13-03-2020 | di COOPI

Iraq. Safe access to clean water for 16,500 people

Since October 2019, COOPI has led a new project in Iraq aiming to ensure safe and dignified access to clean water for 16,500 inhabitants of the Geresh and Albo Tumma villages in the Beygee district, east of Tikrit. 

The project “Water, Hygiene and Sanitation support to most vulnerable displaced population in camps of Diyala and Baghdad Governorates and out of camps in Ninewa, Salah Al Din and Al Anbar” is financed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) through the Iraq humanitarian fund. 

To support the most conflict-afflicted Iraqi communities, COOPI will implement a structural intervention aimed at repairing and extending the water supply network and water treatment plants damaged due to the conflict and lack of maintenance. Moreover, COOPI will organize several awareness campaigns on the proper use of water focusing on feminine hygiene and environmental sustainability. Finally, all local families will receive a specific hygiene kit, whose content will be decided after consultations with local authorities and families. 

The on-going dialogue with local communities had been the key to previous intervention in the country. This is a best practice that COOPI decided to strengthen more, selecting 6 different people in the targeted villages who will play a fundamental role in mobilizing people and in spreading messages on hygiene and sustainability. 

As of today, COOPI has completed the preparatory phases for the rehabilitation works which had to be rescheduled due to precarious security conditions and will be finalized by the end of June 2020.

At the same time, COOPI staff identified the schools where the hygiene promotion sessions will be held, in order to increase the participation of the different communities. Besides, thanks to the collaboration with the local population, the contents of the sessions have been set. These will include subjects such as personal hygiene’s good practices, menstrual hygiene, water collection and management and environmental sustainability. 

Despite the project is scheduled to in June 2020, COOPI is determined to keep on supporting vulnerable communities in Salah al Din district in the following months. This will be possible thanks to COOPI strong operational capacity in the area guaranteed by our sub-office in Shirqat, which gives rapid and constant access to the areas that are most in need.