This project will build boreholes, teach proper hygiene and sanitation practices and provide clean cook stoves in order to combat poverty, eliminate preventable water-borne and smoke-related diseases, reduce deforestation and provide micro-finance opportunities for women as stove vendors.
Unsafe water and lack of sanitation kill more people than all forms of violence, including war. Smoke from cooking on an open fire causes 1 million deaths per year. In Northern Uganda, about 40% of the population is forced to drink from unprotected water sources and nearly 95% of households lack access to clean cook stoves. In 1 day, nearly FIFTY MILLION HOURS are consumed by women and girls in Uganda alone on fuel and water collection and cooking meals.
Access to clean water and clean cooking save every family our project reaches approximately ONE-THOUSAND HOURS each year, precious time that the women and girls who are responsible for cooking and water collection can dedicate to other activities such as education, income generation and civic participation.
Interventions that provide clean water and improve hygienic practices can prevent 94% of water-borne diseases. Each clean cook stove reduces CO2 emissions by 1.5 tons per year, saves about 5 trees annually and cuts time spent collecting wood by about 50%. On average, women spend more than 3 hours a day collecting water and wood and another 4 to 6 hours a day cooking. Lifeline's project will reduce this time by about 40%, saving each household about 1,000 hours per year.
