Access to water: a major challenge for communities in northern Ivory Coast

A region facing poverty and climate change

The Upper Bandama catchment area, situated in northern Côte d’Ivoire between the Poro and Tchologo regions, is a vital water resource and a strategic location for regional economic development. This rural area supports significant agricultural, pastoral and industrial activities that are heavily dependent on water availability. However, pressure on water resources is intensifying due to climate change, population growth and rising demand.

This situation is exacerbated by a general decline in rainfall observed over recent decades, leading to a reduction in water volume (27,781,000 m³/year) in certain reservoirs within the basin¹

Climate projections also indicate that climate variability will increase in the coming years, heightening the risks of strain on this essential resource. “In the past, the country had significant water potential,” comments Yao Geoffroy Toure, Technical Manager for Water, Hygiene and Sanitation at Action Against Hunger in Côte d’Ivoire.

“Today, rainfall is becoming increasingly irregular and insufficient, which is severely disrupting agricultural campaigns and, in the long term, households’ ability to feed themselves adequately. The projected impacts of climate change on agricultural production by 2050 indicate losses of more than 25 per cent for maize.”

Added to these climatic uncertainties are human-induced pressures such as deforestation and land overexploitation, which contribute to the depletion of soils and water resources.

Against this backdrop, the conservation and sustainable management of water are becoming major challenges for the Upper Bandama region, particularly as communities in the northern border areas of the country face high levels of poverty and limited access to basic social services.

Water challenges in the Tchologo region

Since the 2003 Act, responsibility for water management has rested with local authorities. However, water supply and sanitation services remain insufficient to meet the growing needs of the population.

At local level, access to water is provided by COGEPEs (Water Point Management Committees), a community-based structure responsible for ensuring the management and sustainability of water infrastructure such as boreholes and hand pumps.

“Committee members are appointed by the community itself within the village. These committees are 45 per cent women, who are the main users and managers of water on a day-to-day basis,” explains Yao Geoffroy.

Whilst this governance model encourages community involvement, it nevertheless reveals certain limitations. Often poorly trained and with limited financial resources, the management committees are few in number and struggle to ensure effective maintenance of the infrastructure and rigorous monitoring of the service. These difficulties can lead to tensions within communities, particularly between farmers and livestock keepers.

Local people are also faced with the gradual deterioration of water infrastructure. Recurring breakdowns of hand pumps are therefore one of the main obstacles to sustainable access to drinking water.

Beyond maintenance issues, the lack of infrastructure remains a cause for concern.

“With a population of nearly 550,000, the Tchologo region has only 417 hand-operated pumps, meaning an average of 1,318 people rely on a single hand-operated pump – a figure well below humanitarian standards (one pump for every 250 to 500 people at most) and far from sufficient to meet the population’s needs,”

explains Yao Geoffroy. Compounding this low coverage are the dilapidated state of the facilities, difficulties in recovering management costs, and a lack of qualified service providers to maintain the infrastructure.

Furthermore, the challenges relating to access to water are accompanied by significant issues regarding hygiene and sanitation. More than half of the rural population lacks access to facilities for washing hands with soap and water, whilst more than one in two households still practise open defecation. This situation increases the risk of waterborne diseases spreading and further undermines the resilience of already vulnerable communities.

Citizen participation for effective water management

Strengthening local governance and citizen participation is a key driver for better and more sustainable management of water resources. To this end, Action Against Hunger, with financial support from the Water Agencies (Loire-Bretagne and Artois-Picardie) and in collaboration with local authorities, is leading the project ‘Sustainable Access to Water and Sanitation for Rural Communities in the Upper Bandama Basin’, which aims to sustainably improve access to water, sanitation and the governance of water resources.

On the one hand, Action Against Hunger’s work helps to improve access to water infrastructure for rural communities. On the other hand, it helps to build local capacity in water management to ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water in the department of Ferkessédougou.

“The priority is to put the local population back at the heart of the solutions to address the issue of sustainable water point management. To this end, we have supported 69 water point management committees in the sub-prefectures of Ferkessédougou, Koumbala and Togoniéré, focusing on organisational aspects, financial management and the monitoring of decisions. These management committees are grouped into three associations, which have been federated at departmental level. An association of repair tradespeople has been formed. This structure enables communities to have direct access to the financial resources needed to repair faults quickly, within 72 hours. Today, these communities have strengthened their resilience and gained greater autonomy and efficiency in managing water resources,” comments Yao Geoffroy.

Ultimately, citizens will be able to participate more effectively in planning the use of water resources, raise their voices with the authorities regarding the difficulties encountered at village level, and exercise civic oversight of public action relating to water resources.

The results are already visible on the ground: 11,825 residents of the Togoniéré area have benefited from the rehabilitation of nine hand pumps and the construction of a latrine block.

“This is the result of a huge community mobilisation effort to secure water supplies in rural areas and villages.”

The project has, in particular, improved the daily life of Naminata, who says:

“I live in Diéwarakaha, a village situated 7 km from the sub-prefecture of Togoniéré. Before Action Against Hunger’s intervention, access to drinking water was difficult. Of the village’s two pumps, only one was working, leading to long queues and frequent tensions. Furthermore, women were not involved in decisions relating to the management of the pumps. Matters concerning the management of these pumps were the sole responsibility of the men.

Today, thanks to ACF’s support, a Management Committee has been set up, and I have been elected Chair by my community. The training I have received in leadership and community governance has boosted my confidence and my ability to speak in public.

I now take part in decision-making and speak on behalf of women at community and sub-prefectural meetings. This change has led to more inclusive management of water points, where women’s concerns are now heard and taken into account.”

Action Against Hunger’s teams, through the management committees, also raise awareness amongst local people about the sustainable management of water resources:

“We run awareness-raising and educational sessions on hygiene and sanitation so that communities can adopt best practices for themselves and for future generations.”

The project also contributes to the protection of water resources and the preservation of biodiversity. Indeed, a reforestation programme around the 15 water points will be carried out in collaboration with the Tchologo Regional Water and Forestry Directorate, which will help to stabilise the soil and replenish groundwater levels. At the same time, regular monitoring of groundwater levels is being put in place to better prevent the risks of shortages, overexploitation of aquifers and pollution linked to agricultural and industrial activities.

A marked improvement in water security

At the start of the project, a survey was conducted among 189 beneficiary households to assess their level of water insecurity using the Household Water Insecurity Survey (HWISE) indicator, both before and after the project’s implementation.

“This is the first time we have collected this type of data on water security, and the figures are telling: the proportion of households experiencing low, moderate and high levels of water insecurity fell from 65 per cent at the start of the project to 3.5 per cent at the end,” emphasises Yao Geoffroy.

Before the programme was rolled out, the consequences of the lack of access to water were a particular cause for concern. More than a third of the households surveyed reported having had to change their diet due to a lack of available water (36 per cent), whilst 35 per cent felt they did not have enough water for their daily needs. Furthermore, 34 per cent of respondents said they had been unable to wash properly, and nearly 30 per cent said they had gone to bed feeling thirsty.

The study goes beyond mere issues of access to water and also highlights less visible, but equally significant, effects. At the start of the survey, feelings of anxiety, anger and shame were reported by more than half of those surveyed. These feelings had declined significantly by the end of the survey.

“These results clearly show that access to water is not merely a question of infrastructure. It is also closely linked to people’s living conditions, well-being and mental health,” concludes Yao Geoffroy.

---

1. Yao Blaise KOFFI, 2007, A study of the training, validation and performance of formal neural networks based on hydro-climatic data from the White Bandama catchment in Côte d’Ivoire, University of Cocody, Abidjan, 8 pp.