adminSydney Kawadza Mashonaland West Bureau Chief
Residents should play a leading role in the maintenance of infrastructure in their communities through paying for services rendered to ensure that local authorities remain sustainable.
According to Community Water Alliance programme director Mr Hardlife Mudzingwa, residents should take part in social engineering of projects, civic education and offer community stewardship in maintaining infrastructure.
Community Water Alliance (CWA) is a grassroots civil society organisation that does advocacy work in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), environment and climate issues. CWA has more than 25 000 individual members and 15 institutional members.
“Residents should pay for water and sanitation services rendered so that local authorities can generate funds to maintain infrastructure,” he said.
Mr Mudzingwa hailed the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund, which organises community engagement workshops to learn and share knowledge of best practices among beneficiaries of its interventions.
ZimFund facilitates workshops in collaboration with local authorities and draw participants from residents, councillors, representatives from the relevant ministries, ZimFund donors, local authority officials and the African Development Bank/ZimFund team.“The engagement with residents, particularly through the community engagement workshop, was a good initiative by ZimFund,” said Mr Mudzingwa.
“Apart from the need to further entrench citizens’ participation in projects, civic education and community stewardship, they should also monitor and observe infrastructure maintenance and agree to social integrity pacts of residents with the local authority.”
Two projects are ongoing under the ZimFund — the Urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project (UWSSRP 11) and the Emergency Power Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (EPIRP II).
Under UWSSRP II, nearly two million people in Harare, Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Redcliff are expected to benefit from clean water and improved sanitation services as well as improved health and hygiene standards. EPIRP II is being implemented in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Mutare and Hwange, with a combined population of five million people.
Some of the work in both projects has been completed, while the remaining work is expected to be completed early next year.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6 calls for universal access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation by 2030.
ZimFund is a $145 million water, sanitation, and energy programme, established in 2010 after the 2008 cholera outbreak and is supported by Australia, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Online Reporter