It is an open secret that the 2030 Agenda encompasses ambitious Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) targets, which aim, among other things, for universal access to Water, sanitation and Hygiene for all. In this regard, the global effort to achieve sanitation and water for all by 2030 is extending beyond the household to include institutional settings, such as schools, healthcare facilities and workplaces.
Dr. Engineer Seleshi Bekele, Minister, Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity of Ethiopia has recently briefed the media regarding his Ministry’s efforts to realize universal access to Water, sanitation and Hygiene for all.
Having expressed that it is mandatory to fulfill the minimum requirements for drinkable water and sanitation both in size and quality at a nationwide, he said that the issue is at the forefront of other national agendas of the government with special attention.
That is why a new organization under the name of water development commission was established in the past recent times, he accentuated. According to the strategic plan of GTP II, provision of portable water in rural areas was to reach 25 liters per person per day, per kilometer and 40-100 liters per person per day per kilometer in small and large cities respectively.
Moreover, ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all SDGs in 2030 is amid the top focus areas of UN listed as the 6th Goal of the 17 SDGs next to ending poverty in all forms everywhere, hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, ensuring inclusive and equitable education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
As indicated by the Minister, by now, the government is working to meet these standards giving special attention thinking that the issue of water has a lot to do with all the rest of SDGs in one or the other hand. So using a modern system of supervision, evaluation, information gathering and analyzing system with new technologies is really of much importance along with the other development activities so as to make everything credible, Seleshi added.
As per him, there were enumerations of water institutions in 2010 and 2011 the data had been collected by filling various manual forms and were more than a container when gathered. As a result, a new water enumeration and information gathering system is to be applied using a modern technology in a way that makes it geo referenced.
The Ministry has already finalized its preparations; it has assessed the previous experiences both in the Ethiopian context and internationally in this regard. Now, the Ministry has introduced new technologies which avoid previous weaknesses learnt from the assessment it conducted.
The new technology enables the Ministry to identify the exact location of all water institutions across the nation, the size of people they can serve, their fairness in terms of distribution, areas which do not have access to potable water so as to respond, damaged water institutions to enable the concerned organ take urgent action for it would simply access the information, Regarding the enumeration, it was learnt that it would take place in all the nine states and the two city administrations.
As to Seleshi, it is estimated that there are over 600,000 water institutions constructed across the nation so far. And their size and content of these water institutions would, accordingly, be registered. Concerning the new technology to be used, he expressed that nearly 3,925 Tablets were purchased and distributed to each weredas. As could be known, these tablets were bought for 2.1 million Dollars funded by development partners.
In the meantime, they do have sophisticated software that gathers the information required and would be eventually uploaded to the internet so as to make them available anywhere with access to internet for analysis and interpretation. As was expressed during the media briefing, the Ministry along with the respective regional agencies of water resource has conducted various discussions and given necessary trainings to trainers of trainees by international and regional trainers.
According to this, a taskforce of 4000 enumerators or data collectors and 500 (five hundred) coordinators have got training on capacity building. Furthermore, there is a national executive organ that oversees the enumeration process to be successful. The functionality of the new technology is already tested in pilot projects in Harar and Diredawa. According to information obtained from the Ministry, the enumeration process is planned to be finalized within 15 days as of January 8, 2019.
There are various organs which should support this national water institutions’ enumeration process like the regional, zonal and wereda water resource bureaus which expected to provide transport and security services to keep the enumerators safe. Besides, Sileshi called on the society at all levels to be cooperative and they should feed the enumerators with the proper information while gathering information.
The coverage of potable water at nationwide currently, as to Seleshi is 71.9 percent which is 60.2 percent in urban areas and 73.9 percent in rural areas. But, he said that this is not an exact data gathered through modern system that this is a data gathered based on what the Ministry gets from here and there, so it may be different when studied with modern technology.
Herald January 16/2019
BY SHUSHAY ADANE
