Hey Francis, my prof added these comments to the policy brief you helped me with, please take these into account when making your revisions, I want all points to be fixed accordingly :
This would be 85%. See comments below as you work on submission 2.
Title page should be completed or removed.
Policy brief is a little long, so as you revise work to ensure that your points are as concise as possible.
More in-text citations are needed. A number of key points remain uncited. One example is that population growth is a cause of lack of access to clean drinking water. Correlation does not mean causation, so find a source to use as evidence.
There are also some sections with few citations.
Add date (2024) for source of charts based on the WB database. Give charts a chart number. Chart on p. 5 lacks source.
How has access to clean water changed over time (longer period) in Uganda?
.You discuss consequences of the issue in the beginning and end of the background section;
I recommend reorganizing so consequences are together. You may find it interesting to differentiate access to basic vs. safely managed drinking water, since the WDI database provides both for Uganda.
In terms of background information, where are people getting their drinking water from?
What does infrastructure have to do with the issue?
For all programs: when was the social enterprise founded?
Program 1: Are the sales exclusively for drinking water and the other facilities are free? Is the water only by ATM or are there more delivery systems? Or is everything pay-per-use? Any information re: cost? Is this a for-profit social enterprise?
Program 2: we need Uganda-specific data.
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Policy Brief: Water Crisis in Uganda
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Institutional Affiliation
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Policy Brief: Water Crisis in Uganda
Introduction
Access to clean water and sanitation for all is the sixth sustainable development goal of
the United Nations. Water is the most basic need for any living thing, and clean water is the most
essential requirement for the healthy survival of people. However, a sizeable section of people
worldwide lack access to safe water for drinking. Various countries experience water crises in
different dimensions. Water crises entail either scarcity of water or lack of access to safe and
clean water. Water is crucial for sustaining good health in the community and ecosystems. This
paper is a policy brief that will assess the water crisis in Uganda.
Background
Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It shares Lake Victoria alongside Kenya
and Tanzania. It is also the source of the River Nile. The total area of Uganda is 93,263 square
miles. Out of this area, the land area is 60% while the rest is water cover (World Bank, n.d.).
Winston Churchill coined the phrase “The Pearl of Africa” in 1908, referring to Uganda due to
its substantial beauty and variety of natural wealth. Uganda has extensive renewable water
resources and water catchment areas. To the west of Uganda are the Rwenzori Mountains, Mount
Elgon to the east, and Mount Moroto in the northeast. The total forest cover in Uganda is 20% of
the total land area. These physical features show that Uganda is not a water-scarce country but
has a water crisis.
Definition of the Issue
The major water crisis issue in Uganda is minimal access to clean and safe drinking
water. This issue has caused an increase in diseases associated with poor sanitation, especially
among children. According to Nantege et al. (2022), diarrhea is among the five mortality causes
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for children under five. The diarrheal diseases contribute to over 140,000 deaths every in
Uganda, making sanitation policies questionable in the country. The prevalence of diarrheal
diseases in children below five years old is 20% in the country. These diseases are attributed to
poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water.
The root cause of the water crisis in Uganda is a high population growth rate that
overwhelms the existing water and sanitation services capacity. The Ugandan population’s lack
of access to safely managed water started about two decades ago. The issue began when Uganda
experienced a fair economic development that prompted people to move from rural to urban
areas to acquire economic opportunities.
Poverty has also been a significant root cause of the lack of access to clean water. Most
populations have settled in informal settlements in urban areas for the last two decades (Salehi,
2022). Additionally, there has been constant population growth over the previous two decades.
This population growth has resulted in a continuous challenge of access to clean water. The
World Bank data collected between 2019 and 2022 indicated that only 17-18% of Ugandans had
access to clean and safe water. More than 80% of Ugandans take water needs to be safely
managed for drinking.
