Teuk Saat 1001 local water NGO provides 13,400 ID Poor families with drinking water, masks and soaps with support from the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance, funded by the European Union, Sweden and UNDP.
According to a recent press release, under an emergency Covid-19 relief programme funded by the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance, which is implemented by the National Council for Sustainable Development, and with the support of the Ministry of Rural Development and Commune Councils, the nationwide rural network of Water Kiosks built by Teuk Saat 1001 Organisation gave away 13,400 new twenty liter refillable bottles of safe drinking water, masks and soaps to 50 ID-poor households in 268 communes across 17 provinces, impacting an estimated 56,200 vulnerable villagers in the first two weeks of June.
At the start of the pandemic, safely managed drinking water infrastructure was immediately promoted as an essential service for maintaining a strong immune system, which plays a crucial role in a person’s fight against Covid-19.
Beyond just reinforcing the World Health Organisation messages towards villagers, communal-owned rural Water Kiosks are leveraging their last mile access to support safety and health of the overall community with first need products. That includes providing key hygiene items to the most vulnerable who are facing severe income shocks.
The initiative targeting exclusively rural populations aims at supporting the national guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as well as at improving the health of the most vulnerable families and preserving their households budgets for other essential needs.
With the support of 1001fontaines NGO in France, the 268 independent Water Entrepreneurs are committed to provide the beneficiaries with free water refills until the end of July 2021.
These communal Water Kiosks are covering 25 percent of the rural population in Cambodia and the rollout of this programme has been implemented in a record time considering that the infrastructure was already in place and fully functional. As of today, 800 local independent Water Entrepreneurs and Operators are running the 268 decentralised and communal-owned water facilities.
Multi-stakeholders engagement is more than ever required to ensure universal access to essentials goods and services while supporting the Covid-19 recovery. Such programme has proven that impact can be efficiently fostered through the collaboration of national and decentralised public institutions, International Organisations, local NGOs and grassroots level of private entrepreneurship.
The Cambodia Climate Change Alliance is an innovative partnership between the National Council for Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Environment, the United Nations Development Programme, the Government of Sweden and the European Union, established in 2010. It supports the implementation of Cambodia’s Climate Change Strategic Plan through partnerships with government, academia and civil society.
Teuk Saat 1001, founded in 2005 and empowered by the French organization 1001fontaines, is a Cambodian NGO registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior since 2007. Teuk Saat 1001 was created to improve the health of vulnerable populations in rural areas facing safe water challenges. It has been doing under a strong collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press