Florence and Fulera attended a Women and Water Training hosted and sponsored by the GWWI in February 2010, where they learned how to build rainwater harvesting systems and gained the skills necessary to bring clean water education (WASH) back to their community.

The Challenge: The village of Masaka has no regular access to clean drinking water, putting its population of 2,500 at great risk of disease, conditions of poor hygiene and low quality of life. Members of the community must travel far distances in search of water everyday, keeping them out of school or out of work. Times of acute water shortage see an increase in hospital and clinic attendance as well as a heightened amount of conflict among the villagers.

Vision for Change: Florence and Fulera plan to construct a demonstration rainwater harvesting system at Bimbilla Senior High School in Masaka. Florence and Fulera are committed to mobilizing the community to take part in the construction work; through educational workshops and sensitization meetings Florence and Fulera will promote and explain the system, empowering the community to build and use the technology independently. By involving the community in the project, Florence and Fulera hope to promote relationship building among the community members and other stakeholders in the village. The plastic tank rainwater catchments will improve access to potable water for 2,500 people, decreasing the amount of water borne diseases, reducing school dropout rate and enhancing economic empowerment. Close quarterly inspections of the system will allow Florence and Fulera to evaluate the effectiveness of the program and facilitate the future construction of similar systems in other villages in the region.