In Ethiopia only 22.5% of the population has access to clean water. This shortage has many adverse consequences, not all of them immediately obvious. First, as one would expect, there is a high incidence of waterborne diseases. There are also medical problems related to personal hygiene when water is too scarce to allow regular washing. Not so obvious is the impact a scarcity of water has on girls’ education. In areas where water is not easily accessible young girls often have to spend several hours each day fetching water from far off locations. And, in the result they are often held back from school in order to bring water to their households.

In order to address this issue Partners devotes a lot of time and energy to digging shallow wells and protecting springs. These projects are ideal for Partners’ model. Digging wells is an activity that a community can easily participate in and which requires no special skills. It also provided immediate and obvious benefits to the community and fosters a strong sense of “can-do” in the process. And, by and large, wells are not expensive. Partners can put a well in place that will serve a community of 1000 people for approximately $4,000. Protecting existing springs is a little more expensive but requires less maintenance over the long haul.