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PROPOSAL FOR THE DRILLING OF A BOREHOLE IN SIRIGU-NYOKOKO TO SERVE AS PORTABLE WATER SUPPLY

SUBMITTED TO:

e.atindaana@betterlifeaid.org
January, 2012

SUBMITTED BY: EDMOND ATINDAANA BETTER LIFE AID AND TOURS P.O. BOX 170 BOLGATANGA, UPPER EAST REGION GHANA, WEST AFRICA

DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION

Introduction Better Life Aid and tours is a non-profit charity based in Ghana and has its branch in France who seeks to make life more desirable for small impoverished communities. As part of its projects, it helps these small communities have access to portable water.

Sirigu-Nyokorkor is a small community with a population of about 1500 and about 40km away from Bolgatanga town, the municipal capital of the Upper East Region. The only water source of the community is a dam which serves the about 1500 people. As per the standards of Ghana, one borehole serves 300 people. However, there is no source of portable water in this community. During the dry season when the dam runs dry, the community then resorts to a dugout for their water. Due to lack of portable water, the community has suffered a lot of set-backs, ranging from diseases (waterborne) to deaths.

ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY NEEDS AND ASPIRATIONS Despite the fact that it is apparent that a source of portable water supply in this community is a major setbacks to its development, the organisation went ahead to identify some needs and aspirations of the people of Sirigu-Nyokoko community in the Bolgatanga municipality of the Upper East region. In doing this, focused group discussions were held with various groups in the community on their needs and aspirations. To validate this information, a community forum was organized with all members of the community on these issues. The following needs were identified by the community members.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

irrigational facilities boreholes Clinic community centre School storage facilities Good sanitation credit facility

The top six needs were identified and were then ranked using pairwise ranking with the various groups. These groups were used in order that the findings were a good representation of the whole community but not just a sample of the populace.
PAIRWISE RANKING OF NEEDS WITH THE YOUTH OF SIRIGU-NYOKOKO

NEED

1. bore holes 2. School 3. Clinic 4. community library 5. credit facility 6. Trained teachers

2 1

3 1 2

4 1 2 4

5 1 2 3 4

6 1 2 3 4 6

SCORE 5 4 2 3 0 1

RANK 1st 2nd 4th 3rd 6th 5th

PAIRWISE RANKING OF NEEDS WITH THE WOMEN OF SIRIGU-NYOKOKO

NEED

1. bore holes 2. School 3. Clinic 4. community library 5. credit facility 6. Trained teachers

2 1

3 1 2

4 1 2 3

5 1 2 3 4

6 1 2 3 4 5

SCORE 5 4 3 2 1 0

RANK 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th

PAIRWISE RANKING OF NEEDS WITH THE CHIEF AND ELDERS OF SIRIGU-NYOKOKO NEED 1 2 1 3 1 2 4 1 2 4 5 1 2 3 4 6 1 2 6 6 SCORE 5 4 1 2 RANK 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

1. bore holes 2. Clinic 3. School 4. community library

5. credit facility 6. Trained teachers Source: field Survey, 2011

0 3

6th 5th

After the identification of these needs of the community, there was the need to identify the most pressing needs of the community, hence, Pair Wise Ranking was used to analyze their most pressing needs. This analysis is presented in the table above. From the pair wise ranking analysis made in the table, it was brought to bear that the most pressing need of the community is the drilling of a borehole. This scored a mark of 5 in each of the ranking with the various groups in the community, making it the highly ranked amongst the other needs listed. The study revealed that, this was due to the fact that, the only source of water for drinking and other

purposes is a dam which some residents have to walk about 4km in order to access it.
This called for the need for the group to develop a proposal on the drilling of a borehole to enable the community achieve their most pressing need.

Discussions were held with the community members concerning the problems facing the community. After the discussion, it came to bare that, the major problem facing the community is lack of a borehole. This is not a surprise since the community generally depends on water from a dam which is not suitable for drinking. Visiting the water source to ascertain its suitability, it was astonishing to that people really drunk from it. Below are photographs of the dam at SiriguNyokoko.

Dugout used when the dam runs dry

Problem Identification The community is faced with equally important development issues, however, the identification of lack of a borehole in the community as a major problem of Sirigu-Nyokoko community has led to the writing of a proposal to improve livelihood through the drilling of a borehole to serve as a source of drinking water for the people of Sirigu-Nyokoko community. Previous reports have showed that the community has suffered a lot from the lack of a source of portable drinking water. This has over the years led to the spread of diseases such as cholera which in many cases were fatal due to their inability to access health care, guinea worm etc. The dam that these people drink from is the same dam that animals in the area drink from and people bath in it as well.

Justification of Prioritized Development Intervention Like many other rural communities in Ghana, Sirigu-Nyokoko is confronted with a number of development challenges that generally retard their process of development. The challenges could be drawn from their socio-economic, demographic, political and other issues in the community. However, after using the pair wise ranking method, it was realized that the key development challenge of the people is the provision a suitable source of drinking water through the drilling of a borehole.

Lack of portable drinking water as a phenomenon did not appear in vacuum but rather has several causes identified by the people. The direct effect of the core problem is diseases which results into low output and therefore low standard of living.

PROBLEM TREE ANALYSIS

LOW STANDARD OF LIVING

LOW INVESTMENT

LOW SAVINGS

HIGH MORTALITY RATE

INABILITY TO ACCESS HEALTH CARE

LOW OUTPUT HIGH ILLITERACY RATE

DISEASES

SCHOOL DROP OUTS

NO PORTABLE WATER

CHILDREN WALK LONG DISTANCES FOR WATER

LACK OF BOREHOLES LACK OF CAPITAL LACK OF TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW PESTS AND DISEASES LACK OF TECHNICAL PERSONELLE BAD FARM PRACTICES LOW GOVERNMENT SUPPORT LACK OF CAPITAL SMALL FARM SIZE LOW PRODUCTIVITY

LOW LEVEL OF EDUCATION

The benefits that will be derived from the borehole include: a. Serve a suitable source of drinking water b. Reduce incidence of waterborne diseases c. Increased agricultural output d. Better standard of living

Goal Improve livelihood through the drilling of a Borehole to serve as a source of portable water for SiriguNyokoko community.

Objectives of the Intervention In our quest to achieve the ultimate goal of this intervention, the following objectives were identified; By the year of 2013, the borehole is completed. By the end of the year 2013, 80% of the people have access to portable drinking water. By the year 2014, migration of the youth is reduced by 40%.

Cost Involved. Below is a quotation of the cost of drilling a 125mm borehole

Sustainability Issues The facility when duly completed would be handed over to the beneficiaries (Sirigu-Nyokoko). Its management, maintenance and operational cost would be the responsibility of the community members. Two community members will be trained on the maintenance of the borehole and it shall be their responsibility to repair it in case it is damaged. Besides, the environment around the facility is good and hence does not conflict with the cultural values or beliefs of the people.

Conclusion When the facility is duly completed, it will then be handed over to the community. It shall then serve a source of portable water, thus curbing the menace and its associated problems and hence the people of Sirigu-Nyokoko will awaken to a brighter day full of good drinking water.

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