The massive arrival of refugees and IDPs in Eastern Chad from 2003 led to the mobilisation of the international community to provide essential services in the areas where there were refugee camps and IDP sites. Water was supplied via heavy motorized systems (pumping, storage reservoirs/chlorination, distribution). Little by little, humanitarian organizations have looked for ways to adapt to the extension of the crisis.
The current study aimed to support the efforts of actors who were attempting to adapt themselves to changes in the context. It reviewed experiences and operations aiming to establish long-term access to potable water, taking into account the current context with the predicted long-term presence of Sudanese refugees and the re-organisation of territories which has been brought about by the movement of IDPs.
Concretely, the study analysed:
- The experiences of humanitarian actors in the different contexts of Eastern Chad;
- The approaches used by development actors to understand factors of sustainability.
It also tried to identify the good practices which can be transposed to refugee camps, IDP sites and returnee and relocalisation areas.
What water supply strategies are implemented in the different contexts in Easter Chad? What results have been obtained by humanitarian actors and what dynamics exist in terms of the long-term sustainability of water supply infrastructure? Are there any good practices which deserve to be more widely known?
What lessons can be learned from the experiences of development projects regarding access to water and what is their area of application?
Is it possible or desirable to make social management of water sustainable and autonomous with communities whose place of residence is not stable?