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Population Growth in Uganda for the past two decades
50000000
45000000
40000000
35000000
30000000
25000000
20000000
15000000
10000000
5000000
0
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Population Growth
Source: World Bank
Macrotrends shows that Uganda’s increased access to clean water between 2016 and 2020
was only 3.58%. 2017 had an increase of 0.86%, 2018 had 0.88%, and 2019 had an increase of
0.91%. The access to water in 2020 was 0.93% compared to 2019. On the other hand, the
population was booming at a high rate. The population growth rate between 2016 and 2020 was
3.56%, 3.46%, 3.45%, 3.37%. The growth rate of the national population and the population
accessing clean water is illustrated graphically below.
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General population growth rate versus population growth rate of people
accessing clean water
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
2017
2018
Population growth
2019
2020
Population accessing clean water
The two rates show the lack of urgency to address the water crisis in Uganda. There has
been no significant change in accessing water in the country. The government and concerned
agencies have made a gap they cannot address. Ideally, the population growth should imply to
the government that there might be water stress and scarcity of clean water; the Ugandan
population seek water by their means, making them fetch water in unsafe environments.
The water crisis in Uganda has already hit the country with mortalities among children
aged five and below (Gaffan et al., 2023). There are extensive implications that water scarcity
reflects in any community. The country could experience minimal economic development, and
diseases could occur occasionally, hindering the population’s productivity (Calderón-Villarreal et
al., 2022). The population may be unable to break the cycle of poverty due to limiting
opportunities to have quality standards of living that create a conducive environment for growth.
Additionally, children may fail to get adequate education due to the time they spend at home
curing illnesses related to unsafe water. In the past years, there have been conflicts and should
the water crisis continue in the country, the disputes may never end soon. The water crisis can
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cause conflict, mainly if it results in uneven access to and availability of water and combines
with other conflict drivers like marginalization or previous conflicts. These dynamics are best
shown by the pastoralist disputes in Karamoja and along the cattle corridor and the link between
land grabbing and water. Therefore, there is a need to address the water crisis among the
Ugandan population.
Current Interventions
The government has been approaching the lack of clean and safe water issues by
identifying the water management zones. The zones are Kyoga in the Eastern part, Upper Nile in
the Northern region, Victoria in the Western region and Albert in the Western region (MWE,
2018). The government has identified specific urban areas and rural growth centers with
increasingly high population growth rates. These areas are prioritized in installing reliable water
and sanitation systems to ensure the population acquires clean and safe water for drinking and
domestic use.
The Ugandan government plans to increase coverage for the least-served areas,
operationalizing non-functional water points and establishing more pro-poor facilities for which
people pay less or equal to the house connection tariff in the service area. The Ugandan
government has been planning to expand coverage to the regions that are least covered and
operationalize non-operational waterpoints. Additionally, they aim to create new facilities that
are pro-poor and charge less or the same as the house connection price in the service area. The
government aims to have safe and affordable drinking water for the entire population by 2030.
Different programs and social enterprises have been there, aiding the population in accessing
safe, clean, and affordable clean water.
Programs
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Joelex Uganda Limited
Joelex Uganda is a social enterprise that creates room for accessibility and affordability
of clean water and sanitation services in the densely populated areas of Uganda. This social
enterprise is privately owned and is located in Kampala, Uganda. The enterprise aims to ensure
populations living in the major populated cities have reliable sources of clean water and proper
sanitation. It operates during weekdays from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The significant activities entail
constructing public bathrooms and toilets, offering cleaning products for both, and providing
clean water for domestic use.
The enterprise gets to market and revenue by offering franchise opportunities to willing
partners and selling water at affordable prices. The partners selected are required to have
financial stability and sustain the business. The franchisee takes over a constructed sanitation
facility or water supply system and runs it using its capital (Hizam-Hanafiah et al., 2022). The
franchisee must have reserve capital to run the water and sanitation facilities. Joelex also
receives funding from international organizations such as Aqua for All. These provisions make
the enterprise accomplish its mission.
Joelex’s activities have lately been expanded to enhance the achievement of its goals.
