Meet Jacinta, Verahue village's water champion!

Jacinta assists new times new targets staff collect water samples for testing from a tap in Verahue Village (Plan International Australia)

Women in Solomon Islands are bolstering local water committees and championing positive change to secure safe water supply for their communities.

In Verahue village in West Guadalcanal, Jacinta Votu is a community leader and change-maker. She leads the once all male village water committee, which oversees management of the water supply and contributes to strengthening the Water Security Improvement Plan, with support from Australia, through Water for Women.

According to traditional roles, women in Solomon Islands are responsible for household water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) tasks, yet despite being the primary users of water, they are often not involved in decision-making or management activities related to community water.

In Verahue, one of the communities working with our partner, Plan International through the Water for Women New Times New Targets project, this is changing.

Verahue village faced many water challenges; leakages and taps left running had been exacerbating issues with low water pressure to the reticulated system, while a lack of proper drainage and rubbish disposal sites meant water runoff pooled in stagnant ponds, providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes and creating slippery aprons around tap stands.

With Plan's support, the community was encouraged to revive the water committee and women were encouraged to participate in the Committee to work together to control, manage and develop improvement plans for the safety of their water. The leader of the committee in Verahue village was a young woman called Jacinta Votu, who has championed change with regards to water management in their community through her work with the established water committee.

Under Jacinta’s leadership, significant water management improvements have been made, including community water rationing and wastewater management. The community has also raised funds for improvements to the current water supply system, with Guadalcanal provincial engineers to inspect and assess for future work to cater for new households.

Recognising and valuing the critical contributions of women as decision makers, stakeholders, educators, carers and experts across sectors and at all levels is key to a sustainable, climate-resilient future. Without their voices at the table, this won’t happen.

Changing mindsets in a changing climate - water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) delivery offers an important entry point to facilitate positive changes in social norms, attitudes and gender relations. Jacinta is inspiring other women to participate in community and leadership roles and is changing mindsets around women's participation.

A former Melanesian Brotherhood who resides in the community has noticed the positive change with the involvement of women in the water committee, saying “a strong woman stands up for everyone who can create change for future women leaders of tomorrow."

In any work we do we do, it is crucial to ensure that this work does not come at an additional cost to women by adding to their already heavy workloads. That is why gender and social inclusion and do no harm approaches are embedded across Water for Women projects.

As part of the project delivery, Plan International has facilitated a number of important community activities to increase understanding of the importance of women in WASH leadership positions. Male facilitators were trained and engaged in encouraging other men to support women’s participation, while activities involving community leaders such as chiefs, chairman, youth leaders, women's band leaders and women active in church roles supported women to participate in discussions during meetings and gain confidence to take up community roles. Through this process, women were also able to raise WASH issues they were facing.