Radio Miraya
2674: World Water Day: Paddy Mugalula, World Vision Zonal Manager for Upper Nile State, and Diwa Gacosta, World Vision Senior Manager, Advocacy and Communications
Today is world war today. And Lydia's theme is water for peace. Water can create peace or spark conflict. When water is scarce or polluted, or when people have unequal or no access, tensions can rise between communities. So access to clean water is very important, especially now when climate change hits the whole world. So joining me in studio this morning is Paddy Mugalula from World Vision. He's the zonal manager for Appanile State. And Deewa Gekoster is also here from World Vision, managing advocacy and communications over there in World Vision. And both of them will be shedding light on vital interventions conducted by World Vision and UNICEF in the field of water sanitation and hygiene, not commonly known as wash, yes. So it's interesting how the acronym is linked to water because we use water to wash our hands against your very welcome. This is Paddy, and Deewa, welcome to Miriah Breckford Show. - Thank you so much, Lucy. We are happy to be here. - Yes, all right. So first, just share with us what are some of the initiatives undertaken by World Vision to improve access to clean water incentive. But before you do that, I mean, what does water mean to you? When you think about water, starting with your Paddy, just when you think about water. - Lucy, simply put, and you said it already, water is life. I cannot imagine a planet without water. And the fact that now it's warming up, and in fact, we are being told it's not, it's leaving the warming stages going to the heating stage. (laughing) - Yeah. - It would be difficult to survive without water, so this is an important subject that everybody needs to pay attention to. - Okay, Deewa. What are your thoughts on water? Would you just think about water? - Yes, thank you so much, Lucy. Like my friend here, Paddy, have said, water is life. And water, safe access to water brings so much hope to children, to families, to communities, especially those who are in need. So yeah, access to clean water is very important for us to be able to nourish and graze healthy, happy children, and empower communities that are resilient, self-sustaining, and participating. So yes, it's very important. So thank you for inviting us. - You just mentioned happy children, and part of my childhood was played with water. There's nothing I looked forward to then played with water. It hurt me so much that it was limited for me. So yes, water is indeed something very important for humanity. All right, so looking at some of the work you've done, what are some of the initiatives that have been undertaken by world vision to improve access to clean water and sanitation facilities? - Thank you so much, Lucy. Firstly, without the support and the strong collaboration that we've had, as well as vision with the government of South Sudan firstly and the communities that we work with, it would be, of course, impossible for us to do whatever we have done, whatever contribution that we have made. So we are very grateful for this strong partnership with the government. We are also very happy with the support that we are receiving from UNICEF and from the U.S. ID, especially the BHA wing that supports our water and sanitation programs in Appanaya. While vision, it's important to note that operates or brings interventions for wash, mainly through the triple nexus approach. And this means that we are doing our interventions, looking at, firstly, the humanitarian context, which is predominant in South Sudan, but also looking at the resilience and development. So while we, on one hand, are looking at activities or interventions that aim at meeting the immediate need of children and their families in their distress so that they may have basic access to services like water and others for survival, but also we'll be looking at now how we prepare them, how we work with them to make sure that this is not just meeting the immediate needs, but also helping to build their capacity to be more self-sustaining, more resilient communities as we move from humanitarian emergency situation to development, because we are going there eventually. - Eventually indeed. - Yes, and while doing that, we ensure that peace building is a part of both of our interventions in humanitarian interventions as well in resilience and development. So that's how, you know, I'm really glad that this year, the theme is leveraging water for peace because peace building is an important aspect for this programming. - Okay, and how do you practically do the two, you know, providing ways to access water and then also bringing the element of peace as the theme states this year? - One of the most important ways really is working with government, like I've said already initially, because the government needs to be aware of what we are doing. They need to participate in the work that we are doing. They are involved even at the stage where we are working to put together proposals or concepts to look for money with governments awareness, governments participation and strong support. You are assured that if there are any issues arising, you will have a strong, you know, back up with government. So that's been very practical for us right from the grassroots, working with people in the communities all the way to then, today, to Juba here. - Is there a specific example of one of the initiatives where peace and water came in together so well for you? You can just instinct one of them. - You know, one of the things that comes out very easily for me is, you know, where we have communities, our communities, you have a mix of communities, you know, have pastoral communities, and then you have other communities that are, you know, predominantly doing agriculture. But because of the, you know, the many displacements and movements of people from one place to another, these two communities come to, you know, come together. And because now water is being used to access for household need, but also for animals, you know, for their animals survival. - And the farm as well. - It has caused, exactly, it has caused quite some conflicts in a number of places. I don't know, want to mention some of these places. - That's totally fine. - But, you know, because of this, the fact that the community will work with, especially the host communities, that we already have a presence, and we already established very good relationships, and we have strong water user committee, for instance, that has membership from, you know, across different people. And now when you have people displaced, and maybe some of these pastries, they become part incorporated, some of their membership gets incorporated in these committees. Now, such structures help to really bring communities together, to help them understand that this resource is for everybody. It's not just for the pastries or for the farmers, but it's for everybody to use. And together with government and other peace actors, you know, conflicts like that are easily resolved, and people come up with workable mechanisms to utilize the resource amongst them. So this has been quite helpful. - Wow, that just, again, reminds us how water can either bring people together, or divide them. And looking ahead now, Dua, what are some of the key priorities or goals for future wash interventions in the region, particularly considering the ongoing challenges faced by the displaced individuals? - Thanks so much, Lucy. Yes, we're all vision south Sudan, prioritizes bringing clean water, dignified sanitation, and effective hygiene practices to communities, schools, healthcare facilities, displaced IDP camps, and returning and refugee transit centers. So what we do is really to see how we can integrate our efforts, our interventions, for example, are there couldn't be a