Papua New Guinea

Background:
The target village, Lababia, is the largest village under the jurisdiction of Salamaua local government, on the south coast of Huon District. It is on a picturesque tropical island with long sandy beaches and clear blue waters.Geographically, Lababia sits where there is a high occurrence of typhoons, with rains brought by the typhoons resulting in heavy flooding. In 2016, a strong typhoon hit the area and brought devastation to the bio-physical landscape of the community, including local sources of freshwater for drinking and domestic use. Since then, the villagers had to travel 2 hours by boat to fetch water for their day-to-day lives.
The very restricted access to freshwater took its toll on public health, resulting in cases of disease, such as diarrhea, typhoid, malaria, and cholera. There was also a landslide and flood in 2016 in Lababia which destroyed food crops along with natural flora and fauna, as well as the village’s water supply system.
There was no government support to install a water supply and with the community school located in the village, it was necessary to construct a water supply to ensure that the children have access to quality water in reasonable qualities.

Before the project:

Water pump damaged by rust	Open well where the community fetched water

Project Overview:
Consultation with the Ward Councilor and the communities prior to the start of the project was paramount, as it helped with the overall planning and smooth execution of the project in a timely manner. Two days were set aside for preparations and planning, which was beneficial to the project’s success. There were no major problems faced during the planning, construction, or completion of the project.
An information and awareness session was carried out by a district health official before the actual construction began. This was a vital step as the people needed to be made aware of the importance of the project and why it was necessary to have clean and safe water of an acceptable quality.
WASH training was also undertaken by the responsible authority to ensure that the population practiced basic hygiene with an understanding of how to take care of their water supply and food, as well as the general practice of waste control and waste disposal in the village. The district health official further educated the community on issues such as the need to boil water for storage and before consumption; the washing of hands after using toilets and before eating; and keeping flies away from food.
The MDF project team was in the village for 5 days. Awareness talks were held between the villagers and the team during evening church services and other meetings. The importance of the project was stressed and the community members indicated their support for maintaining and looking after the hand pump, monitoring it and reporting to the ward councilor who will then report to the district health administrator.

During the project:

Shipment of materials	Pump installation

 Main activities:
・Action planning workshop and awareness and education activities
・Training on WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)
・Water quality testing
・Installation of water hand pump
・Training on installation, monitoring and preventive maintenance of water hand pump
・Setting up community-led monitoring

After the project:

Plumber trying out the hand pump after completion of the project	Singing group performing during the launch of the water supply project

• Having quality water in a sufficient quantity is vital and essential to sustain life because water is life. The people of Kamiali are happy to get this support and acknowledge the JWF and the people of Japan for this generous contribution.

• Our water supply was destroyed by the disaster and this support is great as now I will not have to travel a long distance to wash and get fresh water.

• This support is very important, as many of the children in the village have been getting diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases. Getting a good water supply will surely improve health and we will not have to travel a long distance to Lae to get medication.