WaterCan’s projects emphasize local participation and empowerment.
WaterCan encourages community members to participate in every phase of the project’s implementation—from planning and construction to management and maintenance.
Local participation fosters a sense of ownership by the community—adults and children alike—that in turn increases the likelihood that the benefits of new water and sanitation services will be sustained in the long-term.
WaterCan, for example, only supports projects in communities that have, through community consultations, identified the lack of access to safe water supply as a major problem and have expressed commitment to finding local water and sanitation solutions.
To ensure that projects truly address the needs of local people, WaterCan’s indigenous partner organizations conduct participatory needs assessments, including interviews, focus group discussions and community-wide meetings. It’s important that everyone has a chance to participate—we, therefore, take special care to reduce barriers to participation, such as gender and literacy, so to make the process truly inclusive.
Communities demonstrate their motivation for supporting water and sanitation projects in their willingness to volunteer their labor, provide locally available building materials, and assume positions on Water and Sanitation Management Committees formed to ensure the long-term management and maintenance of the new water and sanitation facilities. These committees also play an important role in helping to support hygiene education activities in their communities.
WaterCan’s participatory approach promotes the development of local ownership, skills and capacity that can subsequently be put to use in addressing other development challenges in the community.
WaterCan recognizes that local authorities also play an important role in coordinating water and sanitation projects in their jurisdictions. Their active participation is, therefore, solicited so to ensure that projects carried out by WaterCan are properly integrated into local development plans.
Photo credit: Peter Bregg
Banner photo credit: Peter Bregg
