The role of non-governmental organisations in raising community awareness on improving accessibility to water services in rural areas, Tanzania

Abstract

The study on the role of non-governmental organisations in raising community awareness on improving accessibility to water services in rural areas was conducted in Mtamba and Magoda villages in Morogoro and Njombe rural districts. The objectives of the study were: to identify organisations raising awareness to community members for improving accessibility to water services, and determine the scope to which consciousness raised has improved access to water services in the study areas. The study was largely qualitative, used both qualitative and quantitative methods. A sample of 272 respondents was used. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources through different methods of data collection namely interview, observation, documentary review and focus group discussion. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The ATLAS.ti 7 was used for analysis of qualitative data analysis.The findings revealed that that there were a total of 4 different organisations raising consciousness in water sector to community members in the study areas namely: World Bank (WB), the „Stichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers‟ (SNV), the Southern Highlands Organisation (SHIPO) and Daraja. Consciousness raised resulted to community participation through fund contribution and in kind, hence establishment of 39 public water points and 100 households connected with tape water in Mtamba village while 87 households connected with water tapes at homestead in Magoda village. These resulted to a significant improvement in accessibility to water services in the study area.