Unseen Heroes: #3 - Why water programmes increase gender equality with Tumba Mupango | English

WATER FOR WATER (WfW) is an international non-profit
organisation with the vision of making the use of water resources
climate-friendly and fair. Through long-term partnerships and
holistic approaches, WfW sustainably improves the water and
sanitation supply in Zambia and Mozambique. In Switzerland,
Zambia and Mozambique, WfW places a strong focus on education and
awareness-raising - always with the aim of establishing
professional WASH systems and promoting the conscious use of
water. Tumba M. Mupango is Programme Manager for Capacity
Development at WfW in Zambia and advises the government in Zambia
as a member of the Advisory Board.


Question 1: Tumba, you have been working on
water supply and sanitation projects in Zambia for more than ten
years. Have you noticed any improvement? Answer:
According to a demographic and health survey in Zambia, more than
36 percent of the population lacks access to basic water supply
and more than 67 percent lack access to basic sanitation. Zambia
has made many efforts to address these challenges. The
development goal: to ensure access to fair and safe water and
drinking water for all by 2030. Thanks to WfW, four districts of
Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, have already been connected to the
water supply.


Question 2: As part of your work at WfW, you sit
on the government's advisory board in Zambia, which deals with
water and skills development issues. What are the challenges?
Answer: Zambia’s Vision 2030 focuses on skills
development and investment in educational qualifications that
respond to the demands of the labour market. With this in mind,
we established the Water and Sanitation Sector Skills Advisory
Board, which aims to match the increased demand for skilled
labour in the sector with supply. WfW has supported over 500
students to gain trade and craft qualifications in the water and
sanitation sector.


Question 3: What is the difference that local
people in Zambia experience through skills and know-how
development? Answer: In 2020, there were about
3800 secondary schools, nine public universities and about 54
private universities in Zambia. Every year, over 100,000 students
graduate from secondary school and cannot get into universities
because higher education and universities in Zambia are expensive
compared to vocational training.


Question 4: Your personal story is a difficult
one, but also very inspiring. You grew up in a family with six
siblings and had to take care of your family from an early age.
This hard time fostered your dedication to support women from
disadvantaged backgrounds. Answer: I lost my
father at the age of 13, my older siblings were just 17 and the
youngest 6. We were raised by my mother and many hard-working
women in my extended family. Because of this experience, I have
always been committed to making life better for the next
generation of women.


Question 5: How is safe drinking water related
to gender equality? And how do the projects you run help other
women? Answer: There are direct and indirect
links from our projects to gender equality. One is that the
provision of clean water is a time factor, during which women
could better engage in other economic activities that improve
their livelihoods. On skills development: Most of the students I
support are girls and women. The aim is for them to be
self-sufficient and to finance their own livelihood.





Links: 


Water for Water: https://wfw.ch/


Unseen Heroes: https://en.unseen-heroes.ch/heroes/tumba-m-mupango