Due to the lack of access to potable water, both men and women are forced to fetch water from the nearby river. The main objective therefore of this project is to improve access to potable water thereby enabling production of cash crops and mitigating the impact of severe drought and climate change on the community food generation capacity. This will help to re-establish the practice of backyard and small scale farming by women, improving income, nutrition and food security. While the men will return to the traditional agriculture of coffee and coco production.
Replication of project activities
Replication of this initiative is possible based on the strategic objectives being realized, which takes effect when the project has been implemented and is being monitored. Government's participation and partnership with the community through the Parish Council, the National Water Commission and Water Authority and the Member of Parliament is an avenue through which we can seek to have this project replicated throughout other communities that face similar problems.
Policy Influence
The government agencies involved in this project have since committed to replicating the project activities in other communities. This project may therefore not directly influence policy decisions but it has been able to capture the attention of the government encouraging them to use other means of ensuring all communities within Jamaica have access to potable water.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
The lack of access to potable water in the community of Colouden has affected many households, as families are forced to use the river water for drinking, cooking and washing to fulfil their household needs, the use of which have proven to affect the livelihood of residents. Furthermore, in an effort to service this need, family members inclusive of children were required to tote water from the river to their homes.
This project will provide livelihood and socio-economic benefits by:
(1) Improving the quality of water now available to residents which would improve hygiene and sanitation thereby mitigating some health issues presently encountered in the community.
(2) Reducing the time required to get water thereby enabling families to use their manpower for other purposes e.g. the children would be able to attend school earlier and more frequently since they would no longer be required to "fetch" water from the river and mothers/fathers would be able to focus on their small stock rearing and cash crop production for financial gain.
Project sustainability
The project from inception has placed sustainability at the heart of the planning phase by ensuring the Government's full participation. To this extent, through the National Water
Commission, the pipeline facility is expected to be fully integrate into the national water network at latest in the second year of Operation 6. This ensures that the supply of water is more consistent and sustainable for the community.
Planning non gef grant
There are no immediate plans to scale up through non-GEF grants.
Planning gef grant
There are no immediate plans to scale up to a medium-sized GEF grant.
Inovative Financial Mechanisms
There is no clear management strategy for the project, however, through the secretary on the management team, data and products relating to the project would be documented and stored for future use.
Linkages gef projects
There were not linkages created with other GEF projects
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
This is a community based project that has the full support of most if not all members of the community. The main communication strategy therefore to promote public awareness would be flyers and word of mouth through community members. There are several community based groups involved and they too would be able to communicate the status and needs of the project to their members. A key project sponsor is the Colouden New Testament Church of God and as such the church would be used as an avenue to communicate project objectives and status updates during membership meetings and on the church notice board.
Notable Community Participation
This project seeks to improve the level of access to potable water on a community wide basis where approximately 3396 males and 2928 females inclusive of youth would be positively impacted. As this is a community based project, youth involvement would be at different stages of the project, most notably the execution of activities where they have pledged to donate to the project in kind providing support services in the form of labour.
Capacity - Building Component
This project will see the involvement of several partners that will enable the capacity needs to be adequately addressed.
However, the technical aspect of the project such the laying of the pipes would be very challenging for community members. As such, the various Government agencies have committed to providing technical and financial assistance that will ensure the project is completed at the required standard and budgeted cost.
Policy Impact
Water is essential to the life, health and social well being of all citizens in Jamaica. Therefore, although this is a community based initiative, we would seek to support the Government of Jamaica's Water Policy. The results realised from this project, once properly documented, can be used as statistical evidence to assist with policy implementation.
Project Results
This project was successfully completed in August, 2015.
The objectives were to harvest spring water from an identified source by procuring the land and rights to the water and constructing catchment tanks and stand-pipes to distribute this water throughout the community.
Both objectives were met as the team was able to successfully create the necessary partnerships and MOU among stakeholders to secure access to the lands and water rights for the projects and the infrastructures for collecting the water were all established and water is now being distributed throughout the community.
The assessment of impact as indicated on the VRA reporting form showed that community members feel they now have the resources and power to better manage the impact of Climate Change on their livelihood. In addition, this project provided a specific plan to manage the impact of a sustained drought since a new storage tank has been built for this purpose.
Overall, the ability for community members to access piped water at least 3 days per week versus no days per week is making a significant difference in their lives. Businesses have started within the community, farmers are now investing in livestock and small family gardens are being established among households.