Through its franchise operational model, the program constructs public toilets and showers for
the urban poor in Kampala. It also installs fully automated real-time technology and a modified
public water ATM. The target population can purchase water based on the amount of money they
have. They then sell cleaning products such as brushes, gloves and soaps at relatively cheap
prices to enhance cleanliness among the population.
As of 2024, Joelex has shown impressive results among the urban population of
Kampala. Over 189,500 people in Kampala had been served by Joelex between 2020 and 2023.
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This population consists of children, women and youth. When the franchise model was
integrated into its services, the social enterprises simulated the possible people it could serve.
Within two years after adopting the franchise mode, the organization can serve more than
300,000 urban poor and construct more than 200 sanitation facilities (Joelex, n.d.). The
enterprise will also likely employ over 3,000 in the next five years. Therefore, the enterprise is
beneficial to the Ugandans.
The strengths of Joelex
Uganda can lower the prices of clean and safe water for the urban poor in the country.
The enterprise also has a well-defined model to facilitate its operations. The franchise model
enables it to manage water and sanitation facilities with ease. The model also allows the
enterprise to reach out to marginalized people in the social classes. However, the enterprise has a
weakness: Josef needs to manage to raise awareness of its operations among the population. As a
result, most people whom it targets have kept their mindsets the same. They still use unsafe
places to dispose of wastes or get water, whereas Joelex has constructed sanitation facilities and
water ATMs with affordable, clean, and safe water for domestic use.
Project Maji
Project Maji is a nonprofit social enterprise and a water donation nongovernmental
organization that works in rural areas of Uganda, Ghana and Kenya. Project Maji generates
revenue by asking communities benefitting from the water projects to pay a nominee fee for
operations and maintenance. Payments are made through digital systems that enhance the
monitoring of the enterprise digital kiosk and financial security for future maintenance. Online
payment ensures the enterprise always has some financial health.
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The enterprise aims to offer empowerment and transformation of lives through
sustainable, effective and safe solar-powered water solutions in rural communities in SubSaharan Africa. The East Africa offices of Project Maji are located in Nairobi, Kenya, while the
West Africa offices are in Accra, Ghana. Project Maji operates during the weekdays from 8:00
am to 5:00 pm.
The primary activity that Project Maji undertakes is the construction of water points.
These water points constitute drilled water from a borehole using 15 solar panels per water point
(Project Maji, 2022). A tank is installed and protected well to ensure no outsiders can
contaminate the water. The community where the Waterpoint is established has to subscribe to
the service by contributing a nominee fee, which goes to the services and maintenance of the
project (Abanyie et al., 2023). This way, communities in rural areas of Ghana, Kenya, and
Uganda enjoy access to clean water generated through sustainable power.
As of 2024, Project Maji has provided clean and affordable water to over 255,000 people
in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana. The enterprise has already supplied more than 180 million liters
of safe water. Project Maji has established over 275 water access points in the three countries. As
of September 2022, Project Maji had 36 communal water access points (Project Maji, 2022). The
enterprise had impacted 25,000 people with a combination of 15 solar-powered waterpipe
systems. These results show that Project Maji has taken reasonable action to achieve its goal of
transforming the lives of rural populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The major strength of Project Maji is its built-in treatment features that promote
consumer satisfaction. The enterprise pumps its water from boreholes using solar power kiosks,
and therefore, it is a sustainable and environmentally friendly program. Additionally, the
enterprise has remote monitoring, which helps it assess the performance of various water access
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points in real time. The enterprise ensures optimal community and uptime reliability for each
access point. However, Project Maji needs to improve its unreliability when there is high water
demand. Excessive water use sometimes leaves the community without for a while before the
pump can refill the tank at the access point.
Whave Solutions
Whave is a Ugandan non-profit social enterprise that collaborates with the government
and communities to enhance the provision of water services. The enterprise gets revenue from
the communities through an annual fee or pay-by-volume contribution. This fee is used to repair
water supply systems, treat water storages and employ local technicians to maintain water
sources. Conversely, the government provides regulatory frameworks and support by
establishing tariffs to ensure reliable water supply systems with safe and clean drinking water.
