According to the latest Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, in the rural areas of the Ruvuma Region (Tanzania), access to water resources is limited to 48% of the inhabitants who, however, have access mainly to unprotected springs and surface water (rivers, dams and streams).
Tanzania is one of the countries on the continent on which climate change has had the greatest impact and has suffered an extension of the dry season, with an increase in soil erosion and fires and the destruction of many agricultural areas, with serious socio-economic consequences for the population. In the district, in fact, which has an economy based on subsistence agriculture, there has been a reduction in rainfall below 1,000 mm/year and a reduction in the actively cultivated surface area to 5%.
Irrigated agriculture, which is almost entirely absent in the territory, would contribute to a 40% increase in total food production, being, on average, at least twice as productive per unit of land compared to rain-fed agriculture, thus allowing greater intensification of production and diversification of crops.
Awareness of the need for water is widespread in the territory, so much so that a 2018 study by the University of Dar Es Salaam found that 83% of the rural population would be willing to pay up to 4,920 per month (“willingness to pay”) to have access to protected, safe and drinkable water sources.
The project “Maji-Safi - promotion of access to clean water in the rural reality of Namtumbo”, financed with funds from the Otto per Mille of the Waldensian Church (www.ottopermillevaldese.org), aims to improve opportunities for access to water for domestic and agricultural use in the district mentioned through the establishment of an experimental VETA course for technicians for sustainable hydraulics that will allow the improvement of the skills of young people and women; furthermore, 4 social theater workshops and 24 meetings will be held to design a community-based system for access to water in addition to the establishment of a "water committee" and the implementation of an integrated and sustainable system for access to water .
The proposal intervenes in the rural district of Namtumbo, with an intensity of water sources below the average of the rural areas of the country (average distance source-home 500 m) to promote access to protected water sources. In particular, in the 4 target villages (Nambehe, Lumecha, Msindo and Mtakanini), there are only 22 wells and, according to an analysis by the Namtumbo District, it would be necessary to increase them to 58 to meet the needs of the approximately 9,000 inhabitants living there.
“Project implemented with Otto per Mille funds from the Waldensian Church”
