Last Updated: August 21, 2021
In August of 2021, team members from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and AMMACHI Labs visited Tanzania to pilot the phase two of the Women in Sustaining the Environment (WISE) project. A collaboration with Tel Aviv University. The goal of the WISE initiative is to equip rural women with the technologies they need to successfully monitor and maintain local drinking water supplies.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham conducted focus group discussions with the women in three villages on water and their understanding of the role women play in it. These sessions were designed to enable women in the community to express themselves, and to discuss the role women play in the community in terms of water management at home, within the community and in society in general. The sessions guided us through their experiences, challenges, and their expectations about the future in terms of water.
The current water issue in their villages was described by women. Water is essential for the majority of domestic and agricultural tasks, and lack of access puts them in a tough situation. When it comes to maintaining a family or getting water, they don’t get much help from the men in the village. Education, business, and agriculture are the three primary areas where women say they are harmed by a shortage of water. Women are burdened more in terms of water management due to a lack of decision-making incorporating women in water decisions. Household water decisions relating to quantity are decided by women, but not in terms of amount spent on water. More often, decisions relating to community water are not even discussed with women who are the primary caretakers of water. Women imagine a better life in terms of business, education for kids, and creating projects for the environment if they have enough access to water.
