Life in Abundance International (LIA), in partnership with People For People, Inc. (PFP) and their Stand For Africa Initiative,  has been awarded a grant from USAID in excess of $1 million to continue work in five kebeles of Kirkos, a sub-city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This grant funds a two and a half year program that began in October 2009 and will continue through December 2011. The efforts and funds of this grant are provided to model a sustainable intervention with impact that can be replicated on a local level.  

The key objective of the project is to reduce communicable diseases caused by the lack of clean water and sanitation practices by 80%, and improve the quality of life for 3,200 households in these communities within the program period of performance. Consistent with the mission of LIA, these initiatives will be executed in a wholistic, integrated, sustainable and transformational manner, in partnership with, and by way of the ownership of, local churches.   

An inadequate and unsafe water supply, improperly constructed human waste disposal systems, and poor personal and environmental hygiene practices of the community at large are common problems in the Kirkos sub-city and contribute to the prevalence of related communicable diseases. The World Health Organization reports that more than half of the top ten diseases facing Ethiopians are related to water and sanitation problems. As has been the practice of LIA, this program is designed to reverse these challenges by providing sustainable infrastructure and training at a grass-roots level.

Information gathered from the residents of the sub-city revealed that more than 75 people typically share one pit latrine. Poor latrine maintenance and the lack of proper waste management procedures can cause the streets and even homes to be contaminated with human waste.

With the majority of the population unaware of the practice of basic hygiene principles, part of the success of this project relies on the behavior change through empowerment of community leaders from LIA’s partnered churches to act as hygiene promoters for the programs. The proposed project will improve the health conditions of the residents in the communities by providing them with basic water and sanitation facilities coupled with training on basic hygiene principles and proper management of the facilities.  

The project will cover four kebeles of Kirkos sub-city and areas within the vicinity of the target kebeles.  Four projected outcomes of this project are:

1.    Increased access to clean water in disadvantaged households: constructing 24 public standpipes to serve 3,200 households (16,000 people).

2.    Increased access to sanitation: constructing 12 communal ventilated pit latrines, 12 public showers with six rooms each to serve the community, 12 clothes washing basins and construction of 3,600 meters of small scale sewers to serve 3,200 households (16,000 people).

3.    Increased awareness of hygiene and sanitation: training 50 community-based leaders to be hygiene promoters, impacting a total of 3,200 households (16,000 people).

4.    Provision of employment opportunities for 120 community members: including rehabilitated street children and female headed households, to operate 48 solid waste transporting trolleys, serving 3,200 households (16,000 people).

Utilizing LIA’s model of community development and its wholistic method of support, these funds will allow LIA to oversee the construction process for the new ventilated improved latrines, public showers, washing basins, small scale sewers, waste transporting trolleys and stand pipes.  LIA will also manage the process of educating, training, and empowering the local churches to teach about healthier practices as well as to offer jobs to street children and the neediest of families.

“I couldn’t be more excited about this program,” states Justin Narducci, Director of Partnerships and Resources for LIA.  “This collaboration will allow partner churches to serve their neighbors in a very pragmatic and tangible way.  The churches will be providing clean water and sanitation access, and I think the living water metaphor that Jesus talks about cannot be missed in that context.”