Chiala Cameroon contributes to the drinking water value chain

Project to strengthen participatory and solidarity-based approaches to access to drinking water through the promotion of innovative technologies 2021: Chiala Cameroon contributes to the drinking water value chain.

As a contribution to the problem of access to drinking water, Chiala Cameroon, with the technical support of VITALARIS H20 and the media support of Radio Africa TV, has been engaged for two years now in a process of action research around the promotion and popularization of the concept of “Drinking Water Kiosk”. Water being a source of life, the project intends to preserve the health of citizens by providing a solution to the problem of drinking water in homes, vulnerable environments such as schools, hospitals and dispensaries etc.

The intervention of the organization in the field is multiform. It consists of training young people at the water academy, support for the establishment of income-generating activities in the field of water, awareness campaigns on water-borne diseases, the development of drinking water kiosks for disadvantaged social groups.

Within the framework of the project of the program “Coup de pouce” of ADEPT, Chiala Cameroon benefited from a support which allowed it to intensify the activities of the “project of reinforcement of the participative and solidary approaches of access to drinking water by the promotion of innovative technologies”. The support of ADEPT aims at supporting 2 major objectives of the project namely:

• The mobilization and training of youth and women to become involved in the management of drinking water resources;
• Engaging CHIALA Cameroon in advocacy for the improvement of water supply at the communal level;

Ongoing project activities

Training sessions for water instructors at the CHIALA academy

Since February 2021, the Chiala Water Academy has been training young people and women in various modules: water purification techniques; knowledge of waterborne diseases; the VITALARIS water treatment system; and starting an income-generating activity in the field of drinking water. For association leaders, the focus is on the management of community water points. The sessions, which bring together a maximum of 20 participants, will involve a total of 100 within the framework of the project.

Session of the water academy

Mapping of community drinking water facilities.

The realization of the cartography of the community works whose purpose is to provide the commune (technical services) with geo-spatial tools to measure the potential of natural water sources and to analyze the disparities in terms of access of the populations to drinking water has a double interest for the organization chiala Cameroon:

To position itself as an actor accompanying the communes in the decentralization process.

Indeed, thanks to the 2004 law on the orientation of decentralization and its subsequent texts, the decentralized territorial authorities have been given powers in sectors related to the provision of basic social services.

Strengthen its proximity approach by mobilizing community leaders around the issue of drinking water. Develop its network of collaboration in the field within the framework of the implementation of the drinking water project.

Data collection at the community water point in the Bépanda district of Douala 5

Community consultations, as well as consultations on the expectations of the mayor of Douala 5th are underway.