The gendered dimensions of collecting water among children in South Sudan: Case study from Unity State

August 17th, 2015

Dr. Lenka Benova & Jon Horler

Linking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to women’s health has been a neglected area of research for several decades.1 A broader gender-perspective in examining the long-term and life-course impacts of poor WASH on girls and women has recently been called for.2 The main aim of this case study is to describe access to household water during a period of insecurity and population displacement, with a focus on the comparative roles of male and female children in these tasks. In this article, we assess the implications that children’s involvement in fetching water presented to their ability to attend school. This article offers one of the first studies to examine the gendered dimension of children’s involvement in water collection in South Sudan.

South Sudan is the world’s youngest country. Since its independence, South Sudan has experienced periods of conflict resulting in substantial population displacement. In 2010, prior to the outbreak of the most recent civil conflict, more than 30% of the population in South Sudan did not have access to safe water supplies.3,4 This may be as high as 34% in rural areas, where maintenance of borehole equipment is often low. Among those using an improved water source, 66% travel more than 30 minutes to and from the source. This burden of collecting and carrying water is shouldered primarily by women and girls.5

Unity State in South Sudan was the chosen for this study because no recent estimates of the household responsibilities of sourcing water existed. It is one of the most affected areas in the current conflict, with limited humanitarian access. Unity State is located in the Greater Upper Nile region. Prior to the outbreak of the recent conflict, it was the largest petroleum producing state in the country. Unity State is an ethnically mixed state with significant population displacement, including internally displaced and refugee populations. These factors have had a negative effect on the population’s ability to access to safe water.

Methodology

This cross-sectional study is based on data collected in a survey of households living in 11 villages across Mayendit, Pariang, and Abiemnom counties of Unity State in South Sudan (see Figure 1). Data collection took place during July and August 2014. The sample size for the survey was calculated based on the population estimates from an Initial Rapid Needs Assessment and used random sampling to collect data about 328 households. Forcier Consulting, a South Sudan-based development research firm that works in challenging conflict and post-conflict environments, conducted the fieldwork. Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study. We obtained approval for the study from the South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics and data analysis was approved by the Observational Ethics Committee at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Findings

Overall, we found that two-thirds of sampled households reported being displaced. The average size of households ranged from 7 to 10 members across the three countries. Only 27% of households reported using an improved source (borehole or protected dug well) as their usual drinking water source; the most common source of water for households in Mayendit and Pariang was surface water. Across the three counties, 48% to 71% of households reported having experienced a shortage of drinking water for two or more days during the week preceding the survey.

Among the 323 households with children under 15 years of age, we found that three-quarters reported that children were involved in fetching water. The mean age of the youngest child involved in fetching water was 6-7 years. The school attendance rate among children 5-15 years was similar between male and female children, at around 74%, lowest in Pariang (63%) and highest in Abiemnom (95%). Among children 5-15 years old attending school at the time of the survey, 6 out of 10 were reported to have skipped school in the previous week due to needing to assist with fetching water. Overall, this proportion was comparable between boys and girls, but showed larger variation across countries for boys (52% in Mayendit to 100% in Pariang) than for girls (55% in Abiemnom to 62% in Pariang).

Conclusions

A number of conclusions can be drawn from analysis of this data, for the purposes of future research, immediate humanitarian interventions as well as long-term policies for water provision and educational achievement in South Sudan.

This study was one of the first assessments of water sources and availability in South Sudan that emphasises childhood and gender issues in order to capture the burden of fetching household water and its effect on primary education. Overall, it showed the large burden – both in terms of unimproved sources and inconsistent access to water – in this region affected by conflict and population displacement.

This study highlighted that children were involved in household water collection in the majority of households in the three counties of Unity State. Children appear to begin their tasks of fetching water at a very young age, coinciding with the age of school enrolment. Therefore, children’s school attendance was uneven and attendance was dramatically reduced by their involvement in water sourcing. This suggests that humanitarian actors implementing education in emergencies programs for displaced populations should consider the impact of WASH needs on their interventions, taking into account the impediment that water collection presents to educational attendance beyond simply addressing the immediate WASH needs of the students on the premises during school hours.

We found that there were no substantial differences between male and female children in school attendance as well as in the proportion of school-going children who reportedly missed school due to water fetching. This finding may be related to the unique situation in Unity state that is characterised by high population displacement, during which all household members had to contribute to the burden of household chores, regardless of the gender- and age-specific roles that prevail in times of stability. However, there may be other differences in male and female children’s responsibilities for water sourcing that were not captured by this rapid survey, such as the average length of time spent on fetching water, the amount of water collected, and further involvement in household water treatment and use (e.g., dishwashing, laundry). Further research in these areas would therefore complement this exploratory study.

The frequency of water shortages experienced by the households was surprisingly high considering that data collection took place during the height of the rain season. This, coupled with the finding of high prevalence of surface water collection, suggests that the burden on children to fetch water may be even greater during the dry season. This could be due to reduction of available surface water and increased travel time to reach water sources, further reducing access to and consistent attendance of education. This case study shows that programmes and policies aiming to sustainably improve household access to improved water sources have the potential to directly positively influence the lives and educational opportunities of young children – particularly those living in conflict or displacement – girls and boys alike.

References:

Benova L, Cumming O, Campbell OM (2014) Systematic review and meta-analysis: association between water and sanitation environment and maternal mortality. Trop Med Int Health 19: 368-387. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2004) A Gender Perspective on Water Resources and Sanitation (Background Paper No.2). New York: UN Commission on Sustainable Development. UNICEF UNICEF in South Sudan: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Juba, South Sudan: UNICEF. National Ministry of Health, Central Bureau of Statistics (2011) Sudan Household Health Survey: Second Round 2010. National Ministry of Health and Central Bureau of Statistics. USAID South Sudan: Draft Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Program 2013-2018.

Dr. Lenka Benová is a Lecturer in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is a quantitative social scientist with training in management, economics, Middle East studies and demography and has a keen interest in reproductive/maternal health research and evaluation in low- and middle-income countries. Jon Horler is a development researcher and policy analyst currently based in South Sudan. He holds a B.A. in International Relations (Mount Allison University) and a M.A. in Human Rights (Makerere University).

The views expressed in this article belong to the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Global Water Forum, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, UNESCO, the Australian National University, or any of the institutions to which the authors are associated. Please see the Global Water Forum terms and conditions here.