Goal
To reduce child mortality through the improvement of access to water and healthier sanitation practices.

Strategic Objectives
To facilitate the improvement of access to water.
Communities lead and participate in processes to eradicate open defecation in their villages.
Empowerment of communities and village structure for sustainable and healthy management of water supplies.

Activities
The 8.7 Richter scale Nias earthquake in March 2005 seriously affected the water supply throughout Nias, directly damaging many wells, reducing spring water availability and lowering the water table due to reef uplift.

Meanwhile, the SurfAid Community Based Health Program was being implemented in Nias, and one of the components of that program focuses on the direct relationship between community health, hygiene, local sanitation facilities and the availability of a clean water supply. From this, the Watsan program was born and the initial phase was funded by UNICEF and NZAID, with some additional money from SurfAid.

In mid-2008, SurfAid completed 99 Watsan facilities in 26 villages in Sirombu and Teluk Dalam sub-districts, including new water tanks, tapped spring water systems, new and reconditioned wells, rainwater harvesting systems and two types of latrines.  SurfAid is using the Community Led Total Sanitation approach, a proven model for encouraging communities to take responsibility for their own hygiene practices.

SurfAid is seekingUS$305,000 for another 104 facilities that are urgently needed in eight Nias villages where 10,435 people live. In Afulu and Alasa sub-districts, the diarrhoea rates are 35 per cent and 45 per cent respectively while the Indonesian national average, using the same measurement criteria, is 11 per cent. Diarrhoea is a big contributing factor to the under-five-year-old child death rate in Nias of 66 per 1,000 live births.

In this new project there will again be a structured focus on community participation and ownership, a successful approach for ensuring the long-term maintenance of the facilities.

Mentawai Watsan Assessment
While the recent focus has been on Nias, SurfAid also recognizes that there is a need for water and sanitation in many Mentawai communities. There are further parallels with Nias, as much of the damage to the Mentawai water supplies was caused during the earthquakes of September 2007. In 2008, in collaboration with The Aquaya Institute from USA and Yayasan Dian Desa, SurfAid undertook a feasibility study with a view to extending the Watsan program to the Mentawai Islands.  We are aiming to respond to the community need for access to clean water in a number of Mentawai communities.