December 3rd, 2009 Bringing Safe Water to Ethiopia’s Remote Communities
Posted by Tanya Hutchens
Since CPAR was founded in response to the famine experienced in Ethiopia in 1984 – our work in that country has remained focused on its most vulnerable communities. In 1999, CPAR started a project with funding from WaterCan to address the lack of safe water and adequate sanitation in one of its most remote regions – Benishangul-Gumuz.
As we know, water – clean water is life.
This project changed lives and resulted in improved water points developed (deep wells, springs, shallow wells, and school-based water pumps) and pit latrines constructed for a huge percentage of the remote communities in Dibate Woreda. By addressing this immediate health concern (especially for children under-5 years of age, who suffered disproportionately from water borne diseases such as diarrheoa communities were better positioned to tackle many of the more long-term challenges they faced.