![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/02_The-Community-Environmemntal-Health-Officer-conduct-Ecoli-test-at-household-level-for-Kampambara-spring-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-23th-February-2026.jpg\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Before the rehabilitation of Kagezi spring under the \u201cProject for Rural Water Supply Services and Infrastructure Management Development (RWASOM2)\u201d in October 2024, fetching water was a daily struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe water was dirty and contained worms. Many in our community fell ill from unsafe water,\u201d Rachel recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the spring is capped, channeled, and protected. Clear water now flows through a tap onto a clean concrete platform. The improvement is visible, but its deeper impact is measured in health and dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you have clean water, you have good health. Now children go to school and study well because they are healthy,\u201d Rachel says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing the transformation, Rachel and her community have committed themselves to protecting the spring. Every Saturday, they clean the area and ensure it remains safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the national level, rural water management is coordinated by the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC). For Vincent de Paul Mugwaneza, Director of Water Supply at WASAC Development, the partnership with JICA has been both technical and transformative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur projects with JICA are designed to address existing challenges. Before implementation, we ensure they align with national water strategies and are likely to deliver real, measurable impact,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JICA\u2019s long-standing cooperation has gone beyond infrastructure development; it has helped build a stronger and more sustainable ecosystem for water supply management by strengthening management structure, training private operators, and providing district teams with tools for planning, monitoring, and maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RWASOM\u2019s JICA expert Satoshi Ishida notes that sustainability depends less on construction and more on post-project management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrivate operators manage rural pipelines and contribute a royalty fee equivalent to 10% of their revenue to WASAC, which funds major repairs and facility renewal plans,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project improved how private operators plan repairs, shifting them from reactive to preventive management. Ishida adds that mapping facilities with GIS helps operators prioritise investments and promotes a culture of preventive maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Measurable improvements have followed. \u201cWe track functioning versus non-functioning systems and citizen complaints. These indicators provide a clear picture of progress,\u201d Mugwaneza explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the ground, district officers ensure that systems continue to run. In Eastern Province, Nderabakura Jean Claude, District WATSAN Officer, monitors water points across wide rural areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe must know how many water points we have, which are functioning, and why some are not,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Training supported by JICA has expanded the district\u2019s technical capacity. Officers now develop expansion plans using GIS and QGIS, design pipelines on paper, and calculate realistic budgets. Ishida notes that embedding skills in WASAC, districts, and communities ensures that knowledge is institutionalised rather than reliant on external experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Water quality monitoring is also essential. \u201cWe test chemical and biological parameters, check chlorine levels, ensure pH balance, and supervise cleaning of storage tanks,\u201d Jean Claude says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The impact is clear: waterborne diseases have decreased, even in health facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite progress, challenges remain. In some rural areas, vandalism and illegal connections threaten infrastructure, particularly during dry seasons. JICA has introduced digital monitoring and mapping tools to help operators respond quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMapping water systems and sharing operational reports online allows rapid identification of failures,\u201d Ishida explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome cut pipes for mud bricks or industries,\u201d Jean Claude notes, adding that security patrols and community sensitisation have reduced incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet even amid constraints, the principle of community ownership remains central.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To strengthen that ownership, JICA volunteers are rooted in the community and dedicated to protecting water sources. Over the past two decades, 61 JICA volunteers in water and sanitation have been placed in rural districts, supporting daily operations, data management, maintenance training, and hygiene promotion. Before these interventions, many boreholes with handpumps were not functioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe government\u2019s development policy emphasises citizen participation,\u201d Jean Claude says. \u201cWhen citizens request infrastructure and see it delivered, they appreciate it. They recognise its value and become more willing to protect and maintain it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel embodies that spirit. At Kagezi Spring, they do not wait for breakdowns. They clean drainage channels, check for cracks, and keep watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow we have been given water, and we also have the responsibility to protect it,\u201d she says firmly. \u201cNo one is allowed to damage it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a quiet Saturday morning in Kagezi village, Gahengeri Sector of Rwamagana District, Eastern Province, a small group of women gathers around a protected spring. They sweep the concrete apron, clear the drainage channel, and check the fencing. It is routine work, but for them, it is also a promise kept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000106634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000106628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000106634,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01_-E.coli-test-briefing-with-CM-team-in-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-February-24th-2026.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1354,"height":1016,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01_-E.coli-test-briefing-with-CM-team-in-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-February-24th-2026.jpg","width":150,"height":113},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01_-E.coli-test-briefing-with-CM-team-in-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-February-24th-2026.jpg","width":300,"height":225},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01_-E.coli-test-briefing-with-CM-team-in-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-February-24th-2026.jpg","width":768,"height":576},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01_-E.coli-test-briefing-with-CM-team-in-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-February-24th-2026.jpg","width":1024,"height":768},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01_-E.coli-test-briefing-with-CM-team-in-Kazo-Sector-Ngoma-District-February-24th-2026.jpg","width":1354,"height":1016}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000106628"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000106650,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106628\/revisions\/2000106650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000106634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000106628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000106628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000106628"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000106628"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000106628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/04_Transect-Walk-during-the-workshop-on-the-CWSP-Monitoring-for-Rwamatabaro-spring-in-Rubona-sector-Rwamagana-district-February-5th-2026.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
Building systems, strengthening communities<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06_Business-Development-Training-for-Sustainable-Water-Management-trainees-were-the-staffs-of-AYATEKE-Star-Company-Ltd-PO-Gatsibo-March-10-12-2026.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/03_Refresher-training-of-the-staffs-of-WATERWAYS-CREATION-LTD-and-PATTO-WATER-LTD-on-conducting-water-quality-testing-for-physical_chemical-parameters-13_02_2026.jpg\")
<\/a>Protecting gains<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/05_Conducting-measurement-of-the-residual-free-chlorine-by-the-staff-of-WATERWAYS-CREATION-LTD-in-Ngoma-district-on-10_02_2026.jpg\")