Water management draws team from Tanzania

August 26, 2016 06:26 am | Updated 06:26 am IST - CHENNAI:

A team from the Ministry of Water, Tanzania, is in Chennai for a week to learn about water management practices implemented here and refine its approach in dealing with water security issues.

The team is partnering with the Centre of Excellence for Change (CEC), a voluntary organisation comprising serving and former officials of various departments associated with water, to share expertise based on the projects executed across the State and help deal with water issues in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Until a few years ago, many residents of Morapakkam in Acharapakkam taluk, Kancheepuram, could not afford proper sanitation facility. But now, nearly 75 per cent of the households have toilets following community participation in water and sanitation projects. Ramasamy of Devattur didn’t have enough money to build a toilet. Many of his neighbours had only temporary sheds for bathing and washing clothes.

Though the government provided a subsidy for building a toilet, many villagers hesitated to apply due to fear of administration delay. Now, he has encouraged several villagers to construct better sanitation facilities with the support of CEC.

Such initiatives encouraging collaborative efforts have led the team from Tanzania to seek strategies to emulate such projects in their country. Besides many pilot projects in water and sanitation sectors across the State, CEC, also supported execution of IAMWARM (Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Bodies Restoration and Management) project.

Members of the team from Tanzania visited various model villages, and also attended workshops to develop strategies such as water budgeting and also empower officials to improve delivery of service. Mbogo Futakamba, permanent secretary, Ministry of Water, Tanzania, said: “We are facing a problem of non-revenue water either through illegal connections or leaks. Our goal is to provide better access to drinking water to 85 per cent of the rural population by 2020. We are learning about change management executed at individual and community level in approaching water issues and how it changed villagers’ livelihood. Community participation and self-assessment of officials are essential aspects that we may implement in Tanzania.” CEC is also likely to tie up with Meghalaya and Brazil to share its expertise on water management and train officials.

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