BULAWAYO EMERGENCY WATER AUGMENTATION PROJECT (BEWAP)

Dabane Trust is implementing the Bulawayo Emergency Water Augmentation Project  (BEWAP) in a consortium led by World Vision Zimbabwe together with MedAir and the  Bulawayo City Council. The project is implemented over a year and its goal is to ensure the health  and wellbeing of the residents of Bulawayo, particularly the vulnerable, disabled, elderly, and those  in un-served areas, by ensuring the maximum use of limited existing water and sanitation  resources. 

Objectives of this project are:

•  Increased water supply by providing alternative water sources and supply to un-served areas
• Reduced risk of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, for residents through maintaining access to safe water supply and maintenance of sewage infrastructure 
•  Detailed study of the groundwater potential in Bulawayo and geophysical survey to determine extraction rates, water quality, and sustainable use of the resource
• Increase residents  adoption of health promoting behaviours, response to health threats, and knowledge and practice of water conservation techniques

BEWAP ACTIVITIES

Water Supplies- Borehole upgrading 

Dabane Trust is upgrading 34 high yielding boreholes with submersible pumps,  chlorination units and water monitoring devices, manometers.  The 34 high evenly spread between public(community boreholes), school boreholes and institutional boreholes. The boreholes are  connected to 10 000 L storage tanks implemented by MedAir that  supply water directly  to the toilet blocks’ flushing system.

      Sanitation, Health and Hygiene

The BEWAP team conducts capacity building workshops on Participatory Health and Hygiene Education (PHHE) for the school management committees to effectively manage their Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure.The school mangement committees with the knowledge acquired from  the capacity building workshops impart knowledge to school pupils. Capacitating school children with enough skills is encouraged because they are advocates for  change among their peers, family members and the wider community.

Health and Hygiene Competitions

Dabane Trust conducts school health and hygiene fun days in conjunction with school authorities. This has led to improved buy in of the programme by all stakeholders including pupils and parents. According to interviews with School Health Teachers, the health and hygiene fun days have also improved the adoption of appropriate behaviours by school children. 

Students participating in the health and hygiene competition

A Tategulu Primary School pupil receiving a health and hygiene pack during a Funday

Door to Door Health and Hygiene Awareness Campaigns

Dabane Trust trains Community Health Workers (CHWs) to embark on health and hygiene awareness campaigns. These health and hygiene campaigns only cover selected wards in the western suburbs of Bulawayo and have an estimated reach of 50% of the population.The CHWs move from door to door informing and educating community members of the importance of practising good health and hygiene

A Community Health Worker discussing health issues with a Nkulumane suburb community member