Making an Impact with Passion and Teamwork on Africa’s Water Problems, which are Not a Simple Problem [People Taking on International Challenges, 3].
JICA has many people from various backgrounds who are taking on international challenges in their own fields and with clear aspirations. This issue of “People Tackling International Challenges” focuses on the passion of these people. In this third issue, we introduce Yoko Hattori, who is tackling a variety of water issues unique to the modern world.
March 22 is the World Water Day designated by the United Nations. We interviewed Ms. Yoko Hattori, Manager of Water Resources Team 2, Water Resources Group, Global Environment Department of JICA, who is in charge of water issues at JICA, about the current and future water issues in the world.
Water Problems in Africa. Water is not always “in short supply.” One of JICA’s major international cooperation projects around the world is in the water sector. Japan has long been one of the world’s top donors of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in this field.
The Water Resources Team 2, led by Mr. Hattori, is engaged in technical cooperation and surveys related to water resources in Sub-Saharan Africa (the region south of the Sahara Desert) and Central and South America. Many people may imagine digging wells when they hear the phrase “cooperation for water resources development in Africa,” but in fact, only about 10% of the projects are related to wells.
Until about 10 years ago, the team in charge of Africa handled many projects related to village water wells. In fact, there were a variety of projects that involved not only digging but also supporting the maintenance and management of wells, but I think most of these projects, including these, were village water supply projects. This has been reversed because of Africa’s rapid development.”
In recent years, the rapid concentration of populations in African countries in urban areas has created a situation in which the percentage of people with access to safe water has risen in rural areas but remained flat or even declined in urban areas. As a result, the need for maintenance and rehabilitation of water systems in urban areas is increasing.
However, the challenges faced by each country are not uniform. In Rwanda, for example, the topography of the country is very different, requiring the installation of pumps and pressure reducers to control the pressure in detail in order to transmit water through water pipes. If such measures are not taken, the high pressure can cause water pipes to break and leak, which is a major problem.
On the other hand, they are less aware of the “lack of water” in Nigeria’s capital city because it has abundant water resources and can make good use of the terrain to send water to the city. Hence, they tend to put off repairing leaks.
In addition, water is a precious commodity in South Africa due to the scarcity of water resources, but there is a government policy that allows each household to use up to 5 tons of water per month free of charge. However, the installation rate of meters to measure water consumption is low, and there are issues such as the inability to identify water leaks and the inability to collect appropriate fees for actual usage.
In these countries, it is important to build new water systems, but it is also important to make people aware that they should use water with care and pay appropriately for what they use. At the same time, water utilities need to make efforts to improve the profitability of their business by charging only for the water they produce. We then aim to have them become ‘growing water utilities’ through a cycle of stabilizing management and generating funds to expand facilities.
Aiming to be a “Waterworks Professional” with Passion and Pride Mr. Hattori says with a smile, “I enjoy thinking about scenarios of how best to cooperate with countries facing different challenges. He decided to enter this field after participating in a water supply survey in Southeast Asia as part of a university seminar, doing an internship, and meeting Japanese municipal waterworks bureau officials and consultants during an overseas training program when he was a JICA rookie.
They were all highly professional people with a passion for waterworks and pride in Japanese technology. As I worked with them, I became more and more interested in waterworks. When he joined JICA after graduating from graduate school, he felt a sense of mission: “I want to be able to say, ‘I can take care of water supply at JICA.
Later, feeling the need to improve himself more comprehensively, he obtained a national certification as a “Professional Engineer (Water Supply and Sewerage Department). He passed the difficult exam, which had a pass rate of only 10%, and went on to become a “waterworks professional” himself.
One of Hattori’s most memorable projects is the construction of a new water purification and water supply facility in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, where people were buying water from tankers carrying water directly from the Nile River when he first visited in 2012.
South Sudan is a newly independent country that became independent in September 2011. Because of this, the project did not go according to plan, and although the site was supposed to be secured for construction, houses were built, unexploded bombs were found, and the situation was not stable due to the conflict, forcing a temporary evacuation. ……
The facility was finally completed in January 2023. It is truly a facility that is the culmination of many people’s efforts,” says Hattori, deeply moved by the project. This facility will ensure that approximately 350,000 people will have access to safe and stable drinking water.
A new attempt to deliver the “water of life” “Safe water and toilets around the world” – As stated in the SDGs, about 2 billion people in the world still do not have access to clean water. In some areas, many people use spring water even though there is a water supply due to lack of knowledge about sanitation, so water awareness and education is also a very important issue.
The problem is that water is unevenly distributed, and the availability and affordability of water is a problem. The problem is that water is unevenly distributed, and it is not affordable.”
Mr. Hattori explains that he now has high expectations for DX (Digital Transformation). For example, the fees for hand pumps (hand-pushed wells) are being prepaid with mobile money, and QR codes are being used to track repair history.
For the Corona Disaster, we provided water purification chemicals and other items to support financially distressed water utilities. In addition, the “Handwashing for Health and Life Campaign” was conducted at JICA project sites, conveying the importance of handwashing to more than 300 million people in 61 countries. Mr. Hattori says he felt a positive response from the “collective impact” of people working together to address the same social issues.
I felt a great sense of accomplishment because it was not just me, but everyone’s ideas and knowledge that came together to form the project. I would like to continue to work on global water issues with ‘Team Japan. In addition, there are many excellent water utilities in developing countries, so I am looking forward to starting something new with them.
JICA will continue its efforts to deliver safe water to every corner of the world, and Mr. Hattori, who leads the team with his passion for water supply, is at the forefront of these efforts.
© Source JICA
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