Afghan Water Well Projects

Afghan Water Well Projects

In Afghanistan, two of the most deadly health risks are unsafe water and inadequate sanitation. Responding to these problems in 2002, AFF began a partnership with an Afghan NGO to construct wells with clean drinking water in many communities in Central Asia. By the end of the 2009, AFF provided funding that established water wells to 105 villages supporting nearly 155,000 people.

Moving into the next decade, AFF is teaming up with yet another organization focused on water supply in Central Asia. Joint Development Associates International (JDA), headquartered out of Grand Junction, Colorado, has been active in northern Afghanistan for the past 8 years, with a strong focus on agriculture development and appropriate mechanization of Afghan farms. Spring of 2009 saw the launch of JDA’s new WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) program. Over the next two years, JDA and AFF’s WASH goal is to improve the water and health of 10 communities using a comprehensive approach, where hardware interventions (e.g. new wells with hand pumps) will be coupled with software interventions (e.g. pump repair training) to encourage sustainability and ensure maximum positive health impact. This project will be carried out in cooperation with a local Afghan business, Osiyo Hamkorlik (OH), and will see outputs in the following three areas:

• Community water supply, sanitation and hygiene education
• Capacity building of the OH staff in the areas of well drilling, pump repair, and biosand filter construction
• Equipping of a development training center for ongoing comprehensive WASH training, to be offered to village members as well as other organizations

The Need

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most underdeveloped countries and, according to UNICEF, is the country most in need of WASH interventions. A staggering 25% of children die before reaching their 5th birthday, primarily from diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. Throughout Afghanistan, only 30% of the rural population has a sustainable supply of safe water, while just 29% have the dignity and privacy of a place to use the bathroom (UNICEF).

According to the WHO, Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries in the world. Approximately 70% of the population lives in extreme poverty and extreme vulnerability to poor health.  Due to the low status of women in the country, most of the female population is uneducated and illiterate. As a result, extremely poor hygiene practices are evident in most of the rural areas.

Northern Afghanistan is where our project operates. It is a mostly arid region situated at the base of the Hindu Kush mountain range. This location provides great potential for underground water, but many household wells produce unsafe or inadequate water due to their shallow depth, lack of sanitary sealing and proximity to sanitation facilities. Hand pumps, where present, are often in disrepair and remain that way for long periods of time due to lack of villagers with knowledge about their repair and lack of planning for the purchase of spare parts. A system of operation and maintenance, as well as widespread education about the simple repair process for the pumps, is desperately needed.

Our Objectives

This two year project is on track to deliver the following by the end of 2011:

Direct community impact:

• Baseline surveys in each of the 10 villages, to assess needs and design appropriate hygiene education material
• Drilling of new community boreholes, equpped with hand pumps, in each target community
• Upgrade and/or repair of existing hand-dug wells
  • 15 hand pumps installed in existing wells
  • 30 other water supplies upgraded for protection
• Introduction of household biosand filters as a means of treating drinking water at the household level
• 40 community health workers trained as WASH educators in their villages
• 1,600 women taught basics of safe water, sanitation and hygiene by trained educators

Capacity bulding of the OH staff:

Capacity building will take place through both classroom style participatory training and hands-on experience in the following areas:

• Cable tool drilling and borehole design and construction
• Installation and repair of locally used hand pumps
• Biosand filter design, construction, operation, and maintenance
• Latrine design and construction

Equipping of development training center for ongoing WASH trainings:

• 3 new wells constructed and fitted with hand pumps at development center site for use in hand pump repair training
• Demonstration biosand filters constructed and installed
• 2 demonstration latrines constructed during training

Can you help?

As of the beginning of 2010, this project is still in need of funding.  Please consider giving monthly and/or giving a one-time gift.  All of your gifts are most appreciated.

Monthly Giving Supports things like these:

• $500/month – Hygiene Education Director to contextualize and prepare training materials, conduct trainings, and monitor the community trainers as they give lessons at the village level
• $350/month – Lead Driller
• $200/month – Driller Assistant
• $200/month -  Driver to transport staff, trainers, and drilling machine
• $75-100/month for vehicle repairs because Afghanistan’s roads are particularly harsh

One-time giving supports these types of efforts:

• $10,000 – Purchase of drilling machines and associated tools & replacement parts
• $2000 – $4000 – Per borehole, covers the cost of drilling materials, cement pad and drainage channel, transport to and from the drilling sites, etc.
• $1000 – Per training session in modules such as cable tool drilling and hand pump repair, covers cost of material prep, translation and duplication, meals and transport for trainees, oral translation
• $100 – Each set of simple tools for repairing locally used hand pumps

Thank you for your consideration. Please contact us if you have questions or would like further information about the project.

AFF in the Media

A November 2009 article in the Seattle Times featured an AFF partner working in Afghanistan. Take a look.

More Images: