Shashui Irrigation Project, Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Supporters of CPA will know that we have successfully funded and completed three phases of this important project, the latter of which brought water from main inlets to domestic water points so that all the villagers, and not just a few, could benefit from the provision of clean and safe water.

Project History:

Late in 2005 we were approached by a Tanzanian NGO - the Association for Community Empowerment and Development (ACEDE). They had seen from our web site that we supported an irrigation project on West Kilimanjaro and they asked if we would support an irrigation project in the Usambara Mountains for the Shashui Village.

Their project proposal was well researched and documented and we asked WaterAid UK to review this. They made some valid suggestions, which the villagers accepted.

Valerie McGivern, Trustee and Projects Manager for CPA volunteered to meet with ACEDE and visit the proposed site of the project in January 2006. Valerie was already staying in Tanzania and the charity was able to obtain her report at virtually no cost. Valerie reported favorably about her meeting with ACEDE and also with the villagers of Shashui:

Extract of report from Valerie

"I met 5 members of ACEDE on 23rd January (2006) in Lushoto and travelled with them to Soni. Here I was introduced to various members of Shashui village committee including the Chairman and the Secretary of the village water committee. We were then taken to Shashui, which actually consists of 13 hamlets. We stopped at several water collection points where there were long queues of perhaps 20 or 30 ladies, all waiting to fill buckets with small cups from a slow trickle of water. There is no doubt whatsoever that there is an urgent need for an effective water source here.

I was then taken to visit the proposed intake site for Upper Shashui (the village is divided into 2 parts, Upper and Lower), which will supply the majority of the village. We also stopped to see various other strategic places - this took a long time with a lot of walking involved as the total distance from the source to the furthest distribution point is about 8.5km! I was accompanied throughout by the ACEDE members, the Shashui committee members, and roughly 50 villagers who were there to express their enthusiasm for the project!"

Phase One of the project was funded and completed between June 2006 and March 2007. We have now funded Stage Two and work is in progress as at March 2007. Valerie has made a further inspection and noted that the intake supply provides more water than we could have hoped and that the project is on target.

The success of this project to date has been due to a combination of the funds from CPA donors, the project planning and management by ACEDE, and the hard work of the villagers themselves.