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Lwengo Integrated Water and Sanitation Project is an initiative of Rotary Club of Makindye which will be implement within a period of three years from 2014 to 2016. The project will be implemented in four schools and communities surrounding the schools in Lwengo Town Council. The goal of the project is to improve access to safe water and improved sanitation services in the selected communities. On this note, in collaboration with school management committees and Lwengo district administration the project shall directly benefit 1,000 students from Modern Senior Secondary School, Perry Hill Secondary School, Arahman Primary School and Bright Stars Primary School, while on the community side beneficiaries will be about 4000 residents including women, youths, children and men. All age groups and categories of people shall be benefit from the project. Women and school children shall be particularly encouraged to participate. Proposed planned interventions for the project include construction of rainwater harvesting tanks for schools, provision of sanitary ware for girls in school, improvement of sanitation facilities to cater for the girl child, protection of water sources, health education, community organization, income generation, development of entrepreneurship, as well as promoting community ownership and participation. This will be backed up by continued lobbying and advocacy foras, engagement and liaison with the local authorities and other Water, sanitation and hygiene players to step up vigilance and enforcement of the existing WASH laws.
A recent PRA conducted by Rotary Club of Makindye in Lwengo Town Council, Lwengo district revealed critical areas requiring attention to address water and sanitation as well as environmental problems facing residents. With safe water coverage in the district estimated at only 59.7% the district ranks among the worst districts in the whole country. Consequently, there is a high prevalence of waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea as well as diseases related to poor hygiene and sanitation in the district. It was noted with concern that ignorance and lack of information about sanitation and hygiene is also a major challenge. Human excreta disposal remains a great problem and challenge in the proposed project area and while majority (76%) of the people in the targeted area have access to pit latrines, they are in a very bad state of collapsing due to poor structural designs and poor Operation and Maintenance of these facilities. Inadequate sanitation facilities was one of the factors that explain the high school dropout rate for girls owing to the fact that in most schools there is usually only one general facility for boys and girls. In addition, in rural areas girls usually start school late and as a result, a good number of them start their menstrual cycle while still in primary school. Most of the girls cannot afford to buy sanitary pads and consequently, they miss several days of school which eventually impacts negatively on their academic performance.
Provision of improved water and sanitation services would be the responsibility of the government but the numerous needs resulting from rapid population growth and lack of enough resources has outstripped the capacity of government to provide the required social services, moreover few NGOs are involved in water and sanitation interventions.
Key findings of the needs assessment also gives the Club a clear indication of the WASH situation in the proposed areas of operation and also points out the critical issues that need to be addressed. Therefore, Rotary Club of Makindye will use the needs assessment findings as an entry point for the planned interventions. It is against the identified needs that Rotary Club of Makindye shall set outcome indicators for purposes of monitoring and evaluation. The findings of the needs assessment will also be used to review proposed strategies of the proposal. On basis of these findings appropriate intervention strategies will be adopted and benchmarks will be set against which project outcomes /impact will be measured.
To facilitate a smooth implementation of the project, monitoring and evaluation tools will be designed where a community based monitoring approach and log frame will be applied. In addition there will be an out-come based evaluation to identify the benefits that are accruing to the community to clearly point out if Rotary Club of Makindye is carrying out the right intervention activities that are impacting on the community. The project will reach an estimated 5,,000 people direct and indirect beneficiaries over its lifespan of three years at an estimated to cost US $ I59,000.
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