Thursday, April 12, 2012

GWWI Women and Water on Wednesdays:  UCOBAC Receives the Gift of Hygiene from CNN Hero, Derek Kayonga!  

The Global Women’s Water Initiative is thrilled to share this video featuring CNN Hero Derek Kayonga of the Global Soap Project (GSP) providing UCOBAC with recycled soap thanks to GWWI Fellow, Lily Dimling!

A primary goal of GWWI is to create an international network of women leaders in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector providing a platform for learning and sharing.  When Lily, a leader at Global Soap Project, was selected to participate in the GWWI flagship Fellowship program, one of her main objectives was to learn more about WASH implementation on the ground so GSP could expand their services through WASH education initiatives to supplement their mission to distribute soap. In summer of 2011, the GWWI Fellowship Program mobilized a global team of women graduate students and development professionals to gain a holistic and hands-on training in international development, WASH-related education and appropriate technology.





UCOBAC is one of the two returning organizations that participated in our 2008 and 2010 Women and Water trainings. Led by Solome Mukisa, UCOBAC provides services to improve the welfare of vulnerable children in Uganda through trainings of relevant actors, advocacy and networking using community-based initiatives. GWWI has since sponsored four UCOBAC members to attend GWWI trainings who have learned how to build technologies addressing all three major water challenges – water access (rainwater harvesting techniques), water quality (various water treatments like the Biosand Filter, Solar Cookit ) and sanitation (Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines).  With these skills and technologies, UCOBAC is on their way to becoming a full service Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) service center.

GWWI knew this would be a perfect opportunity for the Grassroots Teams to be able to partner with an organization like GSP and for Lily to learn nuanced community strategies and witness first hand the challenges grassroots women and communities face. And as it turns out, it was beyond perfect! What an amazing gift for UCOBAC not only to receive soap for their health clinic and other HIV/AIDS orphan programs, but also to have been featured in Derek’s Introduction video for CNN Heroes! Look out for, 2008 graduate and UCOBAC Executive Director, Solome Mukisa at about the 1 minute mark!  Much of the footage is taken in the slum where UCOBAC offers free health services and the site of the UCOBACs first toilet that the community, Lily and others helped build.

Let’s hear it for Water Heros and Sheros bringing hope where it is needed.



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