Communities in Boikin and Dagua LLGs in Wewak District, East Sepik Province, will soon have improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services following a grant of USD $150,000 from The Coca-Cola Foundation, the international philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company, to WaterAid, an international non-governmental organization.
The one-year grant will enable WaterAid to improve access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services in the two LLGs in Wewak District.Joint monitoring program data (July 2021) shows that over 63% of Papua New Guineans lack access to a basic water supply and 81% lack access to a basic hygienic toilet. This lack of access to water and sanitation and poor hygiene practices result in increased incidences of water-borne diseases, especially diarrhea, typhoid and cholera.
Director of Programs for WaterAid PNG, Ms Navara Kiene, says: “WaterAid is delighted to receive the support from The Coca-Cola Foundation to achieve improved access to these much-needed services for these communities.
“As a result of the grant, households in Walandoum and the wider Boikin LLG community will have increased access to clean, safe water with the construction of a gravity-fed water supply. WASH services in Boikin Health Centre will also improve to benefit the patients and community members accessing the facility.
“Part of the funding will also contribute towards the completion of a hybrid gravity-fed and rain catchment system for the 1103 people of Sowom, Dagua LLG.
“Apart from the planned water supply construction and upgrades, the funded projects will take a sustainable holistic approach of working with government, community and health centre staff to establish mechanisms such as WASH Committees for ownership and maintenance of WASH infrastructure as well as to lead hygiene behavior change promotion including Covid prevention messaging and vaccination advocacy in the target communities.”
The project will also have specific benefits for women and girls, says Ms Kiene.
“For example, in Walandoum the nearest clean water source accessed by the community is over 1.5km away. Women and girls have experienced physical stress from carrying heavy loads of water from the water source as well as incidents of being harassed while making the trek to collect water so they sometimes rely on an unsafe water wells instead.”
“The project will enable easier and safer access for the women and girls of Walanduom who bear most of the burden of WASH related household tasks and will benefit the most from it,” she says.
Saadia Madsbjerg, The Coca-Cola Foundation President says: “One of the priorities of The Coca-Cola Foundation is to help transform lives and build more resilient communities through water stewardship– from supplying sources of clean drinking water to improving sanitation and hygiene. We’re proud to support WaterAid to deliver these WASH services in Papua New Guinea.”
All the projects selected for The Coca-Cola Foundation funding are taken from the 5-year Wewak District WASH Plan (2019 – 2023), which was developed based on data from a district-wide baseline conducted by the Wewak District and provincial government representatives and supported by the PNG-Australia Partnership’s Water for Women Program in 2019. Implementation and monitoring of the projects will be supported by the Wewak District WASH Coordination Body, chaired by the Wewak District Administration and the East Sepik Provincial Authority.
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For more information, please contact:
Fauziah Syafarina Nasution,
Communications Manager COCA-COLA
Indonesia/ Malaysia / Papua New Guinea
Email: fnasution@coca-cola.com. Mobile: 0811-981-343
Notes for editor:
About The Coca-Cola Foundation:
Established in 1984, The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF) has invested more than $1.2 billion around the world to protect the environment, empower women to thrive and to enhance the overall well-being of people and communities.
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