Maria lives in a rural community in Niassa province, Mozambique. In her own words, she explains how access to clean and safe water – through United Purpose’s GOTAS project – has transformed life for her and other women in her community.
“In this community we had forgotten about public services. Since national independence was achieved in 1975, there have been no public services. This water source is the first we have had, so we are very happy.
We used to spend around two hours a day fetching water from the nearest water source. This was part of the day-to-day life of the women in our community.
The long distance we had to walk to collect water frequently led to us going to bed without water. This often led to domestic violence incidents, as some women’s husbands were not happy about this. But now things are much better and safer for us – the water is right here in the centre of the village. When we leave the house to get water, we can come back in no time at all. Our families don’t need to worry and are much happier.
Everything has changed now – we can go to the water source at any time. We want to protect our water source for many more years and prevent any future suffering.
In our community, we all contribute monthly to the maintenance of the water source and participate in cleaning it to ensure it fully functions. Everyone understands the importance of this. We also practice good hygiene, as taught to us through the GOTAS project.
In total, there are 450 people in my community who drink water from this new water source.”
Context
GoTAS (Transparent Governance for Water, Sanitation and Health) is a programme in Mozambique’s Niassa Province. Its implementation is the responsibility of the Government of Niassa, with technical support from United Purpose and a Consortium of SNV, funded by the Swiss Embassy. This programme aims to improve rural populations’ access to safe water and sanitation, and enable citizens to voice their demand for public services through greater public participation. The programme also intends to increase the quality of government service provision.