successful nutrition intervention, if not for our wash interventions, right? It goes hand in hand, as well as education, because we believe as well that by providing safe access, safe and clean access to schools, it reduces risks for health risk and protection risks for children, women, and people leaving with special needs. Actually, Lucy, if I may mention as well, yes. We have this global campaign on ending child hunger and malnutrition, and we believe wash is a key driver for us to achieve that. - That's right. - And for us, you know, enough means, we call that global campaign enough, which we will be launching here in south Sudan in May, midweek, mid month of May, and for us, wash, I mean, enough means bringing every child has access to safe and clean water, as I've mentioned, dignified sanitation, effective hygiene practices to protect them from the ceases and other protection issues for them to be able to live happy and full life. This means that donors, governments, humanitarian agencies like ourselves, communities, churches as well, work together in defining, exploring, funding, establishing, operating, and maintaining appropriate wash services in the communities that we serve. - It's really an all of, you know, all, it takes a nation, basically, to provide efficient, effective wash services to the communities and the children. - So all hands and neck, we all have to work together. All right, could you probably provide us with an overview of the refugee and return situation in Aperna? - Thanks, Lucy. You know, when this conflict started, we all thought it was going to just take, you know, just a few months, you know, three months. People will come and we'll say to them and it will be over. It's now a year since this happened and the situation is not getting any better. It gets more dire and more dire by the day. Thankfully, with the strong work of the government and all of our donors and partners in Aperna Island in South Sudan, there's a strong response. We have people coming, you know, and coming to the country through different entry points. We have transit centers operational now in the rain where people come and they get registered and get immediate relief and supporting, getting services, whether it be health or wash or protection services and health services. So there is some support that is being provided. A number of these are being helped or supported, moved to other locations or where they come from, from their original homes. So there's a lot of transit support that is going on, but we still have many, many, we have, right now we have over 50,000 refugees and refugees that are just in rank alone. So with every, you know, despite all the effort and all the work that is going on with many partners and government, the need is still very high and unfortunately funding is dwindling. And so we, people continue to cross, we still receive 1,500, 1,200 people every day, crossing the border and that's just, you know, the border in rank and yoda alone. Now there are others coming through different, you know, multiple entries and they are moving into communities and, you know, utilizing, you know, accessing the same services that are already overstretched anyway. - And that includes water. Including water, especially. And so, and so this is a, there is a lot of good work going on. There's a lot of services being provided water, you know, through our surface water treatment plants in the different places. We are doing a lot of rehabilitation for these plants and establishing new ones so people can have access to water. But the need is high. - What are the biggest challenges? What is the biggest challenge in terms of water? Give, even given what you're doing, your support. - Yes, yes. - But what are the main challenges? - Certainly the, right now coverage is still not enough. We still, we have all this water facilities being established and rehabilitated but the people, the population is really high. - It's really big. - It's very big. - So every effort is being put into, right now because many partners are doing water tracking. This is very expensive. And with the dwindling funding, it is not sustainable. And so that's one of the issues. And of course, the other services related not just water because even if you give people clean water and safe water, portable water, if they don't have access to dignified sanitation, you know, services, if they have poor hygiene practices, everything else you're doing is like writing on water. Yeah, you can drink good, you have safe clean water but if it's not handled properly, then you've not done anything. So the problem is big, it's not just only water but also other services that are, you know, come all together and make it a huge, a huge issue. So certainly funding is a critical aspect that we are, you know, all advocating for to make sure that we have sustained services and expand on what's already being done so people can have adequate water and other services, but also to ensure that other longer-term opportunities are being explored. Okay. Yes. Well, thank you so much for coming today to talk about water today, but also highlighting your work in different parts of the country, especially in up and out state where there's influx of refugees and returnees from Sudan. And I really do hope that the interventions that you put in place will be able to help as you explore other ways to give access, to ensure access to clean water. So as we conclude right now, could you briefly just share a remark in regards to water? What is your message to the people? We'll start with the Dua. All right. Thank you so much, Lucy. Indeed, water plays a very crucial role in bringing people together as we've recently discussed. We need to continue doing so in fostering, you know, good relationship with each other. We need to cooperate. We need to collaborate. This isn't something that we can, the government can do alone. This also isn't something that humanitarian organizations can do alone. So we have to work hand-in-hand to be able to provide water, clean access to safe and clean water to children. We also appeal to donors to continue to support humanitarian organizations working here in South Sudan. For us to be able to continue serving and reaching the most vulnerable people. All right. Thank you, Dua. Patty. Thank you, Lucy. In addition to Dua's observation, for me, I really would like to just talk to the people. We live in a country where safe and portable water is really scarce. I think up to now, over about 59% of people have no access to safe and portable water in South Sudan. And only 10% have access to dignified sanitation. So it's important for people to know that the resource is very scarce, but it can be used and shared very well and easily without causing conflict amongst people and communities. Conflict sets everybody back and destroys every good work that has already been done. And so if we understand that, then hopefully we can avoid such conflicts and use whatever we have very well for the benefit of everybody. And also to thank our donors and to still tell them, look, I know we are moving into durable solutions. We are moving into a flagship initiatives that OCHA is pushing, but they still immediate and urgent need that needs to be addressed. And that should not be forgotten, including water, yes. Definitely a big thank you to the donors. Indeed, we need that money to reach the most, the need in terms of services. Thank you so much for coming. And I do wish you a happy water day. - Thank you. - Drink lots and lots of water. - You too, Lucy. - Thank you so much. All right, yes. Today is World Water Day. And the talk at the theme is Water for Peace. So wherever you are, share that water, enjoy that water. And also foster good relationships. You can actually have conversations over water. Yes, just get water and start drinking and talk to each other.