JICA’s international cooperation activities are carried out by experts in various fields, both inside and outside of JICA, who are passionate about their work. In “People Tackling International Challenges,” we focus on the stories of these people and delve into their past progress and their aspirations for the future. In this fifth issue, we introduce Daisuke Sakamoto, who is taking on the challenge of solving Kenya’s water problems.
Daisuke Sakamoto, a JICA expert assigned to the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation of the Kenyan government.
Water experts working on rural water supply in Kenya
October 15 is the “World Handwashing Day” designated by the United Nations. In Japan, the importance of hand washing has long been taught, but the pandemic of the new coronavirus has triggered a worldwide reevaluation of hand washing.
Clean water is essential for correct and effective handwashing. However, access to safe water is an important issue that is one of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) (Goal 6: Provide safe water and toilets worldwide). In other words, there are still many people in the world who do not have access to safe water.
We want to deliver safe water to as many people as possible. Driven by this desire, there is now a person working for the central government in Kenya. He is Daisuke Sakamoto, who has been working for the Kenyan Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation as a regional water supply advisor since 2021.
Mr. Sakamoto has been consistently involved in water issues in African regions such as Uganda and Guinea as a specialist, beginning with his deployment to Ghana as a JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteer. Currently, he is involved in water supply projects in four municipalities as a policymaker for the Kenyan government regarding local water supply.
Normally, when a JICA project involves a team of several Japanese people, Mr. Sakamoto was dispatched alone this time. Even so, Mr. Sakamoto is not only doing desk work within the Ministry, but is also actively involved in a wide range of activities in cooperation with the Kenyan people, such as traveling to rural areas to engage in facility construction.
What Motorization Brings to Communities and People
After arriving at his new post, Mr. Sakamoto began by visiting water supply facilities such as wells in various areas. I traveled overland from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, along roads with no roads, and in some places it took as long as eight hours to reach the farthest point,” he said. What we found was that there were many facilities that were not in operation, even though they had been well maintained.
In his search for the cause, Mr. Sakamoto came up with the need to power hand pumps. The equipment used to pump water from these wells is the hand pump.
A hand pump installed to pump water from a well. It takes a lot of labor.
A hand pump is a convenient device that pumps water out when a lever is pressed, but it requires a lot of force to pump up a lot of water, which is hard work for women and children, who are mainly responsible for fetching water. In addition, many of these facilities had been installed for nearly 20 years and were in need of renewal. However, the underground wells were still fully operational and needed to be renovated to make good use of them.
At the same time, solar power generation has spread rapidly in the African region in recent years, making once-expensive electricity available at low cost. The establishment of a system necessary for equipment maintenance has also accelerated the shift to power in a variety of situations. For water supply facilities, there was a growing need to switch from hand pumps to motor pumps that use electricity, and the environment was also becoming conducive to the sustainable use of these pumps.
Some of the residents who use the wells also asked for a reduction in the amount of labor required to fetch water. Sakamoto recalled the words of a woman in Ghana, where he worked as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV), who said to her, “I don’t want to pay for a hand pump because it’s too hard. She said, “I don’t want to pay for a hand pump because it is too much work. But I would pay for an electric pump.
Sakamoto says. In Japan, the rapid spread of power-operated water supply facilities in rural areas in the 1960s is thought to have been driven by the liberation of people from the labor involved in fetching water. It’s hard to notice in Japan, but the improvements in this area are significant in terms of improving people’s lives.
Recognizing that the powering of hand pumps was the issue he needed to address, Mr. Sakamoto made steady visits to villages to check the condition of wells and other water supply facilities, and through dialogues with the local government and residents, he proceeded with the installation of motor pumps and solar panels.
The water supply facility that Mr. Sakamoto was involved in and powered. A prepaid fee collection system has also been installed.
To date, we have visited 200 facilities, of which about 30 have completed the switch from hand pumps to motor pumps, thanks to the involvement of the Kenyan government and Mr. Sakamoto. As a result of the ability to pump more water in a shorter period of time, the number of people supplied with water and the volume of water supplied have increased four-fold in many places. Furthermore, the switch to motor pumps proved to be more cost-effective than drilling new wells.
