Bring clean water to 5 villages in Madagascar

Villagers in Todiana continue to enjoy the gift of clean drinking water from their new borehole and hand-pump provided thanks to your generosity for this GlobalGiving campaign!

The Feedback Madagascar – Ny Tanintsika team are now preparing for the upcoming follow-up training which will be given to the two local village maintenance technicians there. This will also be an opportunity for them to discuss any difficulties they have met since the borehole was put-in-place, and to build-on their knowledge and experience gained.

Meanwhile, thanks to supporters, we need just £1,000 more to have sufficient funds for implementation of our next priority borehole project.

The next borehole will benefit “Ambala” village (in the Soanierana Volazato neighbourhood, Fahizay rural municipality of Amoron’i Mania region) – 25km from Ambositra town.

Ny Tanintsika started working in Ambala in 2012 through the Global Sanitation Fund Programme in Madagascar (FAA) - with the objective of stamping out open-air defecation so as to reduce the prevalence of diarrhoeal disease. After huge community latrine-building efforts and commitment, a year ago Ambala village was declared “Open-air Defecation Free” or “ODF” and has continued to maintain this status ever since! This includes ensuring that all their 20 latrines are lidded and totally “fly-proof”, and that there are functional hand-washing points next to each latrine.

However, this champion village has no clean drinking water supply yet. Inhabitants fetch water from an unprotected spring, open to contamination, to the east of the village. And they wash their laundry in a dirty canal to the west of the village, which irrigates their rice-fields. So, despite their best efforts, children and adults still suffer from sickness as a result of dirty water.

This new borehole will benefit Ambala’s population of 178 (41 households), including one Primary School.

If we raise funds in time, we hope that the drilling teams can start work in Ambala next month. Please help us to make this happen!

Yippee! Thanks to supporters, Todiana village now has clean drinking water!

450 inhabitants as well as 232 primary-school pupils are benefitting from their new borehole and hand-pump installed by Feedback Madagascar and our local partner organisation Ny Tanintsika.

« We are optimistic that our children will no longer suffer from diarrhoea and bilharzia » gleams Rasoa from Todiana.

Villagers showed proof of their thirst for clean water by their active participation in fetching water throughout the drilling work … this is needed for the ‘Rotasludge’ technology to work. They also collected sand for the borehole filter block and paid the token financial contribution (1% of the total borehole cost) which is requested to increase communities’ sense of ownership of the infrastructure. Experience has shown that all of this contributes to people taking greater care of their boreholes.

After drilling to 25.9 metres in dry season, our team were very satisfied with the water debit – the static level is 10 metres and dynamic level 20 metres deep.

The community water management committee, made up of 10 board members, named themselves « TODISOA » - meaning that they successfully realised their goal! This association has been officially created to ensure the borehole’s good governance along with its water. Water users each pay an annual subscription of 1,000 Ariary, which serves to cover the costs of maintenance and repairs as necessary. The 2 village maintenance technicians, trained-up during work, are able to look after the infrastructure, ensuring its sustainability.

Everyone at Todiana Primary School and village says a huge ‘THANK YOU’ for giving them the gift of clean water and good health!

Meanwhile, we are nearing our target of reaching enough funds for the second borehole in the Globalgiving campaign… please can you help us make this happen?!