Prioritizing together
During
the second semester of 2015, Islands of Peace and its local partners (Oikos
East Africa and Longido Community Development Organization) conducted an in-depth
analysis on the problem of access to water in the 15 targeted villages of the Maisha
Bora Programme. This analysis allowed the project team to get a good
understanding of the situation and to foresee possibilities of improvement of
the current situation by rehabilitating or constructing water sources.
Based
on this diagnosis, the water engineers of the 3 organizations worked together
to elaborate technical solutions for rehabilitating the existing water sources
in each of the targeted villages. The solutions were presented to the communities
and District Staff during a workshop in Longido and Simanjiro District in February.
The workshops allowed all relevant stakeholders to prioritize and select
together (Communities, District and Project Team) the villages where
rehabilitation projects are necessary and relevant.
Following
these meetings, Islands of Peace and its local partners will organize workshops
in order to discuss the rehabilitation projects with the communities and select
the most relevant one. Ludovic Joly, regional coordinator for Islands of Peace, emphasizes the importance of such a participatory approach.
“We want to make sure that we select the most relevant projects and propose
solutions that reflect the expectations and the needs of the community.”