Search

Faith-based Organisations and WASH in Solomon Islands: A missing link?

Written by Dr Mark Love

 

Research conducted as part of PaCWaM+1 sought to answer the question: Do churches have a role to play in supporting community-based water management in the Pacific and, if so, what might this look like? Based on formative research in Solomon Islands and desk-top reviews of other Pacific Island Countries (PICs), the answer was “Yes, they do” and various options of what this might look like were identified.

With the support of the Australian Government’s Water for Women Fund, the International WaterCentre (IWC), Griffith University and Solomon Islands National University (SINU) have been undertaking action research with the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM), United Church (UC), South Sea Evangelical Church (SSES) and Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) churches in the Provinces of Isabel and Western.

Last year, IWC / SINU conducted workshops with 26 leaders from different church denominations in Solomon Islands, supported by senior environmental health inspectors from the relevant Provincial Environmental Health Division/RWASH. During the workshops, participants developed Action Plans and committed to undertaking numerous actions to improve community water management in their respective communities.

In June and July this year, Collin Benjamin and Sheilla Funubo, under the guidance of Dr Hugo Bugoro and Nixon Panda (SINU), completed monitoring of these Action Plans. The results are promising, supporting “proof of concept”.  Highlights include:

  • Conducting community awareness about water management (sometimes using the “Water is Everyone’s Business: video)
  • Re-establishing water committees
  • Introducing or re-vitalising water fees
  • Conducting fundraising for water system improvement
  • Improving rubbish collection and disposal in the village
  • Cleaning tap-stands and dams more frequently
  • Undertaking repairs
  • Priests’ integrating water stewardship messages into sermons.

In terms of meeting the specific targets as laid out in each of the Action Plans, most communities were sitting on between 40-70% completion rate.

Before, you would see empty plastic bottles and detergent containers lying around the stand taps. Now, you hardly see them” (Titiro, Isabel)

The Oceanic region is known as “the most solidly Christian part of the world,” with over 90% of Pacific Islanders identifying as Christian. Churches and church-related organizations (faith-based organizations or FBOs) play a crucial role in the region’s history, culture, and politics. In rural Solomon Islands, church leaders, along with customary institutions like chiefs and cultural norms, shape the patterns of daily life. As George Hoa’au has noted, “The church has a very special kind of respect within villages; people don’t see the member of parliament every day, they see the pastor and priest every day.” Church-related groups are typically the most active institutions at the village level, providing many of the services typically associated with the state in Western contexts.

Some of the church leaders involved in the workshops undertook actions in all the communities they oversee (up to 6 villages), demonstrating the institutional reach and scalability of the church.

Churches are not a magic bullet, but they are an active, influential and overlooked WASH ally in the Pacific region. The early results of this research suggest that FBOs constitute an important “plus” that can help support the community-based water model at the rural level.  Government and other actors still have an important role to play but whilst the community-water management model remains the dominant approach in the region churches  can, and should, be engaged with more by development partners and governments seeking to improve rural WASH in PICs

Fig. 1. Tap-stand, Baolo village, Isabel

 

Fig. 2. Sheilla Funubo interviews a member of the Mothers Union as part of the monitoring research in Buala village, Isabel

Learn more about this project

Pacific Community Water Management Plus (PaCWaM+)

This International WaterCentre led research project explored how CSOs and governments can better enable rural community water management in the Pacific to improve SDG6 outcomes, using community water management plus practices.

This project is funded by the Australian Government’s Water for Women Fund.

 

Our Research Partners for this project include:  Griffith University, Plan International Australia, Live and Learn Solomon Islands, Habitat for Humanity Australia, University of South Pacific and Solomon Islands National University

Community members receive research findings reports

By Senior Project Officer Diana Gonzalez Botero

During the first phase of the Pacific Community Water Management Plus (PaCWaM+) research, the teams in Solomon Islands and Fiji spent a week in each study community collecting data about community water management, household water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and health situations, water quality, sanitary risk assessment and the socio-economic context. 

After completing the data collection and analysis, the PaCWaM+ team delivered summary reports and posters back to these communities to inform them of the research findings.The four-page summary reporthighlights the key findings related to the WASH situation, strengths and weaknesses of the village water system management, people’s perceptions of the main issues in the community, and the key water management challenges experienced by residents. The report also includes key recommendations that community members and leaders can implement to improve their water services, as well as information about hand hygiene in the context of COVID-19.

The report also includes key recommendations that community members and leaders can implement to improve their water services, as well as information about hand hygiene in the context of COVID-19.

Copies of the village reports were presented to the Village Chief, the Water Committee, and the village nurse in each community. Additionally, posters were displayed in public places where all the community members could see them

The water committee members who received thesereports thanked the research team for conducting the research in their community and for bringing back the results. A water committee chairman from one of the communities said, “the report shares a very powerful message to the villageand noted that they have started planning how the committee can work together with the community to improve their water supply system and management practices based on the research findings. 

The PaCWaM+ project is managed by the International WaterCentre at Griffith University and delivered with our research partners, Solomon Islands National University and the University of South Pacific. The research is funded by the Australian Aid’s Water for Women Fund, and is supported by Plan International Australia, Live & Learn Solomon Islands, Habitat for Humanity Australia and Fiji. 

To learn more, visit: www.watercentre.org/research/pcwm