Meet Ajele

‘‘My name is Ajele Getu, I am the Head of South Ari Woreda Water, Energy and Mines Office. Since 2019, with support from IRC WASH, our Woreda has developed the WASH SDG master plan and has been implementing it. Since then, we have made significant progress. At the time of planning, South Ari Woreda’s water coverage was 18%, and it has now reached 38%. We managed to construct more than 100 water schemes. This progress was made possible through the effective implementation of the WASH SDG master plan, a success that the Woreda’s leadership fully acknowledges. We also developed a resource mobilisation strategy that provides guidance on how to attract support from diverse sources, enabling us to secure contributions from the community, partner organisations, and increase government funding.

Thanks to IRC, the community's understanding of the importance of improved WASH services has greatly increased, and they are demonstrating this by contributing both financially and in kind. As woreda leaders, we have also strengthened our appreciation of the value of mobilising resources from the community and partners.

In the 2017 Ethiopian Fiscal Year, we rehabilitated 21 water schemes, constructed 12 new schemes, mostly on-spot springs, and built three additional schemes with distribution systems. In total, we mobilised about 24 million ETB.

Currently, we are running a campaign to mobilise communities to construct at least one on-spot spring in each kebele. As a result, communities are now taking the lead in mobilising resources and coordinating with us to begin construction. With 31 kebeles in our Woreda, once each kebele constructs one on-spot spring, the Woreda will have additional 31 new on-spot springs.

Constructing new water schemes is not a goal in itself, the real goal is to provide sustainable services throughout, and even beyond, the scheme’s lifespan. To ensure this sustainability, we establish WASH committees (WASHCOs) and federations whenever a new scheme is built. As a result, the Woreda no longer spends on minor maintenance, as communities are taking responsibility for these tasks. This year, with support from IRC WASH, we strengthened the capacity of 119 WASHCOs and 24 federations and formally legalised them. This has created strong motivation to support them in reaching their full potential.

Overall, IRC has transformed the way we think about water service delivery. Previously, the community believed that providing water services was solely the government’s responsibility. Today, that perception has changed, and community members are actively contributing in various ways, some pay for the water they fetch, while others contribute on a monthly basis. This shift is the result of a series of awareness creation meetings facilitated by IRC, both with us and with communities at the kebele level.

In the past, Woreda leadership relied solely on government funding to rehabilitate existing schemes or construct new ones. However, after IRC supported us in developing our own resource mobilisation strategy, we began mobilising resources from the community and development partners. Whenever we mobilise resources, we refer to the WASH SDG master plan, which clearly outlines the annual financial requirements needed to achieve universal coverage. As a result, the question of ‘Where will we get resources?’ is no longer a concern for us.

During the master plan development, we identified the water potential of our woreda, as well as all functional and non-functional schemes. All this data is stored in the mWater monitoring system. We regularly update this monitoring tool and use the data to guide continuous improvement.

I completed two courses from the Systems Academy and received certification. These courses, WASH Systems Strengthening: The Basics and Financing for Sustainable WASH, enhanced my understanding of systems strengthening, which I now apply in our daily activities.’’