Finally, 5 months after funding my big community garden and water project, it’s FINISHED! Mostly.
So far, we’ve found and repaired an existing borehole, installed an electric pump, made and set up a 30,000L capacity water tank, and created a network of 850 meters of underground water pipes leading to 3 taps. We also secured a donation of treated poles and wire mesh fencing from the local Rural Development Fund, which is all we’re waiting on for the completion of the project. (The Sisters at Our Lady of Sorrows Mission will oversee the completion and maintenance of the project in the coming weeks.)
Fifty-one members of the support group participated in the completion of the project (mostly in clearing trees and digging trench), and approximately 376 people will directly benefit from the project (this excludes the families of the people who will directly benefit).
All things considered, it’s a success and I’m leaving Swaziland happy.
I’ll say one final THANK YOU to everyone who helped to make the project possible. Without your donations, several dozen families in my community would still be without water, the high school’s agriculture department wouldn’t be able to do practicals for their classes, and my community’s support group wouldn’t be able to start their community garden. It may not seem like much to you all in America, but it means a lot to the people in my community. (And to me!)
So, in the name of 100% transparency, I’ve adapted (shortened) the answers to my final report and copy-pasted them below, along with the final budget breakdown for the project so you can see exactly what I spent my money on and what the community contributed.
1. What happened during the project? Did the community accomplish its goals?
The goal of this project was to provide members of the local HIV-positive support group and their families with the land and water resources required to maintain a large community garden, and to improve access to clean water for dozens of families in the surrounding communities of Shisizwe and Eposini. As originally proposed, the project was to finance the construction of a fence surrounding the garden, the drilling of a borehole, and the installation of a hand pump and underground pipes to carry water from the borehole to a 5000-liter capacity tank in the garden. Since this original proposal, however, it has evolved to become part of a much larger project supported by Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Mission. While the merging of this project with the work of the mission has significantly altered the proposed budget and slowed the process of the project’s implementation, it has also greatly increased the number of project beneficiaries beyond what was initially envisioned.
Following several months of unanticipated delays, project implementation began in July of 2010. In a meeting with the local traditional leadership, the sisters from Our Lady of Sorrows and I learned of an existing borehole in the vicinity of the proposed new borehole, and were granted permission to use this existing borehole for the proposed project. Subsequently, several tests determined that the quantity and quality of water in the existing borehole was satisfactory, and the focus of the project shifted from the drilling of a new water source to the refurbishment of the existing one.
The following week, support group members and a local contractor began the labor required for the completion of the project. While the contractor cleaned the borehole of twenty years of tree roots and replaced the existing rusted steel casing with a stronger PVC casing, support group members worked for several days to clear an 850-meter path through the forest between the borehole site and the support group’s garden. A team of six men was then hired to dig 850 meters of trench, half a meter deep, along the cleared path to lay pipes connecting a 3 10,000-liter capacity water tanks with three taps. The tank stands, tanks, and taps were installed during the third week of project implementation and, finally, connected to an electric pump.
The previously defunct borehole now provides water to three different populations within the Shisizwe and Eposini communities. The first tap, installed in the support group’s garden, provides support group members with the water required to plant vegetables. Second, as many as 40 families in the surrounding community now have access to a tap providing clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing. The third tap, installed in a plot of land reserved for the agriculture department at Our Lady of Sorrows High School, will provide water to several classes of high school students studying agriculture, allowing them to practice in a garden the skills they learn in the classroom as early as next term. In this way, the project has been very successful.
However, though the goal of improving the community’s access to water has been accomplished, as of mid-August the project as a whole remains incomplete. An application requesting a donation of 250 creosote-treated poles and 800 meters of chain-link fence from the Rural Development Fund, submitted in April 2010, has been processed and approved, though the support group has not yet received the promised items. Thus, the construction of the fence surrounding the proposed garden has been delayed until these items arrive. In the meantime, the support group has constructed a temporary barbed wire fence around the garden so that they can begin plowing and planting. The poles and fence are anticipated to arrive at Our Lady of Sorrows Mission by the end of August, at which point the support group’s executive committee and the sisters from Our Lady of Sorrows will oversee the construction of the fence and, with it, the completion of the project’s original goals.
2. How did the project build capacity? What new skills did your community gain from this project?
From its conception, this project has been a learning experience for everyone involved. In their role designing and managing the implementation of the project, the six members of the support group’s executive committee gained valuable skills they plan to utilize in implementing future projects. They gained practice in dividing and delegating tasks, in monitoring the progress of project implementation relative to the planned timeline, and in keeping accurate financial records for the successful and honest completion of a project of this scale. They also learned, by necessity, the importance of setting and adjusting project goals as a means of evaluating the progress of a project.
