Over the past month we have run an awesome campaign for a project which will provide 1,500 people with safe water in Kabarole district in Uganda. A project which will benefit especially girls who will have to walk less in the morning to collect water and can spend more time in school.
Published on: 09/02/2017
We have raised 10,170 euros and had the honour to have the support of 282 people. The entire IRC team is very grateful to all who have contributed. The possibility to donate through the One Percent platform is closed however we have come to realise that still many of you do want to make a contribution, therefore we have created the temporary possibility to still donate through IRC's PayPal account. Please follow this link https://www.paypal.me/IRCWash/25 and make sure to use IRC 'Running for water' in the description or
To keep track of what we do with the contributions the progress of our work in Kabarole district can be followed through the campaign page and through this page.
Every day, in Uganda, girls have to walk more than a kilometre carrying 20 litre containers of water on their heads. That means they miss out on school. On Sunday 12 March: IRC staff, family and friends ran The Hague's City Pier City to help change this situation.
Imagine an average 14 year old school girl in Uganda. Let’s call her Kobusingye. She lives with her mother and two brothers in a village. In the village there are two hand pumps that have not been working for over a year. Every morning, before she goes to school, Kobusingye and her mother walk two kilometres to the next village to collect water. Kobusingye is not alone. It is a daily reality for many girls like Kobusingye who have to walk more than one kilometre carrying 20-litre containers of water on their heads. This means that Kobusingye and girls like her miss school.
In August 2016, IRC’s office in Uganda received a request from the Government to support the repair of 15 hand pumps in Kabarole district to provide 4,500 people with sustainable access to safe water. With available funds, IRC was able to support the repair of 10 hand pumps supplying 3,000 people with safe water. At the same time local mechanics were trained on how to repair the pumps. A minimum fee was also set, together with the communities, that each household from now on will pay for their water to ensure continued services and repairs in the future. To provide the remaining 1,500 people with clean water, IRC organised a fundraiser.
On Sunday 12th of March, IRC staff, family and friends participated in The Hague's City Pier City run to raise funds to reduce the distance girls have to walk to collect water so that they can spend more time in school. And to ensure that 1,500 people will get sustainable access to safe water. Our goal was set to raise € 10,000. On 16 March the campaign closed with a result of 10,170 euros raised.
What do you do when something is broken? You call someone to fix it and pay him or her for their services. In Kabarole District, and many other districts in Uganda, however, there is a problem. There is a lack of funds for repairs and continuous water services. What is also lacking are the right mechanisms to raise these funds. IRC is planning to address this issue in a way that the access to safe water will be sustained.
IRC partners with the right people. The men and women of the Hand Pump Mechanics Association of Kabarole District. Technically skilled people who can fix hand pumps and provide operation and maintenance services to keep the hand pumps going. Together they will:
Together with the local government authorities, IRC will carry out joint monitoring activities – to check the functionality of the hand pumps in the district and to avoid situations that hand pumps break down and remain unattended for months and year on end.
| Activities | Budget (UGX) | Budget (€) |
| 1 Technical assessment of broken down hand pumps | 1,880,000 | 495 |
| 2 Repair the broken down hand pumps | 22,420,000 | 5,900 |
| 3 Work with families to determine how much they need start paying for clean water to pay for future breakdowns | 11,800,000 | 3,105 |
| 4 Joint monitoring with District Local Government | 1,900,000 | 500 |
38,000,000 | 10,000 |
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of long-term service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world's poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC is here to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
