The hunger crisis in Eastern Africa shows just how essential it is to have access to drinking water. One of the major problems of the 21st century is the lack of access to drinking water and sanitary facilities mainly in the rural areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Though during the last years significant progress has been achieved regarding the expansion of water supply worldwide, the investments in supply systems are still insufficient. Experts assume that the number of people who are facing acute shortage of water will increase further, mainly due to global warming and the weather phenomenon El Niño. The lack of water already causes conflicts and forces people to flee.
That is why our work focuses on water, sanitation and hygiene.
We provide fast emergency aid e.g. in Somalia and Syria but aim to prevent catastrophes and invest in a better infrastructure in the long term as well. arche noVa will promote the construction of water tanks, dams, filters and pumps. But prospective sustainable development projects will have to create permanent structures. This is only possible if we cooperate closely with the local people and strengthen their capacity.
Our anniversary project in Uganda is an example for that. In this project arche noVa is working with Katosi Women Development Trust which is a network consisting of 19 self-help groups for women. The schooling of 35 women as mechanics for water pumps and the training of more than 130 water committee members are part and parcel of our project. The people will take care of 144 already existing wells and thus sustainably improve the water supply of 170,000 people in the project area.
Since 1993 World Water Day takes place on March 22nd. It is a result of The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, based on a resolution of the UN General Assembly.
