The Swaziland Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (SWADE), a government parastatal, has since 2006 injected new life into the community of Maplotini using an integrated water resources management approach. SWADE partnered with the community to install water taps and build proper pit latrines. Community members dug the pits and SWADE provided the materials for the latrines.

SWADE also distributed 1,000-litre tanks to each home and connected them to a supply from Swaziland Water Services Corporation. The safe drinking water is also used to water backyard gardens. This component of the project in Maplotini cost US$ 120,000 (€ 83,000), sourced from the Southern African Development Community, the Danish International Development Agency and the Swazi government.

A communal garden project has also been established, to teach and support the community to practice sustainable agriculture. The garden produces various vegetables, like spinach, beetroot, carrots and onions. The communal garden project currently has seventy-two members, each of whom has been allocated a 25 by 50 metre plot. Few of the homesteads in the area require donated food and SWADE expects the community has been set on a path of sustainable income generation.

The gardening project is also improving lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. A Lavumisa-based NGO, Mothers for Life, was given a hectare to grow vegetables for those who are destitute and chronically sick. Good nutrition is important for patients on anti-retroviral therapy.

Web sites:

• SWADE - Capacity Building for Lavumisa Irrigation Development Project
• Multiple Use water Services Group

Contact: SWADE, Swaziland, swade@swade.co.sz, http://www.swade.co.sz/

Source: Phathizwe-Chief Zulu, IPS, 05 Jul 2009

Tags: africa, capacity development, on-site sanitation, participatory management, water and livelihoods, water resources management, water supply