Community Development Entrepreneurs were trained to install rainwater harvesting systems at Mosobecho primary school and will sell low cost, high quality RWH units to the surrounding community
Narrative
We place a large amount of storage at Mosobecho Primary due to the rain fall patters at this location. For the most part the work went on smoothly except for a few challenges with the school buildings themselves. For a school where the closest water source is 2 KM down a very steep hill the RWH system will have a huge impact on the energy levels of the children as well as they time they have to be in the class room.
Sustainability
Creating and measuring long-term impact
The community health promoter in the area will be holding meetings of a school club for the children twice a month. During these visits she will be able to check on the performance of the RWH system and report any problems she finds directly to the ACI office. The five USD is covered by the school according to the agreement the school and stakeholders signed prior to construction of the RWH system. This cost will cover any breakages due to poor use and silicone costs if the system begins to leak because of wear and tear on the gutter runs.
Other Issues
Unusual and unexpected issues faced during project execution
As I mentioned previously we ran into some troubles with the school buildings themselves. The buildings played an optical illusion on us when we were setting up the facia board. Best practices for RWH systems indicate a 1% grade on your gutter slope. 1 m over 1 cm down and so forth. On one of the longer runs at this school, the building actually slanted, slightly, away from the tank position. So no matter how steep we attempted to make the slope, we still could not get our 1% slope. In the end we eventually took the materials for that run to another part of the school building and added some length to one of the other runs.
Learnings
Knowledge of project and process for sharing
This school showed us even more importance of good scouting. Had we known that the building was slanting away from the tank position we would have simply had the school swap positions of the base and we could have maximized the slope of the building for the RWH system.
Impact
People Impacted: 477
People Getting Safe Drinking Water: 475
Total number of students, teachers and support staff present at the school on a given day. In conjunction with the Aqua Clara bio sand filter program. Increased access to water within the school compound allows the school to use the filters to their full potential. We gathered this information from a survey done of all ACI partner schools done before the implementation of the RWH program.
School Children Getting Water: 460
Total number of students present at the school on a given day. Nursery class through standard eight. We gathered this information from a survey done of all ACI partner schools done before the implementation of the RWH program.
People Getting Sanitation: 475
Total number of students, teachers and support staff present at the school on a given day. In conjunction with the Aqua Clara hand washing stations already in place at the school. Increased access to water within the school compound makes use of these hand washing stations much easier. We gathered this information from a survey done of all ACI partner schools done before the implementation of the RWH program.
People Getting Other Benefits: 2
Community development entrepreneur and community health promoter, both ACI trained individuals are trained in construction and sales of high quality RWH systems. Increasing the knowledge base of these individuals making each a more valuable resource to their community
