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Health |
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Success Stories
Working in Partnership for Clean Water and Better Health |
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Partnership demands a different attitude at all levels with respect to
working relationships. Partnership requires sharing resources and
creating a shared vision. This, in turn, requires openness, shared
risk-taking, and planning. In the Salvadoran community of Cara Sucia,
CARE/PROSAGUAS -
a USAID-funded health
activity - applied this approach to
partnership with remarkable results. |
Inauguration new Cara Sucia
water system |
Cara Sucia, a community of 1,700 families, is located in
the municipality of San Francisco Menéndez in the western department of
Ahuachapán. Before initiation of the PROSAGUAS activity, only 19% of
households had access to potable water in Cara Sucia. Although community
leaders began their search in 1976 for assistance in expanding access to
potable water, their efforts were frustrated by high construction costs
estimated at more than $1,700,000. They had looked for more than 20 years
without a favorable response.
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Health promoter at work |
CARE/PROSAGUAS made a careful search for
potential partners living and working in the Cara Sucia community,
developing a positive working relationship with these partners and the
community at large through a series of meetings and community visits.
The first breakthrough came when the community’s beneficiary households
agreed to contribute $115,000 in cash toward construction costs, in
addition to a commitment to provide labor and local resources valued at
more than $170,000. |
Partnership agreements were also forged with the Ministry
of Health and the local NGO, SALVANATURA, which represents one of El
Salvador’s most prominent NGOs specializing in environmental protection and
soil conservation. SALVANATURA manages the El Imposible National Park, which
contains the watershed for Cara Sucia’s new, community-operated water
system. A partnership agreement was also forged with CENTA, which has
extensive experience in agronomy and is affiliated with the Ministry of
Agriculture. For its part, the Ministry of Health contributed a
well-established network of community health promoters to the partnership.
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An inter-institutional agreement was also signed
between CARE/PROSAGUAS and the European Union’s "Basic Hygiene in the
Western Region" Project ALA 93/30 in which the European Union agreed to
finance one-third of the cost for constructing the Cara Sucia water
system. A similar agreement was made with ANDA, the public institution
charged with regulation of water services, which |
New water tank, Cara Sucia |
agreed to cover 10% of the financing. Even the
U.S. Peace Corps became involved in the partnership through assignment of a
water and sanitation Peace Corps volunteer to assist with the Cara Sucia
activity.
What has been accomplished?
- As a result of the new water and sanitation system and improved health
and hygiene practices, reported cases of diarrhea among 0- to 5-year olds
have decreased by 45%.
- Partnership agreements between the USAID-financed activity and eight
diverse institutions demonstrate the successful development of a common
vision and shared goals.
- An operating agreement for continuing administration of the activity
was elaborated with well-defined commitments.
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