Pioneering project in Zambia brings rights to the people

Most of us know that we have a set of universal human rights which protect our livelihood and secure our wellbeing. One of the pivotal rights is the right to water. But what does having the right to water actually mean for the people living in rural Africa? How much water are people entitled to? How often? And how clean?

The Danish Institute for Human Rights has developed a ground-breaking new approach to the so-called economic, social and cultural rights – for instance the right to health, education, housing, food and sanitation in addition to the right to water.

The institute works with four key criteria in determining what the human rights actually entails: Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality – in short AAAQ.

“We start right at the top – with the relevant international conventions on the right to water. We then work our way down through regional treaties and national law until we end on the ground in a village in Zambia. Suddenly it becomes very concrete how much, how soon and how good water the villagers are entitled to,” explains senior advisor Mads Holst Jensen from the Danish Institute for Human Rights, one of experts working on the AAAQ.

Creates accountability
The approach ensures that the standards outlined by the AAAQ are already widely accepted and recognised both globally and locally. However, they are almost never realised on the ground in the communities where access to clean water is a real issue.

In Zambia, one of the pilot countries, there is to be at most 1.000 meters to a well providing at least 20 litres of water daily in no more than 30 minutes.

The hands-on approach of the AAAQ work is very appealing to the local partner, Zambia NGO WASH Forum:

“Sometimes, politicians will claim to have provided water. But with the AAAQ we are able to hold them accountable. We provide local check lists so we can expose if the water is not clean enough, making people ill or if the well is not functioning,” Andrew Tembo of WASH Forum explains.

Mr. Tembo is pleased that the AAAQ brings both state, civil society and private water providers together and find common ground to the benefit of the Zambians – a key point in the project.

“By finding common ground, the standards have a vastly better robustness. Private companies use AAAQ to improve their service and a youth organisation uses it for improving local budgets on water and infrastructure,” project coordinator Marie Villumsen of the institute says.

Universally useful
The work with water in Zambia is just a starting point for the AAAQ project. It is intended to be used in six other social, economic and cultural rights – not just on water. The project is not specific to anyone country. Before Zambia, it was used with success in Zimbabwe – and the Zambians learn from the experience there.

“We are picking lessons from Zimbabwe and we feel their experiences will help us here. Even though it is not everything we can use. Certain things are specific to each country, but the framework can be rolled out in many countries,” Andrew Tembo of the WASH Forum says.

Marie Villumsen of the Danish Institute for Human Rights agrees.

“We have made this open source – so everyone can work with the AAAQ, whether the aim is realising the right to water, education, health or something else.”