Burundi community water and sanitation

The Ministry of Rural Development"s Department of Rural Hydrology and Electrification will implement the project. A total of 3,000 springs will be capped. A.I.D. will fund construction materials (pipes, plastic sheeting, cement), related equipment (tool kits, bicycles) and vehicle operating expenses needed to cap 1,250 springs, while UNICEF will fund expenses for another 1,750 spring cappings. The springs will be capped by community labor, under the supervision of fontainiers (spring technicians) trained by UNICEF. A.I.D. will also fund: (1) publication and distribution of a spring-capping manual (prepared by UNICEF staff) which will be distributed to communal administrators, Ministry of Public Health personnel, and to fontainiers, who will use it as a daily training aid and reference tool; (2) 3-day sanitation and hygiene seminars for about 120 communal administrators; and (3) a 2-week observation tour for two Governmet of Burundi personnel to study community participation and sanitation/health approaches in Malawi"s successful piped water program. By mid-1986, when A.I.D. and UNICEF support is withdrawn, an estimated 120 fontainiers, with a capacity to cap 1,000 springs a year, will be working in Burundi"s 114 communes.