Hakizamungu shows off one of the completed water tanks.
The Kirehe Community-based Watershed Management Project (KWAMP) supports community innovations and sharing of information through community competitions, called 'Inteko y'Imihigo'. Different village committees come up with Natural Resources Management Plans and the cooperatives present business proposals that address their most pressing need for funding. The case study on these community competitions by IFADAfrica shows that they are a very good example of south-south and grass root knowledge exchange. In Kirehe District, there are amazing results of the practice.
Cyanika village won the Inteko y'Imihigo in 2013 with their proposal for improvised water storage tanks or 'water baskets', called agaseke in Kinyarwanda. The tanks are made by digging a ditch in the ground, laying it with a water retention plastic sheet, and then constructing a small 'house-like' structure over it above the ground using locally made bricks, mud and wattle. The structure is covered with iron sheets, through which a gutter pipe linked to the main house will feed water into the tank during the rainy season, where it is kept for use during the dry season.
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