The villages of Alvank and Shvanidzor are located in the Meghri region at the border with Iran. The total population of the villages is 692 inhabitants. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic system water problems became acute due to the absence of resources and lack of maintenance. In the former Persian sphere of influence, traditionally in the areas with limited water resources people constructed underground water systems called “chaheriz”. These systems were used for human consumption, cultivation and cattle. In the Soviet period the systems were mostly abandoned and the local capacities for their maintenance and construction were nearly lost. Due to the bad condition of the chaherizes the villages lack proper water supply what limits their opportunities to develop agriculture and animal husbandry. The extreme deterioration of the existing water network in these isolated communities has created an unsafe, unhealthy and unliveable situation. This results in the deterioration of hygienic conditions and contributes to the spread of water-borne diseases.
Although the entire region – Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia – has depended on such wells and tunnels, they are only useful and functional if given proper and regular cleaning and maintenance to ensure a continued water supply. These networks have long existed, in some form, in varying states of disrepair in these two villages. They continued to be utilised, although not regularly and not as a source of clean water.
The overall objective of the project is to improve access to water for the population of remote villages in the region of Meghri.
The specific objectives of the project are to restore and reconstruct the underground water supply system of wells and tunnels (chaheriz) in Alvank and Shvanidzor villages and to train and develop the necessary local capacity for continued further maintenance of the system.
Following project outcomes are expected to be achieved by the end of the project:
1. All chaherizes in the Alvank and Shvanidzor villages restored and made operational, additional chaherizes built if necessary (currently four exist in each village);
2. Local communities are trained in chaheriz maintenance to be able to sustain chaherizes in their communities independently;
3. A ten day study tour to Iran is organised for the locally trained community members to understand the chaheriz systems, their maintenance and repair techniques;
4. Water management boards are created in each community to collect funds from the community members for the chaheriz maintenance and associated expenses;
5. Restored water supply systems are fully mapped and documented for post implementation maintenance and monitoring;
6. A handbook is created that will spell out the procedures necessary to keep the water flowing through the network;
7. A film on restoration activities is produced to be used for the promotion of the system, for community mobilisation and for the promotion of the project.
Project approach, organisation and time frame: In the villages of Alvank and Shvanidzor, the project will renovate and facilitate the sustainable maintenance of the already existing chaheriz by providing skilled Iranian experts who will not only repair the system but will also provide technical training necessary for residents of these villages to continue the proper maintenance of the network. With this initiative the villagers will still not have an internal water distribution network and the necessary sanitation system delivering quality drinkable water to each household. However, this project will have taken the first step in making underground water regularly and consistently available to the village residents through several public water delivery points.
The project will be managed by a small team from the central office in Yerevan. The project team will consist of a Project Director, a Project Manager and some administrative support staff. The Project Director will be responsible for the overall supervision of the project implementation as well as financial management, relations and networking with the government, donor agencies for lobbying and promotion of the project on the central level, and further development of the project. The Project Manager will be responsible for the project implementation, will manage relations with the local authorities and the villagers, control and coordination of rehabilitation works and community mobilisation activities. The project team will also have two local representatives, an architect supervising the construction work and an assistant. The architect will not only be responsible for day to day operations and logistics, but will also report daily to the central office. Yerevan office will have bi-monthly visits to the region for overall monitoring and supervision.
The project will initiate and facilitate informal election of water management boards that will be responsible for administration of the renovated water networks of the beneficiary communities. The boards, the format, the terms, the initial water fee amounts will be determined through the community meetings. Mechanisms to ensure that the most vulnerable can also benefit from the project in the short and long term will be put in place. As this is a sensitive issue particularly when talking about fees to maintain the system this issue will require special attention when addressing the governance principle of inclusion. The regular community meetings will work to ensure that the beneficiary communities take ownership of their water networks. The mayors and the leadership of the community will have an important role of facilitators to catalyse active participation of the community members.
The project team will work closely with the self-governance bodies to ensure collection of fees and organisation of future maintenance activities, thus to ensure future sustainability of the system. While working with the communities in establishing the management boards the project team will prioritise the principles of governance. The project team will focus on the principles of transparency, participation and inclusion in the process of implementation of project activities and decision making, in establishing the management boards and making sure that the benefits of the project are accessible for all the groups of the population including the most vulnerable ones.