Week 6 - The Importance of Ownership

Location: Kalangala, Ssese Islands, Uganda

After weeks of classroom learning and field observations, the group anxiously awaited the chance to participate in an actual hands-on public health-oriented project. With our trip to the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, we were finally presented with such an opportunity. Given the mission to help extend a waterline to an unserviced village in Uganda’s Kalangala district, we were excited to finally contribute something that was both meaningful and sustainable to our host country. Not only would we be helping to improve the overall water security of the village, we would be helping to stop the spread of waterborne diseases. Needless to say, we were ready to give it our all.

Across the board, the group seemed to be fairly disappointed at our level of involvement in the project at first. Coming in with the expectation that we would have a pivotal role in the planning and implementation of this project, we were disappointed when we arrived at the site and saw that there were only enough tools for two or three of our group members to work at a time. Even when we were given the opportunity to participate, the villagers were quick to ask to be given their hoes back so that they may continue to work on the project themselves. In some ways, this only made sense. Many, if not all, of the villagers had been engaged in agricultural work for their entire lives. They were simply more suited to handle the hoes and machetes that we were using in the project, and they were not afraid to let us know it. Even after we came to this realization, we were still frustrated. Frustrated that we had come all this way to simply watch as others did work. Frustrated that we had yet to contribute anything sustainable to the people of Uganda. However, with the words of our friend and project director, Joel, this frustration quickly eroded.

As Joel explained to us, the active participation of the Kalangala community was absolutely essential to the long-term success of this project. Though it bothered us, it was necessary for the villagers to act as the greatest contributors to this effort. Had we done everything for them, they undoubtedly would have had great difficulty in seeing their stake in the success of the project. Through contributing their sweat, time, and energy to connecting the water line to their village, the townspeople had gained ownership of the project. This ownership, Joel elaborated, would motivate the villagers to keep using this line as their primary water source and would prevent them from turning to the dirty, contaminated sources that they had previously used.

Though we were able to participate in the project more and more as time went on, we were careful to give the community a significant role in the implementation of the project at all stages. Through contributing so much to the project, the villagers have gained ownership over it, ownership that will in turn ensure the success of our efforts for years to come.