Quarterly Progress Report: Sila Water Innovations –Sand Dams & Hygiene (SWISH)

The project's goal is to enable these populations to support themselves in a sustainable manner. The project is a 30-month pilot initiative that focuses on the reintroduction of sand dams to the region. The project involves two communities with sites that have been identified as highly suitable for sand dams. The communities will be engaged throughout all phases of the project, from design to evaluation. The project will commit to an 18-month period for construction, allowing for extended monitoring and technical support, as well as an opportunity for evaluation 12 months after construction has been completed. During the reporting period of August 1 to September 30, 2014, the project team was able to sensitize community leaders on the coming sand dam construction and inform them of their responsibilities and roles in the management of the dam. A convention involving village chiefs, traditional leaders, and government officials was planned to avoid any conflict around the dam. The project's sectoral focus is on Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WS&H), with a specific emphasis on water supply infrastructure and hygiene promotion. The project aims to benefit 2,765 people, with a target of 395 households. The project's indicators for water supply infrastructure include the number of people directly benefiting from the water supply infrastructure program, the average liters per person per day collected from all sources for drinking, cooking, and hygiene, and the average liters per person per day collected from all sources for livelihoods. The project's indicators for hygiene promotion include the number of people receiving direct hygiene promotion, the number of respondents who know three of five critical times to wash hands, the number of households with soap and water at a hand-washing location, the number of households who store their drinking water safely in clean containers, the number of households who identify appropriate contextual methods of disinfecting drinking water, the number of village water user committees active at least three months after training, and the number of water points that are clean and protected from contamination. During the reporting period, the project team made a presentation during the WASH cluster meeting to explain the importance of sand dam technology. The project team also encountered challenges, including the difficulty of getting the project started in August due to heavy rainfall. The upcoming quarter will see the project team sending out a tender or invitation to bid in Kenya, requesting contractors for technical support, and confirming the final sites for sand dam construction.