“Water is life and without it many of the refugees had declined to settle in areas where there was no supply. The project has been implemented and delivered on time while following acceptable international standards,”- Mr Bogere
By Moses Sserwanga
Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement has faced a major challenge of limited water supply and an influx of hundreds of new Sudanese refugee arrivals. Over 10,000 new arrivals have been registered by UNHCR and transferred to the settlement, further straining the available water resources.
The water supply per person per day had dropped from 16 litres in 2023 to 9 litres in 2024. This is far below the recommended international humanitarian standard of 20 litres of water per person per day.
“This was a huge crisis. We had an emergency on our hands. Clusters L and G in the refugee settlement were water stressed, and this led to conflict, gender-based violence at the water points, and other sanitation and hygiene-related challenges. These include poor management of menstrual hygiene especially for adolescent girls and some of the women, who had abandoned their reusable sanitary towels,” explains Ms Olivia Ayebare, a Water, Sanitary and Hygiene officer at the Lutheran World Foundation (LWF), which is a management and implementing partner of UNHCR.
On the sanitary side, the settlement had only four latrine blocks with 22 stances that catered for both staff and the refugees. This was very insufficient at a ratio of 1:80 people compared to the recommended 1:50 people during emergency situations.
Ms Mayeda Ibrahim Ahmed, a single mother of three young children, one of whom is disabled and, in a wheelchair, is one of the new Sudanese refugees affected by this emergency.
“When I arrived at Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement on July 19th, 2024, we didn’t have water. I would leave my young family unattended and walk a long distance for more than one hour to fetch water for us. This affected my health, and the water wasn’t enough for our daily use. It was a dire situation,” she narrates.
UNICEF/UNI688108/Watsemba
This unfolding emergency forced LWF to send out distress calls for help and among the partners that responded were Living Water International, which drilled two production wells in Clusters L and G villages, and UNICEF, which offered to motorize the newly drilled well to a hybrid solar-powered water supply system for it to pump and distribute additional water to refugees and their host communities.
According to Ayebare, the well in cluster L village has a good water yield of 12,000 litres per hour while the one in Cluster B village produces 2,500 litres per hour.
“We are blessed that UNICEF, through their private sector partner, Innovation Africa Ltd, made it possible to procure and install a submersible pump and construct a solar array to power the submersible pump. They also provided a heavy-duty generator as backup support to the solar system to enable it to pump water to fill an 81,200-litre reservoir tank,” she stated.
Eng. Paul Yawe, the General Manager Innovation Africa, said that the solar system that provides power to the pump uses 12,420 Watts of power with a backup of a 22 KVA three-phase generator and a water pump with a 7.5 KW three-phase motor.
According to Mr Cyprian Kato Sentongo, a water systems supervisor for LWF, a 1.5-kilometre water transmission line and 7.8-kilometre distribution line have been constructed to provide water to 27 cluster villages. “This system has been constructed in adherence to international humanitarian standards which don’t allow sexual exploitation, child labour and insufficient wages,” Sentongo said.
It was all joy and excitement on 15th November 2024 when the new water system was handed over by the contractor, Innovation Africa Ltd to UNHCR and the Government of Uganda through the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). The event was attended by Mr Paul Semakula, a WASH specialist based at the UNICEF Zonal Office in Arua; Mr Paul Yawe, the General Manager, Innovation Africa Ltd; Mr Cliff Winston Alvarico, Head of Field Office UNHCR Kiryandongo; Mr Peter Adori from UNHCR; and Ms Olivia Ayebare from WASH Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement.
Mr Stephen Bogere, who is the Assistant Commandant Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement at Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and a focal person for WASH, presided over the handover function. He thanked PARTNERS, especially LWF, Living Water International, UNICEF and Innovation Africa Ltd.
Mr Bogere noted that the new water system, although not enough, will help to reduce the pressure and stress at the water points especially in Clusters L and B, where the new Sudanese refugee arrivals are being re-settled.
UNICEF/UNI688311/Watsemba
“Water is life and without it many of the refugees had declined to settle in areas where there was no supply. The project has been implemented and delivered on time while following acceptable international standards,” Bogere stated, pledging that UNHCR and OPM, who have taken over its management and maintenance, will ensure it is kept in good operating condition. He also informed the team that a service operator had been identified and trained for this role. The water facility will serve over 26,000 refugees in Clusters L and B.
Bogere further appealed for more support and resources to extend water to other areas within the resettlement, which is host to over 130,000 refugees. UNICEF Arua’s Semakula, on his part, said that with the additional storage capacity of 82,000 litres of water, the per capita water ratio will increase access to safe and reliable water supply for their people of concern.
According to Semakula, the new system has 15 new public stand posts and is also supplying water to the existing 12 taps, making it 27 tap stands. This has increased access to water especially for vulnerable groups like women, girls, and people with disabilities. He further revealed that UNICEF supported the construction of three 5-stance drainable latrine blocks, one for refugee females complete with a washroom and incinerator and another for refugee males with a urinal. Third block will serve the humanitarian staff operating within the reception centre.
For Ms Ahmed and her three children, including her disabled son, the new water system has brought a smile to their faces. “We are so happy we now have water nearby. I can fetch clean water while keeping an eye on my young children. I thank LWF and UNICEF for the WASH project. We feel more secure now,” she shared.
The Head of the UNHCR field office in Kiryandongo, Mr Cliff Winston Alvarico, has thanked the Government of Uganda for offering land to accommodate the new refugee arrivals and accord them their basic rights including the right to clean and safe water.
“We have a good working relationship with the Government of Uganda through OPM and this helps to mitigate challenges as we provide a safe environment for the refugees,” he added.
