The Safer Future Youth Development Project (SFYDP) has an own Water and Sanitation Department with motivated staff, who are very skilful in community training. The organisation has gained experience with underground Rainwater Harvesting Tanks (RHT), the repairing and maintenance of water-wells and different techniques of water purification like SODIS (Solar Water Disinfection). In 2004 two staff members of the SFYDP were trained in the method of constructing and maintaining RHT at the Barefoot College in India. So far the SFYDP has built eight RHT and is presently finishing the constructing of some other tanks in cooperation with Blue Planet Run, Peer Water Exchange. In 2005 Lifewater International trained three of our staff-members in well repairs and maintenance and about hygiene and sanitation principles. In 2008 two staff-members were also trained about Community Lead Total Sanitation (CLTS) by UNICEF.
Our main focus is always on the cooperation with the affected community. Community members are involved in the construction and totally responsible for the maintenance after completion. Therefore they are trained in the correct utilisation of the water source, informed about hygienic standards as well as water chlorination. Through workshops the awareness of the entire community is guaranteed. To exchange these techniques with other African Countries the Project Manager visited Timbuktu, Mali, in October 2007 to share his knowledge. The SFYDP as a member of the Peer Water Exchange program already cooperated several times with the Blue Planet Run Foundation in constructing tanks for schools. Another strength of the Water and Sanitation Department is to repair water-wells that are broken down due to poor maintenance. Since 2005 the SYFDP repaired over twenty water wells in remote areas. New hand pumps have been installed and through a workshop the entire community was introduced to the correct maintenance of water-wells. This helps to prevent further damages and guarantees the right utilisation, as water-wells are one of the most common water sources in Sierra Leone.

One Repairs kit for the Chiefdom, maintenance kits for thirty villages and India Mark II pumps.

The project will be staged in six phases
1) Survey of villages
2) Training of four Technicians for the Chiefdom
3) Training of two pump-caretakers for each village
4) Provision of repairs-kit for Koya Chiefdom Well-maintenance team
5) Provision of ma

The only physical things handed over to the beneficiaries in this project are the repairs kit for the chiefdom, the maintenance kits for the villages and the Indian Mark II pumps. As inhabitants demand that the Paramount Chiefs take their responsibility serious, he will be willing to store the kit and the spare parts and organize its proper utilisation.
After the technicians have been trained they will select two people per village, who will be trained as pump-caretakers. The pump-caretakers take responsibility to follow some hygiene-principles like the clearing of the area around the well, the prohibition of doing laundry, defecation etc. in the wells surrounding.

During the workshops for the Technicians and the well-caretakers hygiene and sanitation principles will also be taught. At the same time we will train the participants in different household water-treatment methods.

We want to use this section to state some additional details about the planned activities:

Our activities will include a Training of four Technicians in the District Headquarter, Provision of a repair kit to the well-maintenance-team, Provision of maintenance kits to thirty villages, a pump-caretaker training for two people of each village and a Refreshers Training for the Technicians after three months to exchange experience:

1) Survey:
One technician of the SFYDP will get in contact with the Paramount Chief and other Chiefdom officials to discuss the water-well situation in the Chiefdom. After that he will move to the locations to check the actual status and select the thirty most affected communities. We will use Survey-forms to make the selection as objective as possible. The Paramount Chief will then select four reliable people of the Chiefdom, who will later be trained as technicians.

2) Training of four Technicians for the Chiefdom:
There will be a one-week workshop in Masheka, the Chiefdom Headquarter. The Paramount Chief will select four reliable people, who will be trained as well-technicians. In this workshop we will include both theoretical and practical training in the field. After the participants succeeded in completing the workshop, a full repairing and maintenance kit will be handed over to the well-maintenance-team, which will be supervised by the Paramount Chief, allowing them to be able to take care of their wells. In case of serious problems they will be able to consult the SFYDP, if the technicians are not able to fix the well. The technicians will select two people of each participating community, who will be trained in proper maintenance and caretaking of the wells by the SFYDP.

3) Training of two pump-caretakers for each village:
The pump-caretakers will be trained how to handle the well to avoid any problems. This includes clearing of the surrounding area, tightening screws, chlorinating the water-well and advising the villagers about the proper usage. They will also be trained to notice upcoming problems at an early stage, after which they should inform the well-technicians. To ensure that the villages will be able to pay for spare-parts in the future, we’ll advise them to start a fee-system, where each household has to pay a certain amount each month to the hygiene and sanitation committee. This money should be there for any arising repairs-cost. The pump-caretakers are the two permanent members of this hygiene and sanitation committee. In addition to that we will suggest letting other people join this committee. To make it as representative as possible, they should include elders and youths as well as male and female participants.

4) Provision of repairs-kit for Koya Chiefdom to the well-maintenance-team:
The well-maintenance-team will receive a full repairs kit and spare parts for the Chiefdom. This kit contains all tools, necessary to fix the most common problems of a well. Please find the detailed items in the attached budget. In case of any well-problems the kit can be used by the technicians under the supervision of the Paramount Chief.

5) Provision of maintenance-kits to thirty villages:
The reason for problems lies often in bad maintenance and water-wells could be fixed easily if the tools were there. For this reason a small maintenance-kit will be given to each community. This kit consists of needed tools to do periodic tasks. Please find the detailed items in the attached budget.

6) Refreshers Training for Technicians – exchange of experiences and problems:
Three months after the workshop the Technicians will again meet in the Chiefdom Headquarter together with the trainers from the SFYDP. There they should report about their activities, experiences and problems. If they had wells, which they were not able to repair due to lack of materials, we will analyze the case together. In addition to that all the things learned will be reviewed together to deepen the knowledge.