Water supply business requires comprehensive strength.
Powering a water supply facility requires the cooperation of many people. Starting with the identification of the target facilities, coordination with the engineers in charge of construction, the organization that trains facility maintainers, and the local government is also an important part of the job, and requires building trust with each partner.
To begin with,” Sakamoto explains, “the water supply business is a comprehensive study. The design of facilities is engineering, the establishment of maintenance and management systems after construction is organizational theory, and there is also the need to collect fees and operate the facilities. There is also the financial aspect of long-term maintenance, and then there is the area of sociology, such as understanding the local community and the will of the residents.
Of course I cannot move everything. It is important to explain to the Kenyan government and the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation, and above all, it is essential to have a dialogue with the local people. Online meetings are increasing in Kenya, but I still feel it is important to have face-to-face meetings, even for trivial conversations.
Mr. Sakamoto (center), touring the water supply facilities with local residents and local government officials.
With the Corona Disaster reassessing the importance of handwashing, educating people about handwashing has become an important task for Sakamoto. I think we need to talk not only about why handwashing is necessary, but also about where this water comes from, how it circulates, and the money needed to maintain it. First of all, I would like to start with the children, using JICA’s hand-washing cartoons and other materials to steadily convey the message.”
To better understand Japan
Mr. Sakamoto first became interested in the water field when he was a child. He was a child who liked to stare at small streams of water in ditches and other places. He majored in civil engineering at university, and after graduation he worked for a waterworks consulting firm in Japan, where he was involved in waterworks planning and design.
In the midst of his hard work, he said, “In Japan, we take it for granted that we have access to safe water. However, there are still many people in developing countries who do not have access to safe water. I want to work to improve this situation, even if only a little. Overcoming the concerns of those around him, he applied for the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) program and was dispatched to Ghana in 2008.
She joined the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) partly because she wanted to “learn to speak English. First time abroad to Ghana
I was never interested in international cooperation in the first place. I had never even been abroad until I became a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer. But I traveled around Japan by myself when I was a student, and my experience as a working adult also helped me adapt easily to life overseas and to being a member of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers,” says Sakamoto cheerfully.
Sakamoto, who also repaired hand pumps when he was a member of the corps and is now involved in policy planning for the central government, stresses that “the world of water is a series of simple tasks. He emphasizes that “the world of water is a series of simple tasks,” and that “although you can’t achieve great results in a year or two, water is essential for people to live. There are many areas in developing countries where people still do not have access to safe water, and delivering water to these areas will help improve people’s lives. This is where I feel a great sense of fulfillment.
International cooperation activities are also “a way to help people understand the country of Japan,” says Sakamoto. In order for Japan to survive in the world, it is necessary to establish various connections. While there are areas where Japan’s experience can be applied to developing countries, there are also areas where Japan can learn from the dynamically evolving momentum and new wisdom of developing countries.
Mr. Sakamoto, who respects the Kenyan people and their way of thinking, is trusted and relied upon wherever he goes. This attitude has made a strong impression on the JICA staff with whom he works.
I am now in a position to work with high-ranking officials of the Kenyan government, and every day I realize the significance of my job, which is to organize and propose the direction and policies that water supply in this country should take. While learning about the history of water supply development in Japan, I would like to contribute to setting the direction of the country and putting it into practice, based on my understanding of the country of Kenya.
Mr. Sakamoto humbly admits that he is not very sociable, but he likes going to new places. His eyes sparkle as he looks forward to continuing to visit various sites and work while building relationships of trust with people from all walks of life.
Daisuke Sakamoto
After graduating from university (civil engineering) in 2004, he worked for a waterworks consulting firm in Japan, where he was involved in waterworks planning and design. 2008, he was dispatched to Ghana as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV). After returning to Japan, he worked for a development consultancy company and then joined JICA headquarters (Water Resources Group, Global Environment Department) as a junior expert in 2014. After working in Uganda and Guinea, he joined the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation in Kenya as a JICA expert in January 2021, and received his Bachelor of Engineering (Water Supply and Sewerage) in 2012 and Master of Engineering (Water Sanitation Engineering) in 2022 from the UK.
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