As part of the Church of Uganda’s mission to share God’s love in practical ways, the Anglican Dioceses of North Kigezi and Kinkiizi in South west Uganda manage an integrated Programme for facilitating access to safe water supplies and improved sanitation in a participatory way while encouraging healthy hygiene practices through education and training. The NKKD WATSAN Programme is intended to help poor people in the rural areas of Rukungiri and Kanungu Districts and across the two Dioceses, irrespective of background, creed, or allegiance.
The Programme mottos: Water is life; Sanitation is dignity; life and dignity for all our people, clean water for all within reach of all.
Values: NKD WATSAN believes that accessible safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene education should be available to all, and seeks to embody the Christian values of compassion, fairness, integrity and trustworthiness. We seek to work in partnership for the common good, and to lead by the example of Christ.
Mission (Why we exist): NKD WATSAN works in partnership with other stakeholders in the improvement of health, alleviation of poverty, and promotion of social and economic development in the Rukungiri and Kanungu districts of South West Uganda, through integrated, comprehensive and sustainable initiatives, focused on the improvement of water supplies, sanitation facilities and safe hygiene practices.
Vision (Our inspiration): NKD WATSAN strives to transform the poorest communities through the accessible provision of safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene education, setting the highest standards in transparency, sustainability and working in partnership.
NKKD WATSAN Programme, originally founded in 1986 in partnership with Water Aid, and independent since 2000, has worked with partners in Local Government and other NGOs to help many thousands of people gain access to improved domestic water sources through the construction of 12 piped gravity flow water schemes, protection of over 3000 springs, and installation of many rainwater harvesting systems.
All NKKD WATSAN projects are comprehensive in nature, incorporating sanitation improvement Programmes (including VIP and Ecosan Latrines) and hygiene education as well as capacity-building initiatives to encourage sustainability.
Our Vision is for all people of our service area to live healthy and productive lives and have sustainable access to adequate safe water supplies and improved sanitation.
NKKD WATSAN is composed of an experienced and dedicated team of both hardware (design and construction work) and software (hygiene/sanitation education and capacity-building) teams.
The NKKD WATSAN Programme is directed by Revd. Canon Baingana Eric Mugyenzi and assisted by a Water Engineer working on a part-time basis, a Health, Hygiene and Sanitation Coordinator, a Financial Officer, a Public Health Promoter, a Project Secretary, a Driver (who also assists with sanitation promotion), and a part-time Social Worker that assists with software.
A team of masons/artisans/Fundis work on contract terms during times of construction, which is undertaken in collaboration with local rural communities and water sector officials of the District Local Governments in the Districts of Rukungiri and Kanungu. WATSAN’s work supplements the efforts of the government in service delivery coordinated under a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the two Dioceses of North Kigezi and Kinkiizi, the two Districts and NKKD WATSAN that was signed in 2010.
NKKD WATSAN is financially supported by a combination of funding from grants, individual contributions and partnerships. Its main funders are TearFund UK, and a dedicated support organization in the United Kingdom, the WATSAN Uganda, UK Support, registered charity number 1123803.
NKKD WATSAN Programme operates under the administrative supervision of a joint Management Committee with equal representation of seven members from each of the Anglican dioceses of North Kigezi and Kinkiizi.
Activities of NKKD WATSAN Programme
In the area of water provision, the Programme constructs gravity flow scheme, protects springs, constructs rain water harvesting systems and at times installs boreholes. Examples include the following:
- Construction of Buhunga Gravity Flow Scheme( Phase one) in 2015
- Protection of Bugiri low yield spring in Kanyantorogo- Kanungu district in 2019
- Construction of Burama Rain Water Harvesting system in Rukungiri district in 2016
- Construction of Kanyanga Shallow well, 2019 NKKD WATSAN in the area of sanitation improvement in communities at households and institutions constructs pit latrines, bath shelters and promotes sanitation and personal hygiene through construction of sanitation facilities and sensitization of Project beneficiaries.
- Sanitation facilities at Households/institutions to improve sanitation situation.
- Fundraising activities Walk for Water has become one of the most effective fundraising strategies for NKKD WATSAN.
