By Prince J Musa in Kenema
In a bid to improve service delivery in water supply at rural communities, World Hope International (WHI) with support from Engineers without Borders from Denmark has conducted four days of intensive capacity training for pump technicians and solar power water technicians.
The training which was meant for 16 Chiefdoms in Kenema District took place at the Eastern Technical University (ETU) on the 30th of January, 2024.
It was conducted under a project titled “Citizens-driven Climate Change Resilience and Sensitive Water and Sanitation Management.”
In his statement, the Specialist from WHI, Engineer Hassan Bobor Kamara said that they want to reduce the burden on people by hiring someone outside to maintain their water facilities. He said for Kenema District to be resilient to climate change, they needed to put structures in place with practical activities such as adaptation and mitigation measures.
He stated that one of their partners, SEND-SL had engaged 50 communities under this project of which they have trained water committee members so that they will be able to raise funds through the water facilities in their community for maintenance purposes in case of any future damage. He added that the maintenance of those water facilities has been a challenge, hence the need for training those service providers to work in those communities.
Engineer Kamara pointed out that the participants will be handed over to the council who will be overseeing their work and encouraged them to work in the interest of the community.
On behalf of the Kenema District Council, the Development Planning Officer, Saibatu Koroma thanked World Hope International for such development saying the council alone will not succeed in taking all development but depend on partners like them.
She advised the participants to judiciously utilize the knowledge gained from the training by helping the community they are representing, saying that the sustainability of any project has been a major problem but that the maintenance of the water facility will be a priority for the community.
The Eastern Regional Manager of Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO), Lansana Sawei referred to the training as important and timely and commended all those institutions that contributed to the success of the project.
He acknowledged the environmental challenges that pose a threat to water sources in the area considering the massive deforestation in most of the populated communities within chiefdoms due to logging, and mining activities which are affecting the water sources. He said that the training of technicians at the chiefdom level if properly utilized would help mitigate some of the difficulties the people faced that are water-related.
The Gender Officer Kenema District Council, Abibatu Amara called on the attention of the organizers for the inclusion of women in the training as that will help reduce some of the social problems in the community. She said women's participation is important in this process as they use more water than men.
She spoke of talented young girls in the communities, but they can only be known when accorded some of those skills -training opportunities.
‘’If men grab all the small jobs in the communities how do you expect women to participate in community development” she asked.
Augustine Songa Amara from the Ministry of Water Resources assured of their support of the project and called for cooperation with the hand pump technicians working in the localities.
Copyright (c) 2024 (Politico 02/02/24)
