WATER TODAY & TOMORROW! Restoration of wells and water points in the Lumezi distric

In the heart of the Lumezi district, in the Eastern Province of Zambia, water — a source of life, health, and dignity — has become a mirage. The wells, once the lifeblood of the village, are now broken, rusty, and unusable. Children walk kilometers for a bucket of water. Families live with the constant risk of diseases related to poor hygiene. Our project Water Today & Tomorrow (WTT) is embarking on a transformative journey to restore access to clean and safe water in Lumezi.

WHY OUR PROJECT

Currently, many wells and water supply points in Lumezi are not functioning for the following reasons:

• Poor quality of initial construction;
• Lack of community training for proper use;
• Shortage of the parts for repair;
• Water contamination.

Access to drinking water for people in Lumezi is further compromised by climate change, which causes prolonged droughts, decreased rainfall, and greater variability in precipitation. These changes lead to lower groundwater levels, drying up of wells, rivers, and streams, and reduced water availability for agriculture, livestock, and domestic use. Limited access to clean water forces women and girls to walk long distances to fetch it, increasing their vulnerability to gender-based violence.

The mission of our association, together with our partner in Zambia, is to change this reality and bring lasting improvements to the community!

OUR GOAL

With our project, we want to restore clean water for the community, raise awareness about the risks of a water emergency and its impact on health, and give people autonomy in managing water resources to be prepared and better cope with an emergency.

To do this, we need your help.

Our first goal is to reach €3,000. With these funds:

• We will restore 7 wells by replacing some parts of the manual pumps, involving local labor.
• We will repair 50 water supply points by replacing damaged parts with more durable ones.
• We will organize a workshop in collaboration with local authorities and stakeholders on hygiene, sanitation, and drinking water conservation practices. During this workshop, we will empower the community to maintain the infrastructure and ensure its long-term sustainability.
• We will support the formation of a local water management committee.
• We do not just want to intervene; we want to leave the community able to stand on its own. For this reason, we will train 15 members of the local committee, teaching them how to manage well maintenance, keep records and accounts, so that the change lasts over time.
• We will cover the logistical and administrative costs to start the projects properly (printing materials, transporting personnel to the field, communicating with the community).

But we do not want to stop here! By reaching this first goal, we will be able to participate in the award of a prize from the International Organization for Migration as part of the A.MI.CO. Humanitarian Action Crowdfunding call to double the amount raised.

With additional funds, we will be able to expand the impact of our project and extend it to other communitites. With the same amount, we will be able to intervene to repair wells in neighboring villages to ensure access to water.

WHO WE ARE

ADDI-Italia (African Diaspora Development Institute) is a volunteer association ODV based in Perugia that represents the African diaspora in Italy.

It was established in 2021 as the Italian branch of ADDI International, established in 2015 and based in Washington, which includes the African diaspora in the USA and other countries around the world. The vision of ADDI-Italia, like that of ADDI International, is motivated by the matured awareness and knowledge of Africans in the world who have acquired the necessary skills to become protagonists of development cooperation actions in their countries of origin.

The mission of ADDI is to affirm the function of active and generative co- development of the African diaspora for the pursuit of the 17 United Nations 2030 goals, seeking to involve as partners, people, associations, and institutions of the countries that host them and that offer tools and opportunities for international cooperation.

We will implement this project in collaboration with MWAMA Foundation.