Water Supply and Sanitation Program Phase II

Uganda has made substantial progress in increasing coverage to safe drinking water from 42% in 1991 to 64% in 2014, while access to sanitation has raised from 51% in 2001 to 74.6% in 2014. A report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) shows the agency has injected up to $218m (about sh785.9b) to close the water and sanitation services gap in Uganda at the end of September 2017 through loans, line of credit and grants to various projects.

The goal of the African Development Bank funded Water Supply and Sanitation Program (WSSP) is to contribute to improvement of health and productivity and reduction of epidemic diseases through use of safe water and sanitation services in the Central region towns and rural towns.

Initial findings highlighted that water points are located in central and busy places which gives easy access to clean water but also very strategic in protecting girls and women against violence. Distances to water sources are drastically reduced which means that children spend more time in school whilst women engage in other productive activities such as small retail businesses rather than spending the majority of their time fetching water.  Schools and health centers visited as well have water points thus have improved issues of hand washing and easy access to water.  In some areas, there are more than one water point which greatly reduces on the congestion and waiting time.