Rainwater : a resource at the service of a human right

In many of the countries where we work, it is mainly women and girls who are responsible for collecting water. They have to make sure that the family has 30 to 50 litres of water per day to meet their daily needs. This requires women to get up early, walk to the source, which is on average 2-3km from the house, and then fill the 15-20 litre jerry cans and walk back and forth several times to ensure the necessary volume.

The negative consequences of this water chore on women and girls are significant: loss of time, headaches and backaches, fatigue, which often leads to school drop-out and social isolation.

Finally, in this situation faced by millions of women on a daily basis, women often do not have a voice in the management and planning of community infrastructure. They are thus left without a voice and without the capacity to influence choices and decisions made at the community level.

Rainwater harvesting can thus serve domestic, agricultural and even industrial needs, and thus relieve the growing pressure on groundwater and freshwater resources. Rainwater enhances the resilience of rural communities to climate change.

Water resources are vulnerable to climate change, closely linked to variations in climate, temperature and precipitation conditions, creating tensions and uncertainties in local agricultural production. Global trends such as population growth, massive urbanisation, rapid and continuing degradation of ecosystems and the need to produce more food are increasing pressures on access to water, especially drinking water.

Rainwater harvesting provides a triple gain, by mitigating the risks of a) the devastating effects of floods, b) having a water resource to cope with periods of drought, c) optimising the management of available resources.