Project Overview
Due to inadequate rainfall, Sudan suffers perennially from drought and shortage of water. This problem is particularly acute in the North Kordofan area, where the population has limited access to clean potable water facilities.

It is estimated that 10,000 people die yearly due to diarrhoeal diseases which is directly related to unsafe water. This situation is further exacerbated by the fact that Sudan's economy is largely dependent on agriculture that is itself dependent on continuous water supply.

Problem / Project Background
Many people in the world suffer from either water shortages or the lack of access to safe water. This comes about due to the climatic conditions that they are living in or due to a poor water supply network. It is estimated that at least 30% of the world population still does not have access to safe water.

A significant amount of children and adults lose their lives due to the poor quality of water and especially as a result of diarrhoea related diseases. In fact more than 2 million deaths from diarrhoea alone could be avoided each year if all people had reasonable water and sanitation services.

Sudan is an area well known for its aridity with desertification having affected nearly 60% of the territory. It is estimated that only 10% of potential arable land is cultivated and under 1% is irrigated. The provision of water in Sudan continues to be a critical problem in both rural and urban areas, especially in the summer months.

Islamic Relief (IR) Sudan identified water as a need in 1994 and started off a pilot programme by digging one well at El Dankoug in Northern Kordofan, near El Obeid. This well had a significant impact on the area and its success triggered the need for a 10 yr well digging programmes. Since 1996 we have now dug 55 hand dug wells in the area of Um Dam and Muzdalifa.

Due to the continuing arid conditions within this area and the lack of water supply, the need for water supply systems is crucial. The climate of Um Dam and Muzdalifa is arid with average summer and cold winter temperatures ranging between 40C and 15C.
The programme is fully supported by the state government and the local community.

Project Activities
Within the Um Dam area the main water supply systems that are operating are water yards or hand-dug wells. Water systems are restricted to these two types due to geological factors in the area.

Hand-Dug Wells are man made constructions designed to meet the domestic requirements of small communities while the water yards are complex water supply systems.

IR opted to dig hand-dug wells in order to enhance the sustainability of the wells. In other words as the local community is involved in the well digging process and the system is relatively simple they will be able to maintain such a well in the future and repair it if necessary.

In order to ensure that the project is aimed to achieve the exact needs and requirements of the communities, a base line survey is conducted to help identify the villages that most need the intervention. The baseline survey consists of specific social and economic parameters, highlights community priorities and examines the availability of potential water.

A water committee (WC) is formed at each village to act as the community partner to participate in carrying out the project activities.

Each village democratically elects between 5-10 people whose responsibilities within the project are to ensure proper implementation and sustainability.

Building a sense of ownership from amongst the communities themselves by asking them for financial contribution towards the cost of the project helps the sustainability process

To maximise the benefits from the project, the beneficiaries are also trained on health issues in addition to simple management and operations of the activities.

Health education is done by Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) a unicef supported programme and is a one week program which covers areas such as personal and community hygiene, water / environmental protection and community mobilisation. The sessions are conducted in a participatory manner, and make use of practical case studies to ensure that knowledge is being correctly imparted.

Project Objectives

1. To strengthen the socio-economic system of the targeted communities to meet the demands of combating the chronic imbalance in their economic status
   
   
2. To increase access for households to water supplies and to improve access to hygienic sanitation facilities
   
   
3. To allow households to utilise more of their time for economically productive activities by decreasing burden on women and children responsible for collecting water on a daily basis
   
   
4. To build the local capacity to sustain water supplies

Project Goal
To provide access to water and sanitation facilities complemented with hygiene promotion in order to strengthen the socio-economic situation of the targeted population and to reduce the burden on women and children in collecting water.

Beneficiaries
From January 1996 - December 2000 this programme has benefited approximately 75,800 through implementing 55 HDWs in cooperation with the local community.