Ata Vagi: Pari's pioneering water service manager

In February, Dr Lucas de Toca, Australia's Ambassador for Global Health, visited Ata Vagi in Pari Village to learn about the water kiosk system (Dr Lucas de Toca)

Meet Ata Vagi, the Water Service Manager for Pari Village in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Ata is dedicated to delivering safe, accessible, and affordable water for her community, and exemplifies how entire communities thrive when women are given equal opportunities to earn, learn and lead. 

Like many peri-urban communities in PNG, Pari, a traditional Motu Village about nine kilometres southeast of Port Moresby, is challenged by poor water supply services and has no formal sewerage network. Most people purchase their water from informal cart sellers, which can be expensive. 

More than 60% of PNG's population lacks access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation. Climate change threatens these already fragile WASH services. These risks disproportionately affect women, who are often excluded from leadership and decision-making, despite their significant role in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) related duties. 

As part of Water for Women's PNG WASH Consortium, WASH Em i Bikpela Samting (WEBS), and in partnership with Motu Koita Assembly, WaterAid Australia and WaterAid PNG have been trialling an innovation water kiosk system in Pari. As the Water Service Manager, Ata has overseen the initial training and establishment of the kiosk operators. She reflects that, “Once the kiosks are operational, it will also provide a source of income to the operators who are all currently unemployed, with some having high school as their highest level of education".

For Ata, the project's success will mean safe, affordable, and reliable water for her community. She explains:

"Safe, means a guaranteed supply of treated quality water. Affordable means it will be low cost to fit the budgets of the mostly low socio-economic status villagers. And Accessible, means the kiosks will be reliable and easy to reach for everyone.”

In PNG, women and girls bear the primary responsibility for water in their families. Ata acknowledges that the challenges of limited water services disproportionately affect women and girls. She says she takes pride in delivering a much needed service and that the water kiosks will help to address these issues: 

"The project will solve countless issues associated with having no water... Not only will it improve sanitation and hygiene in the community... [it] will ease the burden off breadwinners on budgeting so much on water and the struggle of few young people, but mostly women and children having fetching water a daily struggle.... For me, it is a source of satisfaction knowing that I have contributed something meaningful to my people and the village as a whole." 

In February, Dr Lucas de Toca, Australia's Ambassador for Global Health, visited Pari Village and met with Ata. You can watch their exchange to hear more about this work from Ata. 

As the kiosks are rolled out across the Pari community, women’s participation and leadership in water resources management and the delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services will continue to be crucial to ensure a more sustainable, climate-resilient and peaceful future for everyone.