Water accessibility impact on girl and women’s participation in education and other development activities: the case of Wuchale and Jidda Woreda, Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia has huge water resource potential. However, it contributed little to access to clean and safe drinking water supply and socio-economic development. The objective of this study was to assess water accessibility, its source and impact on females participation in education and other development activities at Wuchale and Jidda Woreda. To achieve this, multiple stage sampling system was used and in the first stage two kebele were purposively selected from each Woreda based on water accessibility problems. Accordingly, a total of 197 households were selected systematically and data collection were made using questionnaire, interview, and focus group discussion. Data analysis were made using statistical package for social science (SPSS version 20.0) and Microsoft excel. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, cross tabulation and regression analysis were used as analysis tools. The result of the study identified river (49.24 %) as major source of drinking water followed by unprotected spring, pond, hand dung boreholes and improved water supply point which account about 41.11, 7.11, 2.03 and 0.51 % respectively. Access to safe drinking water is the major strange, as reiterated by 95 % of the respondent. The finding also showed that the average per capita per day per person was about 14 litter which is less than WHO standard (20 litter) and GTP of Ethiopia (15 litter). An individual get water by going an average distance of 2.78 ± 0.81 km from their residential area which was greater than the maximum distance standard (1 km) set by WHO and UNICEF; and 1.5 km by Ministry of Water and Energy in universal access plan and gross and transformation document of Ethiopia. The study also showed that about 5.23 ± 2.82 h per day were spent by girls and females for fetching water. Even after going long distance and spending a lots hours per day, the water they got lack sanitation and hygiene since they use in common with livestock and other living thing. Poor access to safe drinking water coupled with illiteracy (73.1 %) and water borne disease prevalence, greatly influenced the participation of girls and female in education, agricultural production and other development activities at study area. Hence, urgent response with regard to providing access to safe drinking water should be given to the community by concerned body.