eThekwini Water and Sanitation – A leader in Water and Sanitation

2011/12/04

During the World Water Day Event held in Zaragoza, Spain on 22 March 2011 eThekwini’s Water and Sanitation Department was awarded with the ‘Water for Life’, Best Practices Award in the Best Participatory, Communication, Awareness- raising and Education Practices category.

eThekwini’s Water and Sanitation Department submitted their application alongside 35 applicants from around the world, taking first prize for the submission of their project entitled ‘A Participatory and Learning Based Approach to Raising Awareness on Water and Sanitation’ in Durban, eThekwini Municipality, South Africa.

Initiated in 1995 the project won the award for its innovative approach to communication and awareness-raising in poor areas, and its outstanding contribution to addressing the key water and sanitation challenges within rapidly urbanizing areas.

Many of the key challenges faced by the eThekwini Municipality are similar to those faced by urban municipalities worldwide including; blockages of pipes, misuse and wastage of water, vandalism, difficulty in accessing remote areas and the presence of water borne diseases such as cholera.

To address these core challenges, the municipality implemented an education and awareness programme that made use of certain mediums of communication in order to reach out to the poor (and therefore vulnerable) communities in rural and peri-urban areas; women (as managers of households); children and their educators (in peri-urban and rural schools) as well as vulnerable households in urban areas. These included the use of leaflets/ posters, household visits, street theatre, community groups, schools programmes and community participation.

The main objectives of the project were to:

• Increase awareness on the proper use and management of water and sanitation systems in rural and urban areas
• Reduce the misuse and wastage of water in urban areas
• Reduce non-payment
• Promote water conservation
• Improve community participation

eThekwini’s project provides an excellent opportunity for other municipalities to observe an awareness-raising and behavioral campaign in water and sanitation in action and to learn from the take-home messages and best practice that emerged.

View an article from the Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre here »