ASWA II Project Reached 997,000 people With Safe Drinking Water In Six North East LGAs
By Murtala Muhammad
Nine hundred and ninety seven thousand people in Six LGAs of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states have been reached with safe drinking water, under the Accelerating Sanitation and Water for All (ASWA II) project.
The disclosure was made during a Programme End Line Validation and Local Investment Plan Development Meeting held in Gombe between 19th-21th March, 2024.
The project which was implemented by the Nigeria Government with funding from Government of the Netherlands in through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria Country office, had eight beneficiary countries to include Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia and Tanzania.
The ASWA II project was implemented for 5 years (2019-2023) with benefiting LGAs to include Jada and Guyuk in Adamawa state, Biu and Meigumeri in Borno State as well as Fune and Geidam Yobe state.
The implementing Partners of the project are Government of Nigeria through the State Government and the Local Government Authorities.
The aim of the meeting was to review the achievements of the project, validate the end line survey and impact assessment as well as develop strategies for sustainability through a local investment as the project ends.
People in the target LGAs were provided with safe drinking water as 880,000 people changed their attitude of defecating in the open by adopting the use of safe and hygienic toilet facility.
The National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS) during implementation period of the project had declared three local government areas of Biu, Guyuk and Jada in Borno and Adamawa states respectively as Open Defecation Free (ODF).
The project had also contributed to improved healthcare, nutrition and wellbeing of the poor and vulnerable people, especially among women and girls in the targeted LGAs and communities, also contributed to the positive reduction in “children on the move” and outbreak of cholera disease among other problems.
