5 Minutes of Inspiration: Sudanese helping each other

Photo: @CARE A community member addressing the Minister of Urban Planning and talking about their concerns in Kass, South Darfur

If you were living in Darfur, and you were just getting access to clean water and latrines, what would be your biggest wish for the next project? Better health clinics? Cash transfers? VSLAs? The Sudanese answer might surprise you.

2 out of 3 of the people in CARE’s South and East Darfur Emergency Assistance project said what they want the next phase of the project to do is help more people in different communities. It’s an incredibly humbling fact: people who are getting the most basic support, and are living in some of the most challenging conditions in the world, think the most important thing CARE can do is help other people get the same basic services.

The South and East Darfur Emergency Assistance Project ran from 2017-2018 with $1.2 million in funding by the US Government’s Office of Foreign and Disaster Assistance (OFDA). It reached 309,981 people. The project is continuing through 2019 for a new phase of funding.

What have we accomplished?

  • People have clean water: there was a 37% increase in access to clean water, and 241,418 people got access to clean water and hygiene education.
  • More people have health services: 36,893 people got access to health services.
  • People have toilets: people are 3 times more likely to use latrines—up to 85% of the population at the end of the project.
  • We’re curing malnutrition: 84% of people who got nutrition services were cured.
  • Participants are satisfied: 50% of project participants were highly satisfied with the project, and 85% say the benefitted from project services.

How did we get there?

  • Support health centers: the project supported 15 nutrition centers to treat acute malnutrition. They also reconstructed and repaired 8 health centers.
  • Make sure health centers can operate: CARE partnered with WHO to make sure that the health centers we constructed were stocked and able to operate. CARE also trained 121 staff and volunteers to guarantee that the centers could be sustainable.
  • Focus on water: The project worked with 5 water stations (including 4 solar-powered water points), 14 pumps, and 270 latrines to help people access clean water and sanitation.

Want to learn more?
Check out the final evaluation here.