The SunWASH programme, funded by the Poul Due Jensen Foundation, aims to achieve better health by creating access to safe water with solar-driven water pumps while simultaneously improving hygiene and sanitation.
There continues to be significant barriers to improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia. Lack of access to clean drinking water and improved latrines impacts health, safety, productivity, and living conditions. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WASH sector in refugee camps face exacerbated challenges with unsanitary drinking water, inadequate sanitation facilities, limited disinfection kits, sprayers and soap.
The SunWASH programme aims to support more than 100,000 South Sudanese refugees and Ethiopians from the host communities in the Gambella region. The project covers three refugee camps, one refugee reception center and 15 host community villages. Women and girls bear the biggest burden when it comes to providing water to their families, but they are rarely consulted in the community’s major WASH decisions. With this project, we will ensure improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene, and push some of the skewed gender structures and norms in these communities, especially in the WASH committees.