Whave’s primary goal is to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services in rural areas of
Uganda and ensure all water supply systems remain maintained for constant water supply. The
head offices are located in Kampala, Clock Tower building. The enterprise delivers its services
between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays. The enterprise is, therefore, reliable during the
daytime throughout the week.
The activities conducted by Whave are primarily the repair and maintenance of water
supply systems to ensure communities have access to safe drinking water throughout the year.
The enterprise distributes modern, robust, and appealing handwashing units in areas with high
rates of diarrheal diseases. It also monitors waterpoints in farms to ensure they operate
throughout by offering technical services needed. Whave has also developed a national safe
water program that hires Ugandan water service merchants to maintain water sources. This
approach has ensured the public has access to safe drinking water with proper hygiene.
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The results of Whave’s initiative are noticeable. The enterprise has partnered with the
government in 17 districts and offered a pilot Area service for rural water supplies. As such,
more than 330,000 people in more than 1000 communities get a reliable, safe water supply
(Whave, n.d.). As of 2024, Whave had partnered with five regions to promote clean water supply
by signing the Preventative Maintenance Service Agreements (PMAs). These regions are Teso,
Central, Busoga, Karamoja and Midwest. Reliability is ensured by preventive maintenance and
prompt repairs, allowing for the availability of clean water.
Whave has a significant strength of specializing in the services it offers. The enterprise
specializes in servicing and maintaining existing water supply systems, which are mainly not
considered by other social enterprises. The enterprise partners with the government and
communities to ensure a collective approach to addressing the issue of minimal water supply to
communities in Uganda (Whave, n.d.). However, Whave is weak because it has yet to establish
an autonomous project to help the Ugandans. The enterprise has to rely on government approvals
on some tasks and sign preventive maintenance service agreements. Therefore, its approach
could be more precise than other social enterprises.
Recommendations
The key recommendation for addressing the water crisis in Uganda is to acquire sustainable
funding models for projects that promote the supply of clean water and robust sanitation projects.
The government and social enterprises should consider seeking public-private partnerships to
supplement community-based funding (Pusok, 2016). These funds can then be utilized to ensure
consistency, maintenance, and operational infrastructure.
Additionally, community empowerment and awareness of the need to take ownership of
water and sanitation initiatives should also exist. The enterprises should train the community to
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maintain and operate water systems and promote hygiene in the sanitation systems. Also, the
government should engage the public by recommending to keep the water catchment areas and
rivers clean to enhance the cleanliness of water (Campos et al., 2022). More so, monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms are needed to monitor the progress and effectiveness of water and
sanitation programs. This might entail establishing precise benchmarks, gathering trustworthy
information, and conducting frequent evaluations to pinpoint problem areas and track the
effectiveness of actions over time.
Conclusion
The water crisis in Uganda poses detrimental challenges to public health, economic development
and environmental sustainability. Access to clean and safe water remains limited in rural and
informal settlements, with the root causes being rapid population growth, poverty and inadequate
infrastructure. The government needs to offer an adequate response to this challenge. Critical
actions need to be taken, even if current initiatives and social entrepreneurs have significantly
increased access to clean water and sanitation services. To address Uganda’s water issue,
stakeholders must work together more closely, create sustainable finance models, empower local
communities, take an integrated strategy, and implement reliable monitoring and evaluation
systems. Embracing these actions can enhance accessibility to clean water in Uganda.
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References
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Calderón-Villarreal, A., Schweitzer, R., & Kayser, G. (2022). Social and geographic inequalities
in water, sanitation and hygiene access in 21 refugee camps and settlements in
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Gaffan, N., Kpozehouen, A., Cyriaque Dégbey, Yolaine Glèlè Ahanhanzo, & Moussiliou Noël
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