Furthermore, the project helped familiarize everyone involved with the resources available in the community to support similar projects in the future. The support group’s chairman, secretary, and treasurer were actively involved in drafting, revising, and submitting several proposals to the local Rural Development Fund, as well as the weekly correspondence updating the local traditional leadership on the progress of the project. By helping with these aspects of the project, they have now gained the skills and the confidence needed to apply to the Rural Development Fund for a loan to start a large-scale chicken coop income-generating project they hope to begin in the coming months.
In the longer-term, the completion of the project will contribute to the support group members’ understanding of nutrition and gardening techniques, and to their ability to provide balanced meals for themselves and their families.
3. How will community members sustain the benefits of the project or recover recurring costs?
As long as the borehole is in working condition and the garden is being farmed, the benefits of this project will be sustained. To this end, the sisters at Our Lady of Sorrows Mission will be vital to ensuring that the project continues to benefit the support group, the school’s agriculture students, and community as a whole.
While there will be recurring costs associated with the project, including the maintenance of the borehole and the cost of electricity to run the pump, the mission, the clinic’s head nurse, and the executive committee of the support group understand that it is their responsibility to ensure that these costs are covered. A small portion of the support group members’ monthly fees will be set aside to cover the cost of electricity, and each homestead using the tap as its main source of water will pay a nominal fee each month. Additional costs, including the cleaning of the borehole every few years and other incidental costs, will be covered by Our Lady of Sorrows Mission and the Southern African Bishops’ Conference.
And here’s the budget breakdown. The “Partnership Contribution” chart is what the money I raised actually paid for, and “Community Contribution” is Our Lady of Sorrows Mission, community members, and the local Rural Development Fund.
Partnership Contribution
| Item | Unit | Quantity | Unit Cost (SZL) | Total Cost (SZL) | Total Cost (USD) |
| Borehole pump test | | 1 | 3,400.00 | 3,400.00 | 451.23 |
| PVC casing | | 1 | 12,280.00 | 12,280.00 | 1,629.73 |
| Surface pipe and fittings | | 1 | 12,670.00 | 12,670.00 | 1,681.49 |
| Pump and installation | | 1 | 20,000.00 | 20,000.00 | 2,654.28 |
| Pump installation (labor) | | 1 | 3,000.00 | 3,000.00 | 398.14 |
| Transport of materials | | 1 | 1,500.00 | 1,500.00 | 199.07 |
| Trenching and backfilling (labor) | | 1 | 6,600.00 | 6,600.00 | 875.91 |
| Cement | Bag | 12 | 87.00 | 1,044.00 | 138.55 |
| Tank installation (labor) | | 1 | 1,500.00 | 1,500.00 | 199.07 |
| Transport of tanks and tank stands | | 1 | 2,400.00 | 2,400.00 | 318.51 |
| Securing wire | Roll | .53 | 84.40 | 84.40 | 11.20 |
| | | | | | |
| Total Partnership Contribution | | | | 64,478.40 | 8,591.69 |
Community Contribution
| Item | Unit | Quantity Needed | Unit Cost (SZL) | Total Cost (SZL) | Total Cost (USD) |
| Land | M2 | 4761 | 10 | 47,610 | 6318.51 |
| 10,000L PVC tank | | 3 | 8,650.00 | 25,950.00 | 3,443.93 |
| 10,000L steel tank stand | | 3 | 9,880.00 | 29,640.00 | 3,933.64 |
| Securing wire | Roll | .47 | 75.60 | 75.60 | 10.03 |
| Cleaning of borehole | | 1 | 60,000.00 | 60,000.00 | 7,962.84 |
| Cutting of large trees (labor) | Days | 5 | 250.00 | 1250.00 | 165.89 |
| Labor (clearing forest, fence) | Hours | 450 | 25.00 | 11,250.00 | 1,493.00 |
| | | | | | |
| Total Community Contribution | | | | 175,776.00 | 23,327.84 |
Total Project Costs
| | % Contribution | Total Cost (SZL) | Total Cost (USD) |
| Partnership Contribution | 27% | 64,478.40 | 8591.69 |
| Community Contribution | 73% | 175,776.00 | 23,327.84 |
| Total Project Cost | 100% | 240,254.40 | 31,919.53 |
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