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How a Malawi-based advocate is working to bring quality drinking water and sanitation services to the African nation

Erica Sweeney   

How a Malawi-based advocate is working to bring quality drinking water and sanitation services to the African nation
International4 min read

  • Kettie Alinafe Harawa is the Malawi-based director of influence and scale at Water for People.
  • The nonprofit works to bring quality drinking water and sanitation services to countries in need.
  • Harawa leads projects like tapping into groundwater and installing pumps and water infrastructure.

Access to clean water and better hygiene, sanitation, and water resource management is the "centerpiece" for solutions to poverty, gender equality, education, and hunger around the world, said Kettie Alinafe Harawa, the Malawi-based director of influence and scale at Water for People. In Malawi, Harawa is leading projects like tapping into groundwater and installing pumps and other water infrastructure.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the international nonprofit organization works in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, Rwanda, Uganda, and India, and has directors based in each of those countries.

To tackle the problem, Harawa works with local governments in Malawi and the national government, non-government organizations, and other groups to carry out Water for People's mission to bring quality drinking water and sanitation services to Malawi long term that are sustained by communities, businesses, and governments.

The nonprofit funds local projects in part from donors like Charity:Water, Focusing Philanthropy, Latter-day Saint Charities, and the Sea Grape Foundation, which contributed more than $1 million in 2020. Other funding comes from individual and corporate donations and other fundraising. It also negotiates with partners like local governments, education and health departments, and communities, which help pay for water, sanitation, and hygiene projects in their areas.

"Water issues need to be solved first and everything else will follow," Harawa told Insider.

In 2020, two billion people worldwide lacked safe drinking water, 3.6 billion lived without safely-managed sanitation, and 2.3 billion lacked basic hygiene — and 129 countries aren't on track to have sustainably-managed water systems by 2030, according to the United Nations.

Many African countries, like Malawi, which is home to around 19 million people, experience water stress at higher rates than other parts of the world because of higher poverty levels and a lack of water infrastructure, and a World Resources Institute report suggests that climate change could worsen the problem. In Malawi, around a third of the population lacks access to basic water services and 75% don't have access to sanitation services.

Here's a look at how Harawa is working to expand access to clean water, hygiene, and sanitation in her home country.

Ensuring long-term water viability

Water for People began working in Malawi in 2000 and now covers three districts in the country: areas in and around the second-largest city of Blantyre and the rural areas of Chikwawa and Chiradzulu.

The nonprofit brings water to communities by drilling and repairing boreholes, which are narrow shafts that reach groundwater, and restoring gravity-fed piped water systems, which pull water upstream from rivers, streams, or catchments.

Ensuring that communities can sustain their water and sanitation services is central to the mission. Harawa said the organization educates community organizations, businesses, and individuals on managing and repairing water points to ensure long-term viability and provides assistance in maintaining the water infrastructure and education along the way.

"We let them understand where their water is coming from, that water is a finite resource that must be taken care of," Harawa said, adding that citizens are also educated on how to reuse water to grow crops and plant trees.

Harawa counts her work in Blantyre among her biggest accomplishments. She was instrumental in bolstering the Blantyre Water Board and helping establish 10 water users associations that manage 1,000 communal water kiosks in the city.

Across Malawi, she also led a team that built more than 360 water kiosks and created a sanitation business chain to offer long-lasting sanitation services in Blantyre.

In 2021, Water for People's program costs in Malawi totaled more than $4.1 million, according to the organization. An additional $3.3 million was invested by partners and other stakeholders in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector.

Meeting the UN's water security targets

Harawa also strives to help Malawi achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 focused on clean water and sanitation. This involves reaching several targets by 2030, including expanding safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene access, reducing water pollution, and restoring water-related ecosystems.

The country is now a step closer, she added, after Water for People was involved with developing a resilient financing strategy for the water sector. Harawa was instrumental in the drafting process.

"We provided technical assistance to the government of Malawi with funding from UNICEF to develop a climate-resilient WASH financing strategy. The strategy identified the WASH finance gap and identified three ways of closing the gap," Harawa said. The government has accepted the plan, but it hasn't yet been adopted, as it's awaiting the minister's signature.

While she's not sure of the exact timeline, Harawa believes once the strategy is implemented, Malawi will meet the SDG 6 initiative.

"If we do business as usual, then we're not going to meet it," Harawa said. "But if we change the way we approach things and do things better, then we will be able to achieve SDG 6 in Malawi."

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