged on the platform of COP, through the action day. However, I believe more needs to be done, to bring to the attention, that climate change is drastically changing the distributions of water, and this has already and will have many negative implications for many. Long droughts and extreme rainfall, are becoming common for many, so how can this is increasingly unreliable resource be the solution for all the problems arising from Climate Change? 

Africa is the most vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, effective funding and management is necessary, to adapt to the threat of climate change. The $100bn per year promised to be pledged by the developed countries by 2020 in Copenhagen 2009, could be key to this. Although by the end of COP22, there is said be 'extreme disappointment' in the lack of progress in agreement to the distribution of the funding, which has been pushed back to 2018.

Adaptation is key to the survival and development of Africa. A roadmap drawn up by developed countries and presented at Marrakesh allocated just 20% of climate finance, to efforts limiting the damage caused by climate change. The remaining 80% of this money would be spent on mitigation (cutting greenhouse gas emissions). However, I believe that this is an unfair distribution, as the need for adaptation is particularly important in developing countries, which are hit hardest by climate hazards such as droughts and floods.

Throughout this blog I have illustrated through East Africa that water supply is changing and is becoming extremely unreliable. However, this is not the only issue, demand is also changing, it is increasing. One effect of this is changes in land-use. Therefore, next week's post will focus on land use change, and how this, in conjunction with climate change, is affecting Water in Africa.