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Inspiring stories from the MENA region: Women & Water Integrity
Thu, 2016-08-18 08:20
Alchabbar story could be considered evidence that women can play an effective role in enhancing integrity in the water sector.
Refraining from paying water bills pushed Fardous Al Shabbar, the chairperson of the Jordanian Women's Union in Irbid province, resort to simple techniques that would reduce the value of the bill and encourage citizens in this province to pay their water bills on time.
The story started after a workshop to raise awareness was held at Science and Technology University in Jordan. In the first six months, Al Shabbar noticed a 10 to 20% decrease in water consumption. During her participation in Women Alumni Regional workshop, organized by Stockholm International Water Institute in collaboration with Al Akhawayn University in Morocco, on Women and Integrity in the water sector on 23 and 26 May, she said: “I asked a religious figure to help me to convince women that wasting and overspending in general is not accepted in the Quran”.
Alchabbar added that the Jordanian ladies believed that there was manipulation and fraud in the water meter readings, that led their husbands to review and sometimes fight with the staff of water authorities.
Women have been trained to read the water meter, so that they recognize what they have consumed and reduce the amount of water to pay bills at a lower cost. Reducing water consumption included installing certain pieces in tabs and showers, closing the meter so air is not stored there, in order not pay an additional cost.
[Full article here | Photo by UNDP]
