Kilimanjaro, TZ – Mkyashi community briefs partner about water supply challenges – 15, May 2021

Mkyashi families want to restart the flow of piped water in their community, so they recently briefed the manager of Better Lives partner Tupendane about the supply, organizational and legal challenges that they are facing.

The manager, Deo Matemu, was visiting in order to understand the major challenges because the local Better Lives partner Lishe Bora and Mkyashi Water Committee had agreed they needed an outside third party to assist with solving the challenges. This is because culturally it is hard for members of the community to question and challenge the leadership of local organizations. Therefore, Tupendane is providing an intermediary role that assists the community to have conversations about possible solutions to the challenges.

The supply challenge is mainly due to the Water Committee’s current system being out of order, and a new water company not having the water capacity that the community needs.

The Mkyashi Water Committee leadership and Lishe Bora provided good information to Deo about the organizational challenges. He then assisted them to prioritize the challenges and proposed solutions that could strengthen their organization.

Progress resolving the situation is expected to be made in deliberate steps due to the importance of a 2019 law regulating the management of natural resources and businesses that benefit from their use. It is important that the local government, water committee, Lishe Bora and Tupendane design a solution that works with this law.