Engendering Facts

After Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, the government decided to decentralize the basic services like water and sanitation to local governments, especially in the rural areas. The masses were suffering due to unreliable water supply and sanitation. In the early 1990’s Zimbabwe launched programs for Community-based Management (CBM) and Integrated Rural Water Supply and Sanitation. The water sector reforms were initiated in 1993 followed by a new water Act in 1998. Water resource management underwent a change, giving impetus to women’s participation in project activities.

In 1997, the working principles of the CBM was introduced and documented. In the process, the members of the society who were merely recipients of the development projects were made an integral part of the program given the emphasis on gender mainstreaming. Moving in line with government strategies, Chipinge district adopted a CBM approach to water resource management.  It is located in the south-eastern Zimbabwe on the border with Mozambique. The Chipinge Rural District Council (RDC) started various water supply and sanitation projects in 1985. Ward 22 in this district received 450 mm (approx) of rainfall and is located in a plain area which is sandy and there is no year round supply of surface water. People use boreholes and shallow wells as water supply sources.

In 2003, UNICEF contributed about US$ 4,000 to the Chipinge RDC for the rehabilitation of water supply systems, mainly boreholes. The RDC adopted a community-based program approach and targeted funds for community mobilization, training workshops and the training of local well sinkers and headwork builders. Efforts were made to strengthen the capacity of personnel to support communities in the water supply and sanitation projects. Women in the village were identified as key beneficiaries to receive training in water system operations and maintenance as it was women who suffered most in times of water shortage. Thus the villagers started taking charge of their own water supply schemes. Initially, the made heads of the household disapproved their wives involvement in the project but later, changes were accepted and women were subsequently trained to ensure maintenance of the water supply systems.  Now, planning and selecting appropriate technology and sites for water points and upgrading the existing systems are the joint responsibility of both men and women in the villages. As women spend much of the time with the resource water, it is important that they have bigger share in making decisions in this line too. As women got involved in the increased role in water management, their workload increased and after awareness campaigns, men agreed to help women in exercising their responsibilities by taking up jobs at home.

The woman also established savings and credit clubs with revolving funds to buy spare parts and other necessary materials. Initially every household contributed to the process and the women opened an account with the Post Office Savings Bank to deposit the funds collected by the community. The success of the community based approach was largely attributed to the leadership of the then Councillor, who was very supportive of the program. The Ministry of Health played an important role in training health educators who were responsible for disseminating information to the general public on health hygiene and good practices.

This initiative was a great success as women could not only save time earlier spent on carrying water but were also actively involved in decision-making and considered themselves as agents of change.  This gave an impetus to their self confidence and training for maintenance work resulted in cost effectiveness. The needs and interests of both men and women are important to understand gender roles within the society and gender mainstreaming leads to a process which brings forth women’s abilities to influence decisions within the communities while recognizing the valuable support given by men. In this line, the role of capacity building within the communities deserves special mention.

Source: United Nations 2006; Gender Mainstreaming best practices in Water Supply and Sanitation in Manzvire Village, Chipinge District by Luckson Katsi