Distributing central pot funding was particularly challenging this year. First, we prioritised viable projects that offered a complete solution to the water or electricity issue at hand. We felt that these were higher impact and better value for money than projects that would only provide a partial fix. Similarly, projects that offered ‘transformational change’ in the way a school uses water or electricity were rated highly. Beyond this, we assessed each school’s current situation carefully and chose to direct funding towards improving water set-ups that pose obvious health risks and new electricity installations that will immediately improve a school’s learning environment. Below is a summary of the projects that we have funded.
Maroo Esinde – Electricity
An ambitious project to bring electricity and lighting to classrooms, lab and boys’ dormitory. Boarding students who wanted to work in the past have been crammed into the only two classrooms with electricity, described by some students as too noisy to get anything done. The proposed project will give these students space, as well as bringing boys’ boarding up to line with the girls’ with lighting.
Kakunga Girls – Electricity
This project will fit twin laboratories with electricity and new lighting. The impact will be twofold; students will be able to perform science experiments more successfully, and the labs will provide much needed evening study space for the rising number of boarding students.
Machongo – Electricity
The Machongo laboratory is currently a dim shell. Central pot funding will help provide the lab with lighting and electrical fittings so that science practicals can be carried out in an environment conducive to learning. Funding for the renewable solar aspect of the project was not available but plans that were drawn up as part of the application will hopefully be taken on board by the school.
Machongo – Water
On paper Machongo looks to have it good, with a 25kL CDF tank. However the school is built on a gradient and the placement of the tank at the top of the compound means that it is only fed by rainwater from a single dormitory building. This project will source runoff from two more adjacent buildings owned by the sponsoring church, allowing the school to make use of their incredible capacity, potentially throughout the year. The project will also connect this tank to the chemical filtration system installed by previous PWs.
Riyabu – Water
Like many of our partner schools, Riyabu lacks adequate water storage capacity. The critical issue is that what current storage they do have is supplied by delapidated iron-lead roofs that contaminate the water and make it unfit for consumption. This project will utilise the full area of a new aluminium-zinc roof on the science building to supply a new 5kL tank with safer water. The tank will be built upon an old cesspit, removing a mosquito breeding site from the school grounds.
Ematiha – Water
Ematiha Secondary will get a new 3000l water tank and guttering to help alleviate a dire shortage of water in the dry season. The school’s current tank capacity was the lowest of all the schools that applied for new tanks and guttering, and the tank is heavily damaged.
Namagara – Water
The borehole at Namagara is the only water source for over 1000 students – around 400 from the secondary and 600 primary school children. With about a minute of continuous pumping required to draw water, and no attached tank and taps, long queues form, and many are discouraged from using the water at all. It is impossible to access water alone. This project proposes to attach a 3000l tank and a system of four taps, offering transformational change; students will be able to walk up, turn on a tap, and immediately access clean water, saving thousands of hours of time and encouraging increased drinking of water and improved personal hygiene.
Nyakemincha – Water
Nyakemincha is a rapidly growing school, both in terms of enrolment and MSS with over 500 students and a target of 9.0. The water project will connect the lower rainwater collection tanks to an upper reservoir to supply the new expanded science laboratory, as well as providing safe drinking water with an AquaClara filter and hand washing facilities.
Maroo Esinde – Water
The PWs at Maroo are tackling a huge problem of water storage and collection in the school. At the highest point for miles, the school is too far away to collect its own water. This modest grant from the central pot will help the school by providing a station for the supply of clean drinking water, while the PWs spend their own funds to tackle the issue elsewhere.
