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	Introduction   Kenya: Water jars   Kenya: Loading donkeys   Kenya: Shallow wells   Ethiopia: Rural ponds   Bangladesh: Research centre		Transporting water, Lake Magadi, south-west of Nairobi At the Oltanki water point Maasai women and donkeys jostle each other for space. Each donkey is loaded with two 15-litre cans before the long trek home. When the women arrive back mid-afternoon the day will be almost over. The challenge for Jeremiah Kisove, an Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) field officer specialising in rural transport, is to show women like these that a donkey can carry a lot more water. "This woman has three donkeys, carrying six jerry cans. She will carry 90 litres of water in one journey, and has to make the journey every other day," he told BBC World Service. But one donkey can carry as much as 80 litres of water if it is loaded correctly. "We go to a village and work in a group, so the women can help one another. We train a few members within the group and then they train others. At a recent group we trained 44 women on improved loading practices - last week we went back and found they had trained another 17, and there are still more requests coming in. Making panniers "Its not difficult to make the panniers. ITDG is training women to make their own and not to buy them. To buy one from the town will cost 500 Kenyan shillings (6.5 US$) but to make it will cost just 100 Ksh (1.3 US$)." Maasai women have a lot of work to do. They are responsible for building houses, collecting domestic water and firewood and cooking for the family. If they can get more water in one journey they will have more time for other chores. And one labour saving idea leads to another. "One group which we have trained has organised itself into small groups of five, so one woman goes with 10 donkeys and gets water for all the other members," explained Jeremiah Kisove. "As a result they only then need to make the journey to the water point every three weeks. Only lack of knowledge stopped them from doing it before. One woman saw another women doing it, loading the donkeys with so much water, and the idea was passed on." Income generation Other women have started income generating activities - two have started a shop, bringing items from Magadi on their donkeys. People borrow water containers from friends, and donkeys from friends - and go to the watering point with more donkeys. But as Jeremiah's colleague Sharon Looremetta pointed out: "This helps the women learn they can transport more water, but the women still have to walk very long distances to get water." Related website: Intermediate Technology Development Group The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Listen to the radio series: Solutions parts 1-4 BBC World Service visited the Oltanki water point, in February 2003

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