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Fixing a handpump in Kabarole district Uganda

Our work in Uganda

In Uganda, our priority is understanding and strengthening WASH systems at national and district levels. We have committed ourselves to building strong WASH systems to achieve universal access in Kabarole district by 2030.

By developing and promoting new tools, skills and partnership practices that foster WASH systems in the districts that we work, and sharing our learning with partners at national level, we aim to scale our systems approach to the development of services in all our focus countries.

IRC in Uganda

Our team of 10 is led by Jane Nabunnya Mulumba and are in Kampala and the district office in Fort Portal, Kabarole district.  We are working with different local and national players to promote systems change and to achieve universal access to WASH services that last. At the national level, we're sharing the lessons learned and advocating for increased government and political leadership, public finance and the proper management and use of WASH services as part of the Uganda WASH Agenda for Change coalition.

Kabarole district

About Kabarole: population: 325,261 people | water coverage: 80-83% | sanitation coverage: 84%

In Kabarole, access to basic WASH services is relatively high. The challenge is to sustain this access and to reach all those who are currently left behind. We’re engaging with key people and institutions in the WASH system to address.  In 2018 we helped Kabarole to draw up a district WASH master plan for getting services to everyone by 2030.  Now we're working to support the district local government to role this out: helping a growing coalition of supportive organisations to align their efforts and generate effective collective action.  As part of this, we’re leading action research on safe WASH in healthcare facilities, supporting the newly-established regional utility and the district hand pump mechanics association whose job it is to ensure that hand pumps are maintained and sustained.

Data for WASH in clinics and schools

Many schools and health centres in Kabarole have no bathrooms. If they do have one, there is often a lack of privacy.

“I visited a health facility in Kabarole and met a mother who had just given birth. The only bathroom in the facility had no door and was turned into a urinal. So she had high risk of contracting an infection there. Her only option was to wait and take a bath when she got back home. These stories make me sad and I want to do something about them. My duty is to talk about them and make sure that one day things will change for the better.”  Olive Tumuhairwe, Environmental Health Officer

IRC Uganda is supporting WASH data collection in schools and health centres in Kabarole district. Working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local health centres and people like Olive, we are conducting a comprehensive assessment of healthcare facilities in the district. Olives says: “I believe that when we get that data, I’ll be able to advocate for better services. With statistics I’ll be able to defend what I’m